The Cop With No Eyes - Part 1

The sun had finished its daily shift hours upon hours ago. The bright blue sky of the afternoon was now stained with black ink and very pale clouds that weren’t invisible to those who didn’t look hard enough. Those who did could see their vague movement due to the wind pushing the different strands closer and farther away from each other. Stars of all sizes were scattered all over it, almost like someone had spilled salt over a raven-colored tablecloth. The small boy staring at the endless darkness, though, didn’t see it as such. He saw a blanket, one like those that he owned and had back home. This was the Sun’s blanket to him, and the reason why it was warm and bright when it woke up every morning. He could picture the orange body curled up with it, smiling in satisfaction at the comfort that it, he or she was kindly wrapped in. The boy wished he had the same kind of fuzzy shelter. The cold wind blowing harshly against him made him miss sleep, which is a rarely happened. Even so, he still kept on walking forward with determination bubbling deep in his core. Screw sleep; that can be saved for anther day!

He looked back at his group of friends, curious to know if they were feeling the same way as him or if they were about to complain about aching feet. Behind him was a watermelon.. hybrid? That’s the word right? He had always been used to calling the green-striped kid, if he could even call him that, simply a ‘watermelon thing’, or his actual name, Bashur or Bash. The boy’s parents had told him the correct term a few days back, but his mind wasn’t too keen on picking it up. 

The hybrid’s eyes were covered with 3D glasses, so the boy couldn’t see any traces of either energy or tiredness in them. However, his paces were long and steady with no dragging involved. Good.

He peeked further behind the hybrid and saw the only girl in their group, Ashley. He didn’t need to wonder if she was tired; her slow strides were a clear sign. Her blue eyes were shooting all around the place, wide with fear. The boy sighed. 

Figures, girls are like that. 

He chuckled a bit, stopping the line and walking around Bashur to stand in front of the poofy-haired girl. He waved his hand in front of her face, spooking her and making her squeal. She jumped back and tripped over a rock. A bush cushioned her fall, the rustling of her landing mixed with a surprised ‘oof!’

“Mitch!” she exclaimed in a high-pitched voice, glaring at the hoodie-wearing culprit who was holding back laughter.

“A little jumpy, Ashley?” Mitch grinned, looking down at her. 

“Very funny,” she commented, starting to dust off her blue shorts and pushing herself up to her feet again. 

Mitch chuckled slightly, rolling his eyes. “Why are you so scared? It’s a forest, you’ve been to it many times!”

“I know, but..” Ashley twirled a couple of her hair strands in her middle and index fingers, “I’ve never been to one at night.. And never alone.”

“What do you mean alone?!” A Bulgarian-accented voice called indignantly. A boy with dark hair walked to Ashley’s side, also a friend of theirs. He had been walking behind her, and must have been bumped into by the frightened girl and sent to crash against another bush of his own. “Are we invisible or something?”

Ashley turned to him with a raised eyebrow. “I meant without grown-ups around, Bodil. But you three aren’t much help anyways. I bet the first zombie that pops out of these woods is going to send you screaming back home.” 

Mitch pushed his friend by the shoulder, narrowing his eyes in defiance. “That zombie would be dead before it could do anything!” He raised his wooden sword, taking a step away from Bodil and Ashley before swinging it and driving it into the grass. He rested his elbow on the handle and leaned on it with a proud expression. “It wouldn’t know what hit him!”

“Yeah!” Bodil cheered along with the Canadian, unsheathing his own sword. “Besides, how would you know if we ran away? You would be long gone and on the way back by then!”

Ashley grunted and looked at her feet. Mitch grinned again, feeling excited at the thought of getting to kill something. He had never actually done it in the past, but he had  heard so many stories about it back home. Well, he had never actually gotten told these stories to him. His father, a very skilled hunter and fighter, often came home with epic tales about how he had brought down a mighty beast. He told his companions with pride and a fairly high volume during the afternoon, so it was really tempting for Mitch to eavesdrop on his father’s tellings, which he did when he could. Sadly, he could only catch small and detail-lacking bits before his mother would try to stop him from hearing some ‘vulgar‘ word. What even was ‘vulgar’? It couldn’t be that bad!

“Stop being a scaredy-cat, Ashley!” Bashur joined in, a hand on his hip and the other now holding a sword. “Besides, we’re just gonna take a small look and then we’re out.”

“Why do you guys even want to do this? We could get killed by some ghost that we could just as easily learn about by asking people back at the village! I don’t think it’s worth walking all the way to a prison that may not even be real!” The brown-haired girl crossed her arms. 

“And that’s why we’re going to investigate!” Bodil replied. “Don’t you think it would be cool to be the first to see Mr. Slendy?” 

“Yeah, but you left out the “potential death” part!” 

Mitch snorted, waving his hand. “Like we said, that ghost won;t stand a chance! I’ve heard storied from my dad about fighting and hunting, I know what I’m doing.”

“My dad’s showed me how to use a sword a few days ago. I’m practically a pro!” Bash proclaimed with a high head.

It was Ashley’s turn to snort. “That’s a lot to live up to, Bash.”

Mitch rolled his eyes, starting to get impatient. The night was fading fast, and they all had to be back at the village before sun rise. one of their parents knew they were gone, and they wanted it to stay that way.

“You can go back if you want, you know,” the Canadian said, “We have a few hours to get to the prison, and we can’t spend too much time here. As long as you don’t tell anyone that we’re here, you can just go home to your bed and sleep.” 

Ashley looked up for a bit, actually appearing to be analyzing her current situation. Hoe they all had managed to convince her into coming along in the first place was a confusing memory to Mitch. She sighed after a few moments, turning to all three of the boys. “I’m just going to follow you until you find the prison. Then I’m going home where it’s safe.”

“Fine,” Bodil shrugged, looking again at the direction that they were headed before Mitch had stopped to scare Ashley. “Let’s go then!”

Mitch nodded and pulled his sword out of the ground, stumbling back a bit. The sword’s handle reached his stomach when stuck on the ground, so it was tricky to carry around. Everyone else’s weapons were around the same height, Ashley’s axe handle being the only exception. It was sorter, but the blade made up for it. It was heavier than anyone else’s swords. Mitch could see Ashley try to lift her weapon, which she eventually gave up on. It would’ve been worrying that she didn’t know how to use the thing, but she could easily swing it left and right, so Mitch assumed she would be fine.

“C’mon,” he waved at them and pointed to where Bodil was looking at. They started to move along in the same line as before. Mitch walked in front, then Bashur, then Ashley, then Bodil.

The night sky became darker and darker and the moon started to glow brighter the more they trekked. The forest was filled with thick trees with big branches, though, so the leaves did a good job at stopping light from getting in and being of much help. Mitch had to strain his eyes more and more as time passed, and often he would trip over a rock or dirt hill. His friends did as well, and they all ended up with bruises pretty quickly and dirt stains on their clothes even quicker. Ashley wasn’t a big fan of this and she often grunted and grumbled to herself, but never really told the others what she was thinking. Mitch knew though that she was getting aggravated and scared. Every time a leaf would fall on her head or the wind would howl she would squeak and move along faster. 

“Are you sure you know where we’re going, Mitch?” Bashur asked after they halted for a few minutes while Mitch looked for a flashlight in his backpack.

“Of course I do!” The Canadian replied, rummaging the insides of his bag for the object that he wanted. They had been able to get around well enough without the flashlight, and they had wanted to save its battery as much as they could, but now the darkness was far too thick for them to travel safely. “My momma’s told me the stories many, many times before.”

“That doesn’t mean that you know where the prison is, though,” continued the watermelon hybrid, doubt in his tone.

“Besides, your terrible with directions,” Bodil spoke up with a pointed index finger at the amber-eyed boy from the tree that he was leaning against.

“Am not!” Mitch glared at the Bulgarian indignantly. 

“You’ve gotten lost in the crop fields a crap ton of times before! Why is a forest easier to travel?” Bodil continued.

Mitch stopped looking for the light and scratched the back of his head, embarrassed. Those weren’t his brightest moments. He had insisted on leading the party into the forest because he had been the most excited to get a move on, and at the time no one saw the flaw in who they had picked due to their own anticipation. 

“Why are you at the front anyway?” Ashley asked, “And who had that brilliant idea?”

The Canadian crossed his arms, partly due to his anger and partly due to the cold breeze nipping at his arms though his hoodie. “Because I know the stories best. We all agreed on it.” He turned to look at Bash and Bodil, who turned to the ground with shuffling feet.

Ashley put her face in her hand, “Great. We’re probably lost in a dark forest, you can’t seem to find the flashlight, and there might be a ghost roaming around!” 

Mitch continued to look for the light-source in his bag, sighing in relief a few moments later when he felt the familiar switch brush his fingertips. He scooped it up and turned the flashlight on, shielding his eyes away from the bright light that emerged from the bulb inside. When he had grown accustomed to it, he turned to his friends, who were rubbing their eyes with their fists. “Found it.”

“Woohoo!” Bash sighed like Mitch had. “Now we can find the path again.”

“You guys can, I’m going home,” Ashley grunted irritably, probably from the lack of sleep and frustration, and stood up again to dust herself off. “I’m not getting myself into deeper trouble.” Her pupils dilated slightly and quickly as a fly flew past her face, but she recovered from the fright without needing to exclaim anything.

“Suit yourself,” all three of the boys shrugged  at her. 

“Just don’t tell anyone that we’re here, kay?” Bash asked.

“F-Fine,” Ashley stuttered, looking around now wildly. She took a deep breath and stopped shaking before taking out her axe. “But if you guys don’t come back, you fell off a cliff. Deal?”

“But that’s such a lame way to die!” Mitch whined. “Say that we were ambushed by an army of zombies instead!”

The poofy-haired girl rolled her eyes. “Have it your way.” She turned around and started to walk away, her axe trailing behind her. She quickly disappeared into the shadows.

“At least now we won’t be held back,” Bashur commented. “We can go faster now!”

Mitch nodded, pointing the flashlight at a random tree so he could look for a path and see what direction they were heading in. He remembered his momma describing it as a stone-emb-embe..embedded path. That means that it has rocks stuck in it, right? He also remembered her saying it was covered by a thick (thicker than the rest of the forest) roof of leaves and branches that had scrunched-up vines dangling from them. He couldn’t find any clue that they were close to the path, though. He felt a dissapointed and even more embarrassed that his friends were right to call him out on his bad direction skills.

“Let me guess, you don’t know where to go?” Bodil asked in aggravation after a confused silence from Mitch.

“..Nope.”

“You big noob,” the Bulgarian taunted, knowing Mitch disliked being called that. He picked the flashlight from the Canadian’s hand, who was glaring at him. 

“I’m not a big noob!” He defended himself.

“Suuuuure,” Bodil rolled his eyes and grinned at Mitch in a mocking yet playful manner. 

Mitch crossed his arms and pouted at him in an exaggerated way. “You jag.”

Bash chuckled from behind Mitch as they were lead away by Bodil. He had a better sense of navigation, now that Mitch thought about it. He enjoyed running around parkour courses and even making his own. If Mitch hadn’t been so stubborn at the start, they would probably be at the prison already if Bodil had lead them the whole way. And it would’ve saved him the embarrassment of being taunted. He facepalmed with a sigh before clutching his word again and trailing behind Bash.

The forest, although dark and gloomy, was an interesting place to Mitch. He liked new experiences and going to new places and looking at new things. The woods were like an odd combination of all of those elements, yet it made adrenaline pump in your veins to an enjoyable point because of the glaring danger that hid in the shadows. This was just like how his father had described it! Without the action, that is.

Mitch turned his eyes left and right, following the occasional firefly with his curious vision. Small mice and critters scampered under leaves near his feet, and even though he couldn’t stop to properly look at them, he still liked seeing them run around and jump into small rabbit holes. Owl sometimes flew past them, hooting nature’s song. Mitch, Bashur and Bodil liked to point them out to each other, commenting on their cool eyes and creepy head spins. Bodil laughed really often and loudly when they talked about them. Eventually, they found stones creating a walkway west of where they were walking. Mitch recognized it and explained to the leading Bulgarian that they should go that way, which they did. All three friends’s sprits rose. They had found the right path and they hadn’t spent too much time since Ashley left. 

The forest’s wonder, however, didn’t last the whole journey. The trio could clearly see the dark black of the shadows deepening, and it got harder to use only one flashlight to guide all three of them in line formation. They eventually had to walk side by side, Bash on the right side of Bodil and Mitch on the left. The forest was still pretty cold, but more than that it was becoming stuffy. How could it get so chilly in the woods? Was it even possible to feel this trapped? All three of the boys started to walk much slower with dragging steps, their rejoiced fire extinguished.

“Are we going the right way?” Bashur spoke up with a tired voice. 

“I don’t know..” Bodil confessed, stopping the group in their tracks. 

“What do you mean you don’t know?” Mitch asked, coughing a bit and leaning against a tree.

“It’s getting really dark to see anything without using the flashlight, and it’s not the biggest one out there,” Bodil groaned with a disapproving look at the item. 

The watermelon hybrid sighed as well, sitting down and slumping against the same tree that Mitch was using as support. “I’m tired..”

“So am I,” Mitch confessed with a grunt of annoyance at the fact that he was speaking the truth. He wanted to explore the rumored prison and even see Mr. Slendy, not sleep! He wanted to be the first person to actually see the ghost, not part of the group that “chickened” out of their chance. Well, it wasn’t chickening out, but others back at the village may think so.

Bodil coughed, sitting down on a pile of leaves in front of Bash and the Canadian. He turned down the light power of the flashlight and placed it between him and them. He crossed his legs and rest his elbow on his knee, resting his chin on his fist.

“Should we go on?” asked Bashur, biting his lip. “It’s getting really hard to get around here, and we can always follow the path back now that we have a light o make sure we don’t lose it on the way. I don’t think it’s going to work for much longer..” The wind howled menacingly, like a wolf would, as Bash finished speaking. Mitch and Bashur shivered and jumped in surprise. They both looked at Bodil with equal embarrassed expressions at their reactions.

“W-We’re already here, going back would be a waste of time!” Mitch answered, looking at Bash with what was a doubtful look flicker in his amber eyes, which were starting to loose their excited glimmer.

“I don’t think we’ll lose the path that easily, Bash!” Bodil commented while rolling his eyes, “We can feel the rocks under our feet, and we still are on the right path.” He picked up the light and pointed it at his feet, clearing the darkness off the pebbles that lead them in the right direction. He didn’t look as shaken up as Mitch and Bash. In fact he had a slight smirk on his face.

“I don’t know about this, guys..” The hybrid glanced at what he thought was behind him. “Maybe we can still catch up to Ashley.”

“You can go and be a chicken if you want,” Mitch taunted with a grin. He looked at the Bulgarian with the same expression and a slight head tilt towards the melon. Bodil picked up what Mitch was saying and laughed at Bash, slightly pushing him by the arm. “You never old us you were part chicken!”

“I’m not a chicken!” Bashur complained, staring at his feet. After a while, he sighed. “Guess it’s too late to back out anyway,” He glanced up at the rattling leaves that hid the faces of looming animals, the only clue that they were there being their luminous eyes. Bash shivered at the sight, embracing himself with his arms. 

The Canadian stretched and rubbed his eyes clean from sleep. He wasn’t going to let the upsetting look of the forest get to him, not without a glance at Mr. Slendy, that is. Bodil was still smirking a bit, in a humorous and mocking way like he had back when ashley was with them. He looked tired, but not as scared as Bashur, who was shaken, but good enough to go on. 

“Let’s go then!” The Bulgarian picked up the flashlight as the trio started to walk again, the breeze swirling and calling out to them in an.. ee-eer.. eerie way. Was that what his father had said in his stories?

As they walked down the path, the noises started to get worse. The darker it got, the more unknown calls reached the groups voices, sending shivers down their spines. The watermelon would cry out in surprise now and then when something would flash in front of his face. Mitch was the unlucky kid who had to walk next to Bashur, and every time the hybrid creamed Mitch’s eardrums would wear off bit by bit. Now he was definitely wide awake. 

Of course, the Canadian and the Bulgarian, though mostly the first, weren’t completely empty of fear. They both would exclaim -- and squeal embarrassingly -- whenever something happened unexpectedly or a noise made their skin crawl. Even if Bodil was acting nervous too, he was noticeably quieter and more calm than the hoodie-wearing boy. In fact, he would burst in laughter at the smallest things sometimes. Maybe it was because we was trying to lighten everyone up or because he actually found rabbits funny. 

More than once Mitch broke mid-sentence into a stutter or his voice would break. One of these instances he somehow managed to sound exactly like a whistle. 

“What the balls was that?!” Bashur exclaimed, chuckling.

Mitch, who had covered the lower part of his face with his hands, glared at the melon. Tonight was not going as he had expected. He had wanted to find Mr. Slendy and look cool while doing so, but these squeaks and voice-breaks made it hard for him.

Bodil was already laughing really loudly, clutching his stomach. “That was the weirdest sound I’ve ever heard come out of your mouth!”

“It wasn’t that funny,” grumbled the embarrassed Mitch.

“It wa-” Bash stopped his laughing short and his mouth fell open. Mitch couldn’t tell if his pupils had dilated, but he could imagine them as such.

“Bash?” Bodil turned to where the hybrid was staring with a confused expression. “What is it?” Mitch looked at ‘it’ as well, but there was nothing there. 

Before anyone could say anything else, the bush behind the trio rustled, making them all whip their heads towards it. Nothing but a quick glimpse of a gray-and-white blur.

“What was that?” Mitch asked out loud, his voice an octave higher than usual. The Bulgarian turned to him, his eyes flickering with alarm. 

The Canadian looked at the melon, who was frozen in place. He poked his back, making Bashur cry out and lash a hand out towards Mitch. He stumbled back, his friend’s fist barely missing his nose. 

“Oh sorry!” The hybrid stood back, shaking from head to toe.

Mitch blinked in surprise, but saved his anger since it had logically been his own fault for accidentally spooking Bash. “It’s fine, but what did you see?”

“S-Slendy!” The watermelon burst out, waving his hands and arms. 

“What?!” Bodil and Mitch chorused in surprise. The Canadian’s heart leapt, both in disappointment and excitement. If it had been Mr. Slendy, then he had just missed his chance, but that meant that he was still near.

“It was a really tall man, like really tall. His arms were freakishly long as well and his finger were really thin too. He was wearing a black suit with a matching tie.. and his face was white,” Bashur shivered and clenched his teeth. 

“It is him!” Mitch exclaimed, looking around. “Mr. Slendy! Slendy-” He stopped calling out the name when Bashur shut his mouth with his nubby hand. 

“What are you doing?!” He exclaimed, his voice high.

“You got to see him, now it’s my turn!” The Canadian complained, pushing Bashur’s hand away. 

Bodil started to look around too, pointing the flashlight everywhere, “Mr. Sleeeeendyyyyy!”

“Guys, stop!” Bash cried out in a desperate voice.

“Why-” Halfway through Bodil’s sentence, the flashlight flickered brightly and then shut off completely, leaving the group in the dark with no light besides the lucky moonlight strands that sneaked in through the gaps between the leaves. Mitch was left blinking in surprise, then squinting in an attempt to make out his surroundings. 

Bodil exclaimed, the sound of him flicking the light switch being repeated over and over. “Guys, the light’s dead!”

Bashur screamed, paranoid. “We need to go back hone, now!”

Mitch groaned, “But I want to see him!” He wasn’t going to let the trek up to here be for nothing! “Is he aro-”

His vision suddenly flashed, but not like he had seen a bright light. It looked more like squiggly lines of black and gray were twitching across his eyes and surroundings at full speed. In a wink of an eye those lines didn’t like like lines anymore, but like the smallest dots he had ever seen, buzzing across a white background. Mitch cried out in sudden fear. What was this?! He could feel his head buzz and pulse with a slowly-rising sound; screeching and hissing from creatures that he had never heard before. If he was to compare the sensation to anything, it would be a snowstorm. But even then it was a far guess. Snowstorms never gave him the headache that he was feeling. He clutched ears and fell to his knees, screaming in pain.

“Mitch!” He va-va-va-vaguely heard his friends call his name over the white claws of the noise as it tore through his head. What was this?! Was this Slendy’s doing?

The Canadian felt a hand on his back and another grasp his hand and pull it. Judging by the absence of fingers of the hand on his back, he guessed that that was Bash. Pulling 

him to his feet must be Bodil, then. Mitch choked back his cries as his friends led him away, him stumbling as quickly as he could.

Bodil screamed from Mitch’s left and he could hear a bush and a tree rustle as the buzzing started to disappear from his pained head. He was pushed harder by the watermelon and pulled by the Bulgarian, and now that he was in much less pain, Mitch could run faster. He heard the grass rustle under his shoes and the leaves crunch and break under them as opposed to the swirling hissing of monsters in his head.

Just when the Canadian thought that he and his friends were safe enough from danger, he heard Bashur cry out and the sound of a dull thud hit the ground. Bodil’s anguished calling of the melon’s name came afterwards, and Mitch felt the hand on his wrist leave his side. 

His vision cleared in a second, curiously enough, and he found the hybrid laying on the ground with Bodil knelt down next to him and shaking him. “Bash, Bash!” The Bulgarian called in desperation at his out-cold friend.

Mitch gasped and ran to Bashur’s side, examining his body for signs of injury, but found none. The melon just twitched every few seconds, but did nothing else.

“What happened?!” Mitch asked Bodil, who looked at him with a surprised expression. 

“Slendy! He came from behind and suddenly Bash is on the ground! He looked like he had head pain before he collapsed!”

Mitch’s eyes widened. Had Bash felt the same that he had? But why hadn’t he passed out? Bodil made Bash’s headache sound quick, so it must’ve been worse.

A gray flash flew past their faces, making both Bodil and Mitch gasp and stumble back in fear and shock. When they looked up, a black figure was looming over them. Of course, they couldn’t really see the dark part, but the white face stuck out like the moon itself. 

The Canadian and the Bulgarian screamed, jumping to their feet and running away as quickly as they could. They were leaving Bash behind, but they figured that their pursuer would follow them and leave Bash alone. Besides, they had no other choice. They would be dead of all three were standing in the same spot.

The forest was completely back, and that certainly didn’t help the duo escape the woods. More than once they crashed into trees and tripped over rocks and fell into dips. They were tired and their limbs screamed at them to stop, but the adrenaline pumping in their ears told them, “Fly, you fools!” Well, Mitch’s did. He didn’t know what Bodil’s was telling him.

Mitch tried to evade the trees, but he inevitably smashed into as many as he could before he was sent crashing to the ground. He landed on his back with a grunt, but he screamed in order to get Bodil’s attention. He heard the Bulgarian call his name, but it faded fast as the humming and buzzing from before started to return. This time, however, it was much faster. He immediately saw dots, not lines, and instead of mild hissing and growling, he felt like there was an explosive fight between animals and beats unknown to him and he was in the cross fire. Teeth sunk deep into his thoughts and claws swiped over and over on his subconscious, deeper and deeper each time. Fire started to spread from the bottom of his spine to the back of his collarbone, sending an electrifying and horrible shock throughout all his veins and ducts. He screamed all the while in fear and agony before his sight was washed over with white and the waters of unconsciousness brought him into a sea of emptiness.