CHAPTER TWENTY
Jackson's lips left me in an instant and I gasped aloud. He stared behind me with a look of pure fear. "The fuck-" he started to exclaim but was cut off as a black tentacle wrapped around his neck and slammed him against the wall. The Slender man was suddenly there, standing between me and my friend. Jackson dangled in his grip, his back against the wall and almost five feet off the ground.
Slender leaned towards him, his face right in front of Jackson's. I could feel the power - that bad aura - emanating from the Tall One. He was positively livid. He hissed, low and long, still staring Jackson in the eye.
Jackson was slowly growing still as his body was beginning to miss the air and blood that was restricted by Slendy's tentacle. His eyes were round in horror.
"Stop!" I screamed, tears burning at my eyes. He ignored me. "Slendy, please stop it!" I begged. Warmth soaked my cheeks as the tears started to fall rapidly.
I reached up and grabbed his arm - really the only part of him I could reach to grab, considering he was almost fifteen feet tall - and yanked with all my strength, trying with all my might to get his attention. The longer he continued to ignore me, the less life that was left in Jackson's body.
"SLENDER!" I screeched.
His head jerked to the side and he glowered down at me. Okay, progress. At least he was acknowledging me. I withered under is burning gaze.
"Please," I sobbed, "please don't kill him."
"Why?" His voice was harsh and cold and laced with malice and anger. I was scared. The last time I'd heard him use that tone, he'd massacred a basement full of teenage boys. It was a killer's voice.
"Because he's my friend!" I cried.
"Do your friends normally try to shove their tongues down your throat after trying to get you drunk?" he sneered vehemently. He was speaking so fast that I had to really focus through the haze to hear what he was saying.
I was shivering, though whether from the cold or the fear I couldn't tell. "He's drunk too. He wouldn't have done that otherwise," I tried to reason. Jackson hung in Slendy's grip, unconscious. I only had a matter of seconds. I was panicking. I had to get him to let go! The alcohol was clouding my thoughts, keeping the inspiration I so desperately needed at bay. 'Fuck!' Suddenly, without even think about the enormity of the words I was about to say, I blurted out the only solution I could think of.
"If you kill him, I'll leave you."
Slender froze. So did I. Did I really just threaten the Slender man? 'Oh shit.'
Besides, would I -Â could I really make myself leave him? I thought about leaving him and a pain shot through my chest, striking me in my heart. I realized in that instant that I needed him more than I'd ever known. 'BUT HE'S KILLING JACKSON!' my subconscious screeched at me. Would I be able to forgive him if he murdered my friend right before my eyes?
'I don't think so, but...' my hesitation scared me. Was I really so selfish? I valued my relationship more than this boy's life? 'Of course not... I think.'
What would I do without him? Whatever I had done before him I guess. Somehow, I didn't think I could go back to that though. These past several weeks - they'd altered my life so much. Everything we'd been through together had opened my eyes to the world.
It was like looking at the stars. They were pretty to look at, interesting to think about, and always there, but you take them for granted. Then one night a meteor streaks across the sky, trailing purple and green and blue light behind it. It's so beautiful. You widen your eyes to take it in - it's illuminated the night word around you, bathing everything in its unearthly glow. Just as quickly as its appeared, suddenly it's gone. You stand there staring up at the sky, but the light of the meteor has blinded you to the night. Its image is burned in your retina. You know the stars are still there, but you can't see them anymore. Those stars that were always there before are lost to you now. Now you wished you had never taken them for granted.
Those stars where my life before the Slender man. It was a good life, but I never stopped to think and open my eyes. The I met him, and my world caught on fire. I'd never felt such adventure, such life. It was like being reborn. It was like getting back the open minded view of the world you had when you were a child. Everything was so new - so thrilling. If I left him... I didn't think I'd be able to see the stars anymore. His light had blinded me. The mundane world I'd lived in all my life wouldn't be enough for me anymore. I'd leaned too much, seen too much, felt too much.
I'd be lost without him.
All these thoughts passed through my head in just a split second.
"Put him down," I commanded in a whisper.
Slowly - so slowly I wasn't sure if he'd be free in time to save his life - Slendy put Jackson on the ground and retracted his tentacles. He was staring at me, his expression unfathomable. "Sky..." In his voice I heard things I'd never wanted to hear from my strong, powerful Slender man - unspeakable amounts of sorrow and pain. And fear. Fear of loosing me?
Wow. He really did love me, didn't he?
I couldn't meet his gaze, but went over to Jackson and knelt so I could check his pulse. Thank God, he was still alive. I felt Slendy's gaze on me the whole time. "Shit, how am I gonna explain all this to him when he wakes up?" I complained.
"He won't remember anything," he said softly.
"How do you know?"
"I erased his memory." I gaped up at him in shock and awe. "Another one of my many talents," he said. There was no humor in his expression or voice. He sounded so... dead.
I felt bad for my threat, now that Jackson appeared to be alright - especially since he wouldn't remember a thing.
I just kept making stupid mistakes! Going to the movies with Jackson: mistake. Getting drunk: mistake. Dancing with Jackson: mistake.
Not telling Slendy I loved him: mistake... Threatening to leave him: mistake...
I just kept hurting him...
What the hell was wrong with me?
I tried to stand up. I needed to fix those mistakes - now - but when I tried to get my feet under me, the ground suddenly came spiraling towards my face.
"Oh!" I squeaked as Slendy caught me just before I hit the concrete. Damn alcohol. Being drunk wasn't fun anymore. I looked up into his face, I don't know what my own expression looked like, but whatever he saw in my features made him tilt his head curiously.
"I was bluffing," I blurted.
"Excuse me?" His voice was still dead.
"I wouldn't have left you."
His expression finally changed, but not necessarily for the better. It darkened considerably and I could feel the tension rolling off of him. Oh shit, he was mad.
"That... That was a very..." He struggled for words.
"Bitchy thing for me to do?" I offered.
He sighed. "Yes," he growled.
"I'm sorry," I whispered softly and gently caressed his cheek.
"I was so scared." He said it so low that I wasn't sure I'd heard him right. Slendy? My Slender man? Scared? Surely not. "When you said you'd leave me... I... A part of me died." His voice was husky with emotion.
"Slendy..." I didn't like seeing him like this - seeing him in pain like this - and knowing it was my fault. I was the cause of his pain.
He shook his head. When he spoken again the urgency and need in his voice was overwhelming. "Don't leave me Sky!" he begged desperately.
"Hey, hey," I said softly, "I'm not going anywhere."
"I couldn't live without you little one." He still sounded anguished.
"You won't have to," I promised.
"I love you."
"I love you too."
He froze. If he had had eyes, they would have been wide in shock. "Really?" he whispered with a voice full of hope.
"Yes."
There was a pause for a moment, and then he was kissing me passionately, pouring all the anger and fear and anguish he'd felt in the past hour. I responded eagerly to his touch, surrendering myself to him. I was his, he was mine, and I loved him.
I loved him.
The rest of the night was a blur. I called a taxi to take Jackson, Joanna, and Drew home. The girls were both too wasted to drive and Jackson was still unconscious. I told them he'd just past out from drinking a bit to much and they believed me.
"Whada 'bout Jackson's car?" Joanna slurred as she climbed very ungracefully into the cab.
"I'll get it home," I promised.
"But your drunk too," Drew protested sleepily. She had ridden with me to the theater, so luckily we didn't have her truck to worry about.
"I have a friend who'll drive," I said and shut the door, cutting off any questions as to who the friend was.
As I approached my 'friend' who was waiting between my parked car and Jackson's I imagined him actually driving. His long legs and arms crammed in that tiny space - it was comical.
"Can you actually drive?" I asked with a giggle. He raised his brow at me.
"I guess we'll find out, won't we?"
Oh crap.
I think I passed out on the ride home, cause that was one of the last things I remembered. Slendy must have gotten me and my car home safely though, put me to bed, and then gone back to get Jackson's. Apparently he could drive.
I awoke just a bit when Slendy climbed in bed beside me about three am. He wrapped his long arms around me and hugged me to him. His lips brushed my hair. "Good night my little Sky. I love you." My response was a garbled mess from sleep, but you could just barely distinguish my reply.
"I love you too."