Blackness. That's all she had seen. Laying there in her room, as the air got colder and colder while her skin grew goosebumps. And then a rush of wind had blew her hair around as she slowly sat up, rubbing her eyes and she saw the tall very thin figure of a slender man. She had stared with white green eyes as the strings slowly started stretching from his body and his limbs seemed to grow longer. But what scared her the most was he had no face. It was completely white. No nails. No hair. Her throat went dry as she let out a cry when she jumped from her bed when a long limb snatched for her.

She knocked over her lamp when she ran towards her window, scrambling in her pajamas as her ipod banged around in her left pocket. She slammed into the window, staring at the rain pounding on the glass as thunder rolled outside and she was struggling to get the lock undone. But then she whipped her head to the door but realized she didn't have enough time as the thing slim figure came closer and closer, the long strings beginning to travel near...

She struggled to unlock the window but then something cold wrapped around her waist and then more cold thick strings wrapped around her limbs. The scream in her throat was trapped and frozen as blackness overcame her eyes and then blackness overcame her...

Blackness.

~~~~~~~~

Requiem's eyes slowly opened, staring down a dark floor, her palms pressing against the marble like texture and she felt cold sweat dripping down her forehead. She had been laying on her stomach, and the air she breathed struggling to get through the tight and nervous throat she had. She struggled to take a deep breath as the images from her nightmare flashed in her head. ... It had only been a dream. It wasn't real. She sighed in relief, slowly sitting up and her eyes were closed as she ran a hand through her thick orange red hair. The air was cold, making the sweat on her forehead and body spread as she shivered lightly and then she opened her eyes.

Her whole body froze. She was in a dark room, dim lights around and she saw a chair or so around. She saw a few other bodies in the dim light laying on the floor and her eyes froze at one; seeing the silhouette of a giant key sticking from the back of one of the still bodies. Her eyes blinked and she quickly rubbed her eyes. "What the hell..."

She slowly rose up, trying to balance herself but something heavy was making it hard for her to balance. She stumbled into a dark wall, and grabbed onto a chair, hanging on tight. She was in her baggy blue pajama pants and her tight white tang-top, and she kept shivering as goosebumps grew larger on her creamy pale skin and she felt her throat going dry again. Where was she? Was this still a dream? She would then look for a door, walking towards a dimly lit candle but passing something reflecting. She then turned to the side and a scream escaped her throat.

A large silver key jetted from her pack, a ripped hole through her tang-top. She had a gaping mouth as she stared, and her hands began to shake violently. She then slowly backed away and then she frantically looked around for a door. She had to get out of here. She needed to find out where she was...

This had to be a nightmare... it was just a nightmare...

Or was it?

Iris Park had gone to bed with a gentle look on her face after such a wonderful audition, only to have her expression frown & twist in fright & confusion. Within her mind, a horrible nightmare lingered about. She was a large, skinny man walk towards her. Even if the background was of teddy beards & lollipops, she still would have shivered at the aura he was radiating.

The young woman pushed herself out of the nightmare & clenched at her chest, as if to check she was still intact. Heavy breathing passed back & forth through her parted lips whilst her eyes danced around wildly; she was trying to regain a sense of the real world. However, when her gaze landed on the figure of the same man she'd seen just moments before, her entire body froze within a second. Not even a scream could escape her throat & just like that, she was at his mercy.


Iris woke up with a light-headed feeling, which made her dizzy as she slowly sat up. It was a little harder than she had expected, a heavy feeling attached to her back. At the moment, though, she didn't worry about it for she thought it was just the result of such an odd nightmare. She ran her slender fingers through her brown hair & checked herself a little: her arms, her nightgown & soft bloomers she wore. Then, she looked around her after a little hesitation. She saw very little, but it was enough for her to realize that she was not her room.

Right then, an ear-splitting scream burst out of nowhere. Iris gasped & jumped a little before scooting away from where the scream had come from, only to bump into something else. A part of her understood that it was a person, but the other one just wanted to scream. Which she did.

Sophia had been peacefully sleeping, the sounds of a warm, calm house were all that filled her mind. An empty void of missing dreams on this particular night. Suddenly, a chill blew through the entire room, her cat quickly hissing and disappearing out the door. Only a moment after the animal had left, a form appeared. This form, this inhumanly tall being, was coming into her room.

Snatching her closest object, her ball-jointed doll, she began to shake. Jumping to run, she lept from the bed, managing to make it out of her room and into the living area before the pale white being had grabbed her with a long limb. Thrashing about, she tried with all of her might to get away, eventually biting down upon the limb that held her in the air, keeping her silents screams from escaping. Her desperation was in vain, as all her teeth sank into was solid, not skin. The tall, slender, almost man-like creature appeared angered by her actions, as it dragged her into the street, ramming her sides and back into trees and street lamps.

Eventually coming upon the local playground, Sophia continued to struggle. Her body couldn't take much more of this abuse, or else it would cause enough internal bleeding to possibly become fatal, but she was trying with the last of her sanity to free herself from this horrible nightmare, this creature that would kill her as soon as it got the chance.

Help me... She thought in her last few moments as tears streamed onto the limb. Her body finally gave up, her head slumping to rest on the solid mass, before falling back into a deep slumber.
____________________________________________________
Sophia blinked in a dazed state of mind, relaxing on a small rug. It was soft and comfortable, but she couldn't fall back sleep. Her worst nightmare had happened, her blood ran from her face almost as quickly as is came back. That face-less face with no hair, no nails, and a raging temper to ram her into things. She sat up promptly, stretching her limbs and poking at her sides. Nothing was broken, it was all a dream

Lifting her eyes from her warm fleece pajamas, she looked up. There were others in the room, but two were asleep. What disturbed her most was the fact that they all had giant keys hanging out of their back. Taking a reach behind her, her fingers ran across the smooth metal that had entered her back. A violent sob that also held a small scream came from her throat. It hadn't been a dream! You can't dream within a dream.

It was hard for her to see inside the dark, chamber-like room, but she still managed to find her voice to call out to the standing girl.

"Where are we? And what happened to the tall creature?"

Eliza tossed and turned in her bed, unable to sleep and torn with exhaustion.
She had come home late again, spending nearly all day at the hospital and not even leaving Jake's side when he had fallen asleep. Her aunt and uncle were already asleep when she arrived, having come home earlier, and she made her way upstairs and collapsing onto her bed. But no matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't get to sleep. Why was it so cold? Sighing heavily, she got out of bed and walked over to the window.
"What the..."
The window was shut. So where was that terrible chill coming from? Another shiver went down her spine, but this time not from the cold. She froze, her hands wrapping around the brass horse on her desk. If someone had broken in, she wasn't going down without a fight, she couldn't afford to get put in hospital, she had to stay strong.
Then, very slowly, she turned around.
And screamed.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

A small groan escaped her lips.
The floor felt very cold, even through her skinny-jeans.
Shoot, She thought to herself. I must have fallen asleep at the hospital. The nurses probably didn't bother to wake me since they're so used to me being here. The whole thing about going home was just a dream. Oh well, at least I won't have to wait till visiting hours to see Jake.
She tried to sit up and hissed in pain, there was something sticking out of her back. Eliza reached her hand around her back, wondering if she was wearing some sort of dress up thing and had forgotten to take it off. Her fingers touched something cold... and metal.
Even before she looked to check, Eliza could tell it was a key for a wind up doll.
She could feel the scream rise up in her throat, but pushed it away again, taking the time to look around. There were three other girls here, she was vaguely aware of one of them speaking but that didn't matter now.
"Okay, can someone tell me what is going on?" She asked shakily, trying to keep her composure. She had to stay calm, that was the only way she would get through this.

Requiem spun around when she heard movement on the floor, watching the other bodies start to wake up. She was shaking slightly, from the fright of seeing a key sticking from her back and awaking in a place she had never been in before. She slowly took a deep breath, rubbing her temples lightly as she then pinched her right side, and opened her eyes again but she was still there. She grumbled and she pinched herself again, closing her eyes and then opened them. She was still there. This wasn't a dream. This was real.

At the screams she heard, each made her jump but didn't shock her out of the shocked trance she already was in.

Requiem then heard someone speak. She felt her throat was quite dry. "I don't know... " she said ever so softly and then heard another voice speak. She shook her head. She didn't know. And she figured these girls didn't know either. All she remembered was that nightmare...

... Had it actually been a nightmare?

She then started to walk, her bare feet touching the cold floor as she picked up one of the candles with her right shaky hands. She started to walk around the room, holding the candles close to the wall to look for a door. She noticed a crimson streak on the lower part of the all, and then a crimson hand print. She swallowed thickly but didn't say anything about it; not wanting this room to fill up with more screams. She kept walking around, trying to find a door. She couldn't find anything; it was just a doorless room with no windows. [I first typed winders... xD]

She then turned towards the other girls. "Could... one of you try to... pull this... thing out of my back?" she asked, her voice strained and dry and shaking slightly. The key was heavy; dragging her down a bit.

Galin lay in the other room, sprawled out over his desk, eyes shut, his chest rising and falling softly in sleep. The bits of wood and metal on his desk were scattered about, a screwdriver fallen to his feet. The past few nights, he had busied himself with collecting four more puppet's, building their key locks and winding them up for activity. His past collection had grown dull, and they now lay, with little life left in them as the keys in their backs slowed.

Unlike humans, Slender Man could sleep, but never dream. His unconscious mind was filled with grey, a light ticking echoing through his mind. It was as if a timer was clicking off the seconds of his sleep. It was never restful, but it fixed his mood. No sleep, and his temper would rise.

But, of course, Galin was woken.

Shrieks made the man jolt to life, some of the clutter on his desk fell into his lap. This was how it always was when he had captured a new set... Screams, shouts, sobs... Always the same. How he would wish, despite how much he enjoyed this game of his, that one day, they might change. He doubted they would though. He yawned and stretched his arms over his head, staring into the flickering candle on his desk, the dripped wax having locked it's base into place.

Swiftly, the man pushed himself to his feet and walked over to his workshop door, swinging it open as he entered the hallway to head to the doll room. Maybe he would even catch the others on the way there. Only to wait now, a small smile on Slender Man's mouth as his fingers combed through his hair.

Hayden glanced down at his black and white and let out a sigh. His emerald eyes scanning the room for any signs of dust. It wasn't really his job to clean but he didn't like dust much so he usually took care to make things look spic and span. He tilted his head to the side as he heard the distinct sound of His Lords shoes clacking agaisnt the ground, more then likely heading towards the area where he had put his newest victims."I do hope these ones are more lively then the last..." Hayden muttered as he moved slowly towards where the Prince was. He quickly adjusted his tie and patted his scruffy hair down the best he could before speaking to the Prince."Good Afternoon sir, I just finished writing down a few things for you. I am assuming that you are heading to meet the new ladies then?"He said tilting his head to the side and placing his hands into his trouser pockets.

He was quite pleased that the Prince had found his newest toys, for when he was bored it was a truly terrifying time for all in the house.He had quite the temper and although Hayden usually wasn't at the end of it, he often feared how his Lord acted at times.

Edwin looked up from his book when he heard the first scream echo through the hallway outside of his room.

"Is it that time again already? Those poor girls..." He mumbled closing his book.

He straightened his tie and dusted his suit off before exiting the door. Outside, another scream shattered the silence of the evening. Edwin followed the cries for help towards The Doll Room, where to his extreme displeasure, he bump into Galin standing anxiously. Edwin raised his eyebrow slightly at the young man and sighed.

"Good evening, sir. I take it the newest bunch of toys are ready?" He said grimily. "Of course they're ready. Their deafening calls could wake the dead" Edwin added sarcastically, not allowing Galin to answer.

The Prince smiled as he spotted Hayden, clasping his hands in front of his chest with a nod. "Indeed, I am! I heard them calling out already." He nodded once more before his butler, Edwin, bumped into his back. The Slender Man took a step away from between the two, laughing slightly at what the old butler had said.

"Yes, well, then we may have a bit more company if you're right!" He laughed again, turning on his heel while gesturing to the two over his shoulder, yawning as he spoke. "Care to join me, men?"

Galin really was interested on how this batch would turn out. Probably just the same as their predecessors, but who knew with these type of things. They might even figure out his labyrinth...

After taking a deep breath, Iris regained a hold of herself & looked at her surroundings with a different look in her eyes. A part of her yearned to cry her heart out, but the other--the calmer one--understood that there was nothing she could do at the moment. She decided to go with the second side, letting her old self consume her. Only that way would she survive, she knew.

"I-I'll help you," Iris murmured in reply to the girl's request. She stood up slowly, stumbling back a little at the weight on her back. She didn't need to turn around to see the key, for she knew that, just like the rest of them, it was there. After regaining her balance, she walked towards the female & once close, she placed her fingers on the cold metal. The flinch that followed was involuntary, so she proceeded to pull at the key.

"It... won't budge," Iris said with a frown evident on her voice, but nevertheless she tried again. With no prevail. "W-What's going on?"

At the tugs; Requiem flinched a few times since a stinging pain overtook her back. When the female again tried to pull, she bit her lip so hard it bled slightly from the stinging back in her back. "Damn it..." she muttered under her breath and then turned, looking at the female and Requiem's hand dropped down to her pocket, touching the bumpy object that was her headphones tied around her small ipod nano.

"I don't know... I just... I had this terrible nightmare.. and then I woke up here." Requiem said and then wiped some of the cold sweat from her forehead and she made sure the candle was on the floor a distance from them so she didn't knock it over. "I'm... Requiem." she said, glancing at the girls. She hoped they wouldn't snap at her for introducting herself; but if she was stuck here with them, she might as well introduce herself. She then put another hand through her hair and she felt the key weight her back down and she almost stumbled backwards but gripped a chair and hung onto it as her heart pounded.

Sophia blinked owlishly at the current situations. She felt trapped, or perhaps a better word would have been shocked. She was completely shocked into a frozen state of mind, a million questions rolling around that her mouth couldn't quite keep up with them. All that came out were sounds of 'um' and 'er.' She ran her hand along the metal of her key again, almost crying, but staying ahold of herself. She tugged at the rather heavy and large key, but couldn't make it move. She finally lifted into a standing position.

Turning to her left, there was a dark wall and no way out of the semi-dark room. Turning toward the others, she said the first thing that came to her mind in that moment. "What was that and what's behind that wall?" She walked toward them before pushing her right hand out in front of her.

"Pleased to meet you, Requiem. I'm Sophia."

Hayden nodded his head once and waited to follow his master."Sire I am quite interested to see what sort of batch of girls you brought this time....batch...batch...it does sound like I'm discussing cookies doesn't it? Calling them batches...ah but I digress! "he said chuckling slightly and reaching over to a nearby desk and taking his clipboard from it.

Hayden did like to take notes and see how the girls reacted to their surroundings, he found it most...intriguing.It more often never felt any sadness towards these females but sometimes there was....the one who did soften his cold heart. He shook his head to erase the thought of hr and continued walking and scribbling away random notes.

"Edwin....you look a bit pale my good man, it is quite odd to see you this way are you in good health?"He asked with a slightly concerned voice.He id like the older gentlemen even thought he knew of his ill intentions towards his master.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Requiem, Sofia. My name's Iris," she said with a small bow, her South Korean customs still well intact. However, that didn't prevent her from gently taking hold of Sofia's hand. She offered a kind smile to both of the girls in front of her before speaking again. "I hope this doesn't sound bad on my part, but I have to admit that I'm glad I'm not here by myself. Strength in numbers, right?"

Iris' state of mind had began to completely smooth out; no longer did she see the key behind her as an item that shocked her, but as something that was there & that she was going to take off. Staying in such a place wasn't an option to her at the moment. She would get out & if only the worse comes, she would try her best to protect the rest. She's the kind of woman who puts others before herself, but never forgets her own pair or happiness.

"What do you mean, Sofia? Did you see something behind that wall?" Iris suddenly remembered the woman's words before she'd introduced herself. Now, she shifted her gaze to where she might be referring to.

Sophia shifted uncomfortably at being probed. She wasn't much one to be afraid of things or people, but this was a unique situation within itself. "It's not selfish for you to say strength in numbers. Besides, I'm just happy I'm not alone." She laughed quickly. Her mind was that of an analytical person, one who would overlook a situation and decide the best course of action. Her mind right now was clouded with fear, but at least some relief that she wasn't going to have this little time by herself.

Fiddling with her hair, she peered around in the darkness. All of the walls were too dark, making the room seem much smaller than it really was. Then again, darkness and being alone were her greatest fears, so it could have just been her. Still, her overwhelming sense of paranoia was bothering her. She knew she was paranoid, she had admitted it several times over the course of her life, but something just felt kind of... off about that one wall in particular.

"This whole scheme seems off, but that wall in particular is what worries me. I have no idea why, but most of the hostile tension is coming from over there." She had learned hostility as well. She was only famous for angering the popular girls in school, so hostility rolled off them in blankets. But her mind was still very concerned about who those hostile feelings were coming from.

Eliza kept quiet throughout the whole conversation.
She had managed to regain some kind of sense in her mind and her own dark jealousy told her she didn't need to rely on the others to get out of here. After all, the only reason she had been freaking out was because she couldn't be more than a day away from her brother, these girls probably just had a normal life and were just getting scared because they weren't in it. They probably didn't have anything but themselves to worry about.
If she had looked at her own head several years ago, she would have been horrified at herself and the cruel thoughts she was having.
But Eliza had spent too long in this state of mind to change now.
Sighing to herself, she decided to try and think about the situation.
Reaching a hand around, she pulled at the key in her back... and immediately regretted it because that hurt like hell.
Okay, she had to keep the key for now.
Standing up gingerly, she did the most logical thing her clouded judgement would allow her to do. She walked over and placed her hand on the wall. Slowly she began to walk around the whole room, running her hand along the walls, feeling for any cracks or crevices that would suggest a door or a passageway or something. Nothing. Not a single thing. Although she had to admit, the wall which one of the girls, she thought the name was Sophia, did feel very strange. But there was still no way she could find of opening it.
She moved backwards, going back into the center of the room and looking all around. She looked at the walls, the floor, the ceiling... nothing.
"Come on Eliza," She muttered to herself, ignoring the fact that there were other people in the room. That wasn't hard, she'd been ignoring them ever since she started to look around. She didn't need their help and they weren't offering, so there wasn't any point in worrying about them. "You've seen and recited 'Labyrinth' enough times, you should be able to figure this out."
'Labyrinth'.
How ironic. She had been doing that film for Jake today. She'd started it late because they'de got through the other performances pretty quickly and had only got halfway through it when she'd needed to go home. They'd just arrived at the part where Sarah was about to meet the Fire-Gang.
"Jake, I am going to get back to you." She whispered to herself, blinking back tears.
Crying wasn't going to help, she had to get out of here. Shaking her head, she turned back to the strange wall, trying to think of someway to open it.

Edwin smiled at Hayden warmly. The young man had always treated him kindly, so he held no grudge against him.

"Thank you for your concern, Master Hayden. I haven't been sleeping all that well lately" The old man said painfully "Nightmares are to blame".

Edwin's slumbers had been riddled with images of his late wife. It wasn't out of the ordinary for him to dream about her, but these recent visions had been twisted and dark. He worried that her true form, the way he remembered her, would slip away forever. The gentle woman he married replaced by a dark shade crafted by his feeble mind.

"You needn't worry yourself with me, though. Master Galin will need your full attention in the coming days" Edwin added, patting Hayden on the shoulder.

It wasn't just Hayden that'd have to be on his toes. Edwin would have to be there for the girls in case Galin were to lose his temper. Buffering tense situations had been added to the old man's list of duties over the years.

Iris studied the wall that Sofia had talked about, her eyes only averting away when another woman passed by it with her fingertips grazing over it. She could understand what she had said: there was something odd about it. Without thinking, she said the first thing that popped into her mind, "Is that where that slender man is at? Behind that wall..."

Iris shivered at the thought of him. She could remember his silhouette vividly; the way he walked towards her & also the way she'd frozen up--so unlike her. Despite the nightmarish reality she'd experienced, though, she still wanted to get out of the room they were in. Even if it meant having that man--or thing--come in.

Galin sighed, rolling his eyes with a smile as he merely continued down the hallway, stretching his arms above his head and singing "Ready or not, here I come!" The man laughed, much like an immature teenager as his steps sped up.

Soon enough, Slender Man came to an old styled elevator, the doors manually having to be opened, the buttons dimly flickering. As he stepped inside, Galin leaned against the side of the contraption, crossing his arms and tapping his foot for the other's to arrive. Thank God he had slept, or these girl's probably would have been killed by now.

"Well? Come on you two! We have two pair of beautiful girls upstairs~ No need to keep them waiting!" He laughed again, clapping his hands twice in excitement.

Hayden gave a small nod and brief smile towards Edwin, happy the man was alright. He then nodded once more, his disheveled hair becoming even more wild as he ran to get inside the elevator. He began humming Ode to Joy as he waited for Edwin to climb inside the elevator with them.

"Master Galin, it's slightly...odd to see you in such spirits, are these girls that interesting?"He said tentative, making sure to not anger the man.Though he didn't care for the girls, he wasn't one to be such a sadist to put his Master in a foul mood before truly meeting them.

Edwin joined the two in the elevator, closing the shutter behind him.

"Yes, I noticed you're slightly more excited than usual myself" The old man said to Galin, running his hand over the large switch used to move the lift.

Edwin flipped the switch and the elevator began to move slowly.

"Perhaps Master Galin is hoping this group will be able to traverse the maze and last a bit longer than the previous girls?" He humored, hurting inside for the poor souls that had passed through these halls before.

Eliza continued to stare around the room.
She knew there was a way out of here, there had to be. How else could they have gotten in? But for the life of her she couldn't find the door. She hadn't been able to find any impressions in the wall, or any pressure points to activate a door.
Her attention was suddenly caught by what one of the girls was saying and, finally forgetting her unsociable nature, she spun around to face her.
"The slender man?"
No way. Now that she thought about it, when she had turned around from the window in her 'dream' there had been a tall, slender man... with a ridiculous amount of limbs.
Huh, I'll have to remember this when I get out of here, this could be a great story for Jake.
"Are you saying that he's actually real? I thought that guy was just some kind of hallucination." She said to the girls, trying to find some sense of logic in this situation.
Nope, no logic.
Apparrently she and three other girls had been kidnapped by a mysterious slender man, and had keys implanted into their backs which practically turned them into wind-up dolls.
Eliza groaned, sinking to the floor a little more forcefully than she had intended due to the weight of the key, and placed a hand on her head. She was getting a headache, not to mention backache.
Oh Jake, if only you could see me now. Your one reason to live can't even figure out how to get out of a room after being kidnapped by something which shouldn't even exist.

"Oh, it's nothing~" Galin chuckled, tapping his fingertips together as his neck look upwards, a smile on his face. "I'm just excited to get to see how they are! They did act a tad bit different when I picked them up. His gaze lowered back to the men, fingers falling to interlace as his head fell to the side.

"Most actually tried to fight back! Can you believe it?" He laughed again. "They usually just stare at me before I can take them! One even dared to bite me! Haha!" Somewhere in that last sentence was a tone of anger, Slender Man's eyes growed serious before his joyful exterior returned. "That, and it's nice to sleep after a while, even if it was interrupted by shrieks."

His eye wandered back to the ceiling of the elevator, the clacking of the elevator silent to the girls' room, his foot taping as it inched closer. But, finally, he heard the creaking of doors, a loud thud when a trap door opened in the girl's room. The elevator squeezing through it to rest in the center of the room. In his excitement, Galin squeezed through to open the metal gate, stepping out into the room. He smiled, as he caught the last bit of their conversation, fingers interlacing once more. There were a few more cracking noises, wall candles sliding out and lighting themselves. "Hello, girls!" He smiled. Mentally counting them to all be present. They would have questions, just like the dolls before them.

Edwin was surprised to hear one of the girls had bitten Galin. Maybe there was hope for this bunch, maybe they survive longer than the last set of dolls. When the elevator opened, Galin stepped out first to greet them. The candles grew brighter and now the faces of each young woman could be seen by the old man. Such pretty things... It was a pity they had ended up here. All he could do now was be there for them and pray they didn't talk back to The Slender Man too much.