Friday, July 1, 2011

My Time With Tom, Part 1

Back in February, I trusted Thomas. Sure, he said he was "Eyes Open", that weird user that posted some crap around other blogs, but he saved Shannon and I from the clutches of the Slender. In my head, I was just so desperate to have someone on my side, so desperate for someone who actually knew what the fuck they were doing.

Tom sure did know what he was doing. He started me off by telling me about the kinds of people who JOIN the Slender, as retarded as that sounds. It's pretty crazy varied, and considering how the Slender operates, really all-over the place. It's different in some places, but for Tom and his friends, he was familiar with a very fleeting operation. He rarely spoke with any other agents/followers/proxies/dingbats, and only met a few outside of his group. There was opportunity for Tom to meet some of the others, but he didn't trust them enough to take it. He told me stories of tracking certain people, staying within his group of three, while the many whispers of some being directing him and pushing him forward.

See, there are people who immediately snap under the Slender's influence. They lose all free will and lose everything that made them who they were. But others take longer. Thomas and his friends wanted to join the Slender, figuring if you can't beat him, why not join him? To Tom, that sounded swell, but he soon realized what happens to the followers who still contain free will. Now, not all will get this, apparently. Sabrina, one of Tom's friends, told me that she never felt what Tom and Joseph felt.

The feeling was sort of like a bug in the back of their mind, slowly inching its way further into their skull. It would eventually eat at your free will, taking it away.

It's like... Indoctrination. Anyone play Mass Effect? What-the-fuck-ever.

Tom didn't like his chances. It became apparent that no matter what kind of follower you were, you would die eventually. Lose your usefulness and be killed... or so Tom believed. Even if this indoctrination were to take you, you still had a limit on your usefulness. I'm not sure if Tom was exactly right, but it made sense to me.

Tom and his friends, Joe/Sabrina, decided they wanted out. They eventually did, went on the run again, and got very good at avoiding the Slender.

I know I've just said Thomas wasn't to be trusted, but all of this, or at least the gist of it, was Tom telling the truth. The Slender had been after him too. I definitely saw the tall guy a lot more when I was with these guys than I ever did before.