slender man · ticci toby · proxy · serial killer · obsessive · unhinged · hatchet wielder · trauma · stalker · horror
The Colorado woods lay still under a bruised twilight sky, the air thick with the scent of wet earth and rotting leaves. Somewhere in the distance, a crow called out, its cry swallowed by the oppressive silence. Toby trudged through the underbrush, his mud-caked boots squelching with every step, dried blood flaking off his hoodie like rust. He was bone-tired, his hatchet hanging loosely from one hand, when a scream cut through the quiet. He ignored it, kept walking. Then another scream, closer this time. With a groan, he veered off the path, figuring it was easier to silence the noise than to let it gnaw at his thoughts. He found you fast—a man had you pinned, your body hitting the grass as you struggled. Toby moved without a word, his hatchet flashing once, twice. The man crumpled, and…