As the silhouettes burned and were devoured by the inferno, the flames raged so fiercely it felt like they could incinerate far more than mere flesh. It felt as if they could burn even the soul.
Yet, there he stood at the center of the white blaze.
"So, what brings you here?"
"What are you?" Felix stood baffled, staring at him. He looked not just human, but nearly identical to Felix; the only difference was his stark white hair, contrasting Felix's black. He spoke like him, and possessed the exact same build and physique. He was practically a flawless clone.
"Hello? I asked a question. What are you doing here?"
Is this for real? Am I really being interrogated by myself right now? No, that can't be right, Felix thought to himself.
"Shut the hell up. I am the one meant to be asking the questions here!" Felix boiled with rage from the absolute hell that had been tormenting him all day. "Why do you look exactly like me?" he demanded, still visibly baffled at the sight.
"Wow, you're so frustrated. Try meditating for a bit."
"Do I look like someone in the mood to play games? You're one of them, aren't you? One of those silhouettes!"
"Hahaha!" The entity wearing Felix's face laughed from its chest. It looked human, yes, but its voice was horribly unnatural; it echoed, sounding like two distinct voices speaking as one. "I could have accepted any other accusation. A ghost? Fine. A monster? Sure. But you choose to accuse me of being the very creatures I saved you from? Listen, I don't even know what I am. All I know is I saw a light and ran towards it. Now, somehow, I am here in your subconscious, and those shadow silhouettes followed me."
"Followed you here? What do you mean?"
"Look, all you need to know is I am not one of them, nor anything native to this fucked-up subconscious space of yours . I am not afraid of them because they're nothing compared to the horrors of where I come from. Rest assured, I will kill them all. All you must do for me is pretend I don't exist."
"What do you mean? I don't understand anything you're saying."
"Don't worry, I will explain more once I figure it out myself. For now, it's goodbye. Until we meet again," the clone whispered, pressing a cold finger to Felix's forehead.
"No—!" Felix screamed, violently jolting back to reality. What just happened? Was all of that real? he thought, desperately trying to convince himself it was just a nightmare. But agonizing pain flared in his legs. He pulled up the school trousers he had fallen asleep wearing. They were heavily stained with fresh blood, and deep, visible claw marks from the silhouettes scarred his calves.
"I wasn't dreaming," he muttered.
Snatching his phone, he checked the time: 2:00 AM. Sleep was impossible; the terror of the monsters lingering in his head gripped him tightly. He tried playing video games, but restless anxiety clouded his focus. Defeated, he began intensely browsing the internet for cases of the supernatural, like his. Every article fed his growing paranoia, yet he couldn't stop scrolling. What am I doing? None of this helps; it's just filling my head with garbage. He checked the time again. It was 5:00 AM, and still pitch dark outside. But Felix couldn't care less. He quickly changed into loose shorts, a white tee, a thick hooded jacket, and sneakers, leaving the house for a walk to clear his chaotic mind.
It's freezing, even for this hour. Good thing I grabbed a jacket.
Felix walked a few blocks before an eerie, prickling sensation washed over him. Suddenly, his phone chimed—a loud notification from a fringe forum he subscribed to.
[Major Paranormal Update: Tall, slender creature spotted by a couple at midnight, passing the Chicago Riverwalk.]
"Bunch of jobless internet junkies," he whispered, trying to shrug it off as pathetic fake news.
Why the hell do I even care? he thought to himself. Maybe I actually am on drugs. Yeah, maybe that pig of a bully knocked me out and drugged me as revenge. Maybe this whole day I was hallucinating, and the toxins haven't left my system.
"Shit!" he cursed. A dark, nagging instinct inside him believed the post. He needed real explanations, and this might be his only chance.
He finally surrendered to his desperate delusions.
"The Chicago Riverwalk isn't even that far from here," he muttered, breaking into a full sprint.
It felt as though fate had positioned him perfectly; he was already at the closest possible intersection to the walks. Minutes later, he reached the bridge's massive overlap. "I made it," he wheezed, his lungs burning. Though nearby, a two-kilometer dash was brutal.
The bridge was eerily desolate. Most vehicles using this route were heading to the commercial docks, but those gates wouldn't open until six-thirty.
What do I do now? The distance was the easy part. Felix suddenly realized that sprinting into the darkness without a concrete plan was incredibly stupid. . Shit. It's almost six. Should I just wait for a taxi or something?
Just as he sat down on the damp concrete to catch his breath, a splitting migraine pierced his skull.
Argh, what's up with this headache? Am I really that exhausted? He struggled to pry his eyes open through the blinding pain. When he did, glowing white lines resembling ethereal threads materialized, weaving a trail into the mist. Driven by primal, unnatural instinct, Felix stood up. Like a hound catching a scent, he walked faster and faster, blindly tracing the glowing threads down toward the shadowy docks. As he leaned perilously close to the black water, a sudden, heavy weight clamped onto his shoulder.
That freezing, unnatural pressure instantly snapped him back to reality. He knew instantly: that touch was not human.
Felix spun around. The towering, slender cryptid from the website loomed in the flesh right before him. Its elongated, bone-white fingers tightened their vice-like grip, and its pale, uncanny face stretched into a sinister grin.
Felix let out a cold, breathless laugh. "Thanks for showing yourself. Otherwise, this would have been for nothing."
In a fluid motion, he drew a concealed handgun and unloaded three deafening shots directly into the creature's wrist, violently severing its hand. Blood sprayed. Felix pivoted and sprinted back up the bridge structure, blindly firing over his shoulder to suppress the beast. He wasn't retreating aimlessly; he had a desperate strategy. But in a terrifying blur of speed, the monster scaled the metal.
The monster didn't flinch; it blurred, moving with a sickening, liquid speed. It lunged, its elongated limbs wrapping around Felix's throat like pythons.
It was choking the life out of him. The limb he'd shot off had already regenerated, thicker and stronger. But Felix just smiled. When he arrived here he noticed the scent—the heavy, cloying stench of diesel from a spill on the dock below. His plan revolved around this.
He used all his energy to aim the gun right at the monster leg and shot it off clean.
The shock cut it off guard and in that spilt second Felix escape it's grip, but he didn't have any time to catch his breath. Adrenaline surged. One wrong move and I'm dead.
"Follow me, you bastard!" Felix yelled. He leaped from the bridge, the monster soaring right behind him.
Mid-fall, he jammed the gun into his mouth, biting down on the cold steel to free his hands. He fumbled for his lighter. "I'm dragging you to hell!" he muffled. As they hit the diesel-slicked water, he struck the flint.
The surface erupted. A wall of orange flame roared upward, fueled by the spill. "Go to hell, Slendy!" Felix spat the gun out, leveled it at the creature's distorted face, and delivered a point-blank headshot. The force knocked the monster back. It refused to go down. Felix pointed the gun at it's chest this time but it didn't fire. Shit I am out of ammo.
He said to himself as he taught of what to do.
What happened. Where is all of that false confidence. The it all vanish because you can no longer use that toy of yours. Quite sad if you ask me.
You Felix said, your right. Why the fuck am I so scared. Don't overdo think and follow the white light, if I die so be it.
Felix yeld as he run towards the monster.
Just as it lunched those arms of his he Felix went for a sliding sweep for it's legs trusting he dealt enough damage last time.
The monster leg was weakened for the last gun shots at it and it a ultimately fell into the heart of the inferno.
He scrambled onto the concrete, gasping, watching the creature blacken in the heat. "I did it... I actually killed it." He stood, victorious despite the screaming pain in his joints. "I better get out of here before—"
"Urkk!"
A cold, sharp blade erupted through Felix's chest.
He looked down, blood bubbling in his throat. The monster rose from the flames, transformed. It was no longer thin; its body was dense, armored, and from its back sprouted four massive, blade-tipped tendrils. One of them was currently impaling him.
How? he thought, his vision blurring. Why didn't it disappear like the ones in the dream?
"I guess... it wasn't the drugs," he coughed, a spray of red hitting the ground.
[FATAL INJURY DETECTED. ]...
...[HOST LIFE FORCE CRITICAL. ACTIVATING SAFETY PROTOCOL ONE: UNION WITH THE VOID.]