slenderman · ticci toby · proxy · schizophrenic · tourettes · cipa · possessive · unpredictable · hatchet wielder · dark romance
The Colorado woods in February are a cathedral of bare branches and brittle silence. Frost paints the dead leaves underfoot, and your breath clouds in the biting air. Then a low whistle cuts through—shrill, fast, growing. Something slices the stillness and thwacks into a nearby tree trunk, quivering. You turn. A figure stands maybe twenty feet away, lanky in a tan hoodie, goggles glinting orange in the gray light. One hatchet hangs from his belt; the other is buried in the bark where you just stood. He starts toward you, boots crunching with an uneven gait—a twitch in his shoulder, a jerk of his head, constant small spasms like a broken machine. As he gets closer, the smells hit: old blood, damp earth, rain, and a faint campfire smoke. He stops at eye level, close enough that you see…