Mark and Melody both woke up at the exact same time to hear the train screeching to a stop at the station. They stared at each other.

"Why are you staring at me like that?" asked Mark, as they stepped off the train and started making their way to the office where they worked.

"I had a weird dream - I was stuck in the forest without a flashlight - and then I found you - you had a torch - then we got to a fence - we tried to find a way out - but there was none - and then you - changed..."

"Me too," breathed Mark, "I hardly know what normal means any more."

"What?"

"I had the same dream. Only you changed, not me. You changed into the man - the man with the weird face. I definitely saw his face again, but I still don't know what it was like. I've forgotten."

"I've forgotten too. Does this have something to do with the case?"

"It's just a coincidence," Mark said, unlocking the front door of the office. "It's only making us scared because it's such a strange case. May was murdered without a trace of a sign leading to why she died. This is why we're getting these nightmares - we're frightened of this mystery murderer."

As he said this, they entered the main office. They both dropped their papers and Melody's hands flew up to her mouth.

"Do you still think it's a coincidence?" trembled Melody. Mark slowly shook his head.

Every single worker in the office had disappeared.

*

Melody sat down at an abandoned desk. She was shaking. Mark sat down next to her.

"Don't worry," he said, comforting her, "But this case is deeper than we previously thought."

"How can I not worry? It must be the man doing this!" she shouted. Mark recoiled.

"We'd better find out as much as we can," he suggested, "before we get taken too." He started to walk briskly down the corridor.

"Wait!" screamed Melody, rushing after him. Mark slowed down, and was knocked over by Melody smacking into him at full force. His envelope filled with the copied pictures peeled open and the pages fluttered down all over the place.

"I'm scared, Mark," she whispered, hugging him close to her, "Don't leave me. I don't want to die."

Mark lay on the ground, startled by Melody's sudden attack. A slow smile crept across his face.

"Melody," he asked carefully, "if we somehow survive this... do you want to... come live with me?"

"Do you really mean it?" gasped Melody, getting up.

"Every single word, Melody Sakria," smiled Mark, also standing up and brushing himself off.

"I," said Melody, blushing slightly, "I'd... love to!" Her nervousness evaporated, and she hugged Mark so tightly that he almost fell over again. He grinned.

"Well, we'd better pick up these papers. Give me a hand," he said, bending over to pick the first page up. However as he picked it up he knew something was wrong. He turned it over and found a message.

"Follows," he read. "Have a look, Melody."

Melody had a look at the paper. It did indeed say 'Follows', written vertically next to a picture of a stick man and a tree. The stick man wasn't a normal one, though. It had no face.

"I wonder if the other pages say things too," pondered Melody, picking up a second piece of paper. Turning it over, she read, "Can't run. Look at this, Mark. I bet they all say different things."

"This is very strange," he murmured, after mouthing the words to himself and inspecting the seemingly random scribbles at the bottom of the page.

"Mark," Melody whispered, and Mark could see that her fear was returning.

"That's enough," said Mark hurriedly, picking up the rest of the photographs quickly. "Let's go investigate more about this case on the computers."

Melody followed Mark into their private office. They started up the computers and quickly searched up John Lesdern, which was their only lead.

"Hey Mark," said Melody, peering at the computer screen, "I've just discovered something new on this online forum. We can't trust it fully, but according to this web page the artist's name wasn't actually John Lesdern. It's John Slender."

As Melody said this there was a slight shudder and a strange, indescribable noise. "Did you feel that?" she asked, eyes wide.

"Yeah, it happened when you said Slender." answered Mark, and the noise and shudder happened again.

"Weird," whistled Melody. "Hey, there's more!"

They scrolled through the posts, not bothering to read most of them, since all most of them said was, 'OMG WEN U LIEK SAY SLENDER DIS WIERD TING HAPEPNS TRY IT!!!!!!!!!!!!111111'

"Stop," said Mark suddenly, and Melody stopped scrolling. They both peered at the post. It was by someone under the username of may_girl777 and it read:

'ive discovered some more stuff about john slender. i bet u all know that his last painting was mystery forest, but i bet u didnt know that it wasnt a real place. he painted it from his mind.

'i bet u also dont know that he went mad shortly before painting it. he said things like help me no eyes and weird things like that. nobody knows how he actually died. he just disappeared one day. apparently his paintbrush was still wet when they found his abandoned studio. it was just after he had finished his final masterpiece mystery forest.

'now people say that his name is cursed.  when u say it that thing which u've mentioned before happens and it works even when you just say slender. his real name was actually john lesdern, but when he went mad he changed it to slender man. the air shudders more violently and the noise is a lot louder when you say his full name. he never changed it to john slender as you claim.

'theres also this legend. they say that if you are in the same room as his original painting and say slender man three times u will be hunted down by his ghost and killed.

'be careful guys. he might come for u. dont do what i said. u cant anyway cause i have the painting mystery forest in my room so only i can do this and he cant get u. but still watch out. i might be wrong. hope this helped.

'bye guys.'

The post ended there. Melody and Mark stared at each other.

"Let's do it!" shouted Mark.

"No!" cried Melody, "Let's check who this person is first." She clicked on the name. It showed the profile of a thirteen-year-old girl, smiling at the camera and making the peace sign with one hand.

"This is..." muttered Mark, squinting at the picture.

"May Sullivan!" they said together.

"Don't say it, Mark," she begged, "She's dead. She must have been 'hunted down' like she said. I have a bad feeling about this. A very bad feeling."

"It can't possibly be true. It's a post by a random person online. Come on, Melody."

"Stop!"

"Slender man, slender man, slender man!"

Melody covered her face with her hands, whispering, "Don't kill me... don't kill me!"

The air shuddered and the strange noise occurred again, only this time much louder. That was it though.

"See? Nothing happened," Mark smiled, "Now let's go back to-" Mark stopped short. His eyes widened. Melody uncovered her face, and screamed.

The forest in the painting was coming out. The paint swirled, and branches reached into the room like fingers, searching for a victim. Leaves rustled and trees started to grow from the ground. The ceiling disappeared, giving way to a moonless night sky.

"Mark," gulped Melody, her voice coming out hoarse, when the transformation was complete, "I think that the blog post was true."