Mark broke the awkward silence by stating the obvious. "This is the forest of our nightmares," he said nervously, "But this time we don't have a flashlight."

"That must mean that the suit man is here too," pointed out Melody quietly.

"We need to find shelter," Mark said, trying not to let his voice tremble. Melody followed Mark around the dark forest. They both knew they would reach the fence eventually, so when they did, they weren't surprised. There was something that did surprise them though.

"What's that stick doing there on the floor?" asked Melody, slightly curious.

"It's the same stick I broke off from the tree," Mark answered, getting more and more frightened.

"When did you - oh, that stick," said Melody, also getting agitated.

"We know that there's no exit," said Mark, trying not to go insane from fear, "And that there's nothing around the fence. So let's search through the middle of the forest. There might be shelter there."

Melody nodded, and they went off again. It was dark in the middle of the forest, and the only way they knew that they still had each other was by the feel of their warm hands. Then suddenly, Mark realised that his hand was empty.

He whirled around and shouted, "Melody!" but the only reply he got was the silence of the forest. Trying to keep calm, he headed back from where he came and saw a dim light.

Cautiously he stepped towards it. He saw Melody, leaning against a dusty old truck, holding the light source - a torch with dying batteries. At first he was overjoyed, but then he saw someone else behind her wearing a white nightgown.

"M-Melody," he stuttered, "We'd better run."

"Why?" she asked.

"Because behind you," he said, "is the ghost of May Sullivan."

There he lost it completely and he ran off screaming into the forest.

*

"How did you get here, anyway?"

"The only way you can get here. The day before yesterday, I said... that word... three times. I had the picture in my room. Before I knew it, I was in the forest, running from the man."

"So you're telling me that you were trapped in here for two days? Without food or water?"

"Yes."

"Are you a ghost?"

"No, why?"

"Well, you see... we thought you were dead. We received some photos of you lying with eyes closed in the grass. I think that's the same grass that's at the edge of the forest."

"Why aren't you running?"

Melody and May both turned to see Mark looking at them again.

"May somehow survived. She's not a ghost, stop panicking," assured Melody, and added, "How did you survive, then? And why did you look dead in the photo?"

"Well," whispered May, "I was trapped in the forest, and then I heard him coming - the suit man. I tried calling for help, but none came. I tried to throw a note over the fence, but it just flew back over. I'd done that before; seven times before, actually. Every time it failed. Then I head a noise from the fence. I thought it was help, but it was him. I fainted on the spot.

"When I woke up, I was in the driver's seat of the truck. There was a dim flashlight next to me. I don't know how the either me or the light got there, but I gratefully took the torch. What really puzzles me, though, is why the suit man didn't kill me."

"Maybe he's nice, not evil," mused Melody.

"Wait a second - did you say you tried to throw pages over the fence seven times?" asked Mark.

"Eight," corrected May.

"Did you write anything on them?"

"Yes."

"What?"

"Pleas for help."

"What sort of pleas?"

"Desperate pleas?"

"No, no - what exactly did you write on there?"

"Oh, things like the word 'no' repeated I don't know how many times, leave me alone and other things like that. I have one here, I found it on the truck. It's the one that says 'always watches, no eyes'. Sorry they're weird, I was bordering on the edge of madness so I was scribbling down anything that came into my head."

Melody and Mark both looked at the page that May was holding out to them. It said 'always watches' at the top and 'no eyes' at the bottom. All four words were in capital letters and underlined, except for 'always' which was in capitals but not underlined.

In between the two phrases was a rough oval, looking vaguely like a human head, with two 'x's on the edge of the circle where the eyes should have been.

"That handwriting looks the same as the handwriting on the messages on the back of the photos!" gasped Mark.

"So it does," agreed Melody.

"Maybe the others are in the forest somewhere too," commented May.

"I have just had a crazy thought," said Melody.

"What?" asked the others.

"Maybe," said Melody, "maybe if we collected all the notes up again, and returned them to May, we won't get killed by Slender Man."

The world shuddered and there was a weird noise.

"Don't say that!" hissed May, "He'll get you!"

"What if the suit man and John Lesdern are the same?" wondered Mark.

"You'd better get collecting those pages," urged May.

"It probably won't work," admitted Melody, "It was just an idea."

"Have you got a better plan? It's our only hope! There's still a chance it will work!" May whispered.

"Aren't you coming with us?" asked Mark.

"No. I'm too weak," answered May, "I'll just hold you up. You can take the flashlight. I don't need it and it will help you see the pages."

"Are you sure?" Melody asked, slightly worried for the poor girl.

"Yes! Now hurry! We don't have much time!" May whispered.

With one last look behind them, Mark and Melody vanished into the dark forest.