Jeff glanced up at the tall, slim man next to him. He had no features, his head the perfect porcelain image that artists would long for to begin their work. But due to this curse, he had no mouth this which to speak. Yet if you were branded, chosen personally by the cursed, then his thoughts were yours to read when he so wished. He could see inside the young ones mind and didn't like what he saw. Time was taking its toll. Mindless, cruel pretences that were worn for the 'job' were easy to put on; but were getting ever harder to remove. Being so young, barely past his twentieth year, Jeff was struggling.

Take off the act, Jeffery, the others are waiting...

The boy took a breath, and finally the blade was released, still standing erect within the wood, "Yeah yeah, I know." He shook himself and donned a cocky smirk, "Come on, Slendy it's me we're taking about here! I'm always alright after a sit down," he caught sight of his clothes and shrugged, "and a shower."

You need to work on your composure...

"Will do, well, like you said the others are waiting!" Jeff rushed, backing towards the door eagerly, just glad to finally be home again, "So this means I'm off duty for the rest of the week, right?"

That depends...

"On?"

Depending...

"To the point as always, Slendy, much appreciated."

Jeff, priding himself on even daring to be sarcastic towards his mentor, picked that moment to dart from the room and down the corridor towards his room. The damp patches on his clothes felt oddly cooling against his skin. He enjoyed it. It wasn't part of his public character that he'd accidentally adopted, it was a fact. When it started to dry there was an odd texture to it that when against skin, just made him feel at home. But only for a little while. If it was too wet, or dried too much, then it was just plain gross.

Upon entering his room, the patches were just getting to the disgusting stages and he happily stepped into the shower. The heat stung at his scars, but he didn't mind. They didn't hurt. For he felt there was a difference between a hurt and a sting; stings were signs of feeling, pain was just annoying. Minutes later he emerged and dressed in his favourite white hoodie and an old pair of jeans before opening his laptop and loading up the A.I site: Cleverbot.

User: Haunted Majora's Mask

Cleverbot: BEN.

User: what happened to BEN?

Cleverbot: He drowned.

User: Well tell him to suck it up, grab a towel and get his ass over here now, I'm bored as hell.

He barely had time to finish typing his last statement before he felt a chill behind him. Glancing over his shoulder, he caught sight of the familiar translucent figure of what looked like a Link cosplayer hovering lazily in the air with a wry smile quirking his lips, eyes alight with sarcasm within the charred black remains.

"Well since you asked so fucking nicely." The spectre commented, smacking the breather on the back of the head.

"Fuck you." He returned, closing the computer.

"Whatever, how was tonight's special guests?" Ben asked, rolling his eyes.

Jeff shrugged, "Same old. This time it was some stoner who'd been giving his family some shit over the past few years."

"Wow, great story..."

"Hell I wasn't listening to what Slendy told me! Makes no difference to any of us if he stole a candy-bar from his kid or gave his wife a broken rib, it all ends the same way for them."

"Ah yes the ever famous Go to Sleep..." Ben scoffed, "Seriously, you should have picked a better phrase there. What's next? Nursery rhymes before bed?"

"Says you. You shouldn't have done that... What, are you their mom and they've just kicked a puppy?"

"Fuck off." He rolled his eyes again for good measure, "Oh speaking of pups; I was suffering the net earlier -"

"Literally?"

"Naturally. And guess who's finally gotten their own audio-reading of his fake-out story on Youtube?"

"Not Smile?"

"Who else?"

"Not bad. It's still a crap story though, I mean who comes up with this stuff?"

Ben looked down at his attire, "No clue, but I've got a few bones to pick with them."

Jeff sniggered cruelly, "That story's a load of bull and you know it."

"Yeah but I'd rather have someone else to blame."

"You sure did pick a bad day to go to swimming during an expo, huh?"

"Fuck off."

Elsewhere, in the room that was generally reserved for socialising, resting and the like, was a young woman shuffling a pack of cards and dealing them out only to collect them once more. Each card was personalised, branded with the name, Alice. Across the table, she was joined by a teen boy, head hidden under a dark blue hood, eyes covered by amber-lensed goggles behind which were wide with intrigue at the cards swift movement. He adjusted the barred blockade that covered his mouth and chin so that he could give his neck a satisfying crack. The copper haired woman on the late side of twenty-one glared at him for doing so, stopping her shuffling and turning towards the corner of the room, huffing at another member of company not far off.

"Hey Jack! Are you joining me for a game?"

The hunched figure straightened, revealing a face so pale and covered in gloom it looked icy blue from cold. Although permanent tears of black fell down its cheeks, there were no eyes to stop them. Just two pools of inky blackness. A mouth so small it went almost unnoticed. But it opened a miniscule amount to let some choice words slip though.

"No..." he sighed.

"Awe come on! It's boring as hell here without any jobs heading our way, we've got to pass time some way!"

"I don't want the jobs. I don't want to play." He muttered. Now he was too young for this, the strain building rapidly. Never able to reach his seventeenth, Slender had often wondered if he'd recruited the boy too early.

"God's sake drop the public character already... Actually, put it back on, at least that version of you doesn't talk."

A smug voice slicked over her shoulder, "It was you who started the conversation, Alice."

She turned to catch sight of her challenger, but was only able to see a sneering face vanish into the walls, a stream of shadows snaking after him. Shadow Lurker, she mentally spat, he can piss off too, "Piss off, Shad!" she added openly just for added effect, "And damn it, Toby if you crack your neck one more time I swear to god I'll cut you!"

"I can't help it! And I could say the same for you and your card shuffling." Toby quipped, pouting behind his barred mask, "Shuffle, shuffle, shuffle all day long!" suddenly his chin shot to the left with a violent snap, followed by an unnatural mechanic tick, "Oh now that one felt good..."

Alice, you're needed...

Everyone in the room flinched as the deep yet silvery voice echoed into their heads. They knew it well, it was their calling. Alice jumped up and pocketed the cards, keeping one to flicker between her fingers. It belonged to the diamond suit, and would not be seen after tonight.

"About time I got some action!"

"You enjoy this too much." Toby scolded, "It's not healthy, you know-Agh!" he twitched as his neck fell into another spasm.

"You're the expert." She returned with a sardonic tone, "And it's not the job I like. That takes me, like, ten minutes and I'm not spending that right away when there's an entire place to see first. Why do you think I take so long on my jobs? I want to at least see the world before I take someone out of it."

"It's not good waiting till the last minute." Jack whispered, shaking his head.

"Works for me." She shrugged, eagerly wondering into the corridor, "See ya, losers!"

"Bye!" Toby called after her, but then paused in realisation, "Hey!"

"She's gone, pal." Shad muttered, slithering back through the wall and taking the now occupied seat. He seemed to be dressed in shadows, a gloved and resting on the table to drum thin fingers against the wood rhythmically, "Procrastinating bitch..."

Jack sighed, curling further into himself on the sofa, "So cruel, we're all so cruel."

Shad narrowed his lifeless grey eyes, "We're busy. She knows that the longer she takes all the extra jobs she could take share in get passed on to the next loser."

"Like us!" Toby interjected, Alice's last insult playing in head once more, "Oh wait..."

"What're we waiting for?"

The group looked up to see Jeff burst into the room, eyes wild with his etched grin fixed in place. Ben drifted past him lazily and landed beside Jack, wryly tugging his hood to further intimidate the shy humanoid.

"We're just calling Alice a bitch." Toby answered honestly, "Because she procrastinates. Right, Shad?"

"In a nutshell..." he sighed, irritated at being ratted out.

Ben arched an eyebrow, "So she's on a job?"

"Matter of speaking. After she goes sightseeing of course."

"Bitch." Jeff agreed.

For a moment, the group remained in silence. In honesty, they didn't think that it was fair. Each person in that room was, to put it politely, unique when it came to appearance. Yet Alice was practically indistinguishable from one human girl to another. It was more than easy for her to leisurely take her time among the crowds and pretend for a little while that she was one of them. Back-story unknown, a blank slate was easy to create before the murderous mask was once again put into use. But as for the others, free time amongst others was dangerous. So it was in their best interests that they completed their job as quick as possible, get back to sanctuary without being noticed, and then watch in amusement as the twisted artwork and fan-pages and vaguely described news articles surfaced days later.

Frankly there were moments when those who lived in this hidden haven (the number of occupants unclear but there were many) when they just got tired of one another's company. Ben huffed at the emptiness, "It's days like this why Facebook was invented..."

"Facebook? Since when does Alice have a Facebook? We're not allowed Facebook!" Toby cried, insulted at the unfairness of it all.

"Why the hell would I want a Facebook?" Jeff scoffed, "I've got about fifty fucked up fan-girls setting them up for me already!"

"Oh and some of the things they make you say are just adorable Jeffy-boy." Ben sneered, having hacked many of said accounts in his time.

"Fuck you..."

Shad grinned, sensing an opportunity, "Why not ask Slendy for some... time off?"

"Won't work." Jack mumbled, "Stuck forever."

Ben slumped his shoulders, "I'm fully aware it won't work but I'm willing to try just to get away from the overwhelming sense of joy coming from him." He pointed his thumb to make a point.

Jeff sniggered, "Forget that shit, I say we just get up and out on our own."

"Getting adventurous, aren't we?" Shad mocked.

"Getting a pain in the ass, aren't we?" he shot back.

"You are since you're asking."

"Burn..." Toby chuckled, his shoulders cracking with every movement.

After much discussion, and with the conclusion that although it was pointless it was still something to do, Jeff, Ben and Shad were making their way down the corridor. Toby had felt bad leaving Jack alone, considering Jack had a nasty habit of falling into his outside character when alone for too long and Slender had ordered he be in near-constant supervision. So the trio ventured out alone.

But one thing stood in their way. It was something so simple that they felt a little ashamed at the unease of it. It was an open doorway. Just beyond it, was the door. The one to the outside world and to a moment of freedom. The thought of full escape had once or twice crossed their mind, sure. But they'd never go through with it. They'd heard stories of previous members attempting that, and they weren't heard of again.

Fear was extremely rare among them; unease however was something of a different matter. They'd already disappeared enough from the world, they didn't exactly want to risk vanishing for real too. So before they could pass on to the outside, they must first find a way to sneak past the first door. This led to a simple, plain room, but who dwelled within it was the one who assigned them to their 'jobs'. And to mess with him was not worth their necks.

The group peered around the doorway. Their mentor lay motionless on top of the sheets of a practically bare bed, the shadows fleeing from his porcelain, featureless face. For a moment, the silence felt like it was going to crush them. Until it was carefully broken by a faint whisper.

"How the fuck do you tell if he's asleep or not?" Jeff asked, looking up at Ben who hovered near the top hinges, "Can't you go invisible or use some kind of ghost shit to find out?"

Ben glanced down at him, "Do I look like Casper the fucking friendly ghost?"

"Guys," Shad muttered, trying to get their attention, but failed.

"No, you look like a pixellated medieval gimp; now get in there and see if he's asleep or not!"

"Guys..." Shad tried to interrupt again.

"Isn't it your job to make people go to sleep?" Ben challenged with a mocking tone.

"Guys!

"What?" they snapped, turning to glare at him.

A wry grin appeared on the shadows face, "I'd take another look if I were you."

The pair tilted their heads quizzically, but nevertheless turned to peer back into the room. Jeff, and Ben if he had any, felt their blood turn to ice as the bed which had once held their mentor, was now empty. The darkened room held no sign of him ever even being there. That was one thing they forgot about Slender, if you lost sight of him, then he really could be anywhere. Waiting.

"Have fun boys..." Shad smirked, melting into the wall behind him. His entertainment had been filled, he'd no reason to stick around anymore now.

"Bastard." Ben spat, "Well, uh, good luck buddy."

Jeff watched in outrage as the spectre pulled out a cell-phone which he recognised as his own which he'd managed to swipe some time ago. Ben winked smugly before pressing a finger to the illuminated screen, letting it sink inside along with the rest of his arm and soon enough, his entire being. The phone clattered to the floor and the light dimmed. The remaining member of the group snatched it up and shook it violently.

"Coward!" he hissed.

Who would you be referring to, Jeffery...?

The chilling voice inside his head made him straighten up, turning on his heel to gaze up at the towering figure that he had so desperately wished to avoid. He forced a grin, which wasn't hard considering his facial condition, and clutched the phone behind his back.

"Uh-hehe... No one Slendy-uh Slender! So... nice night, huh?"

Nice night for an assignment...

Avoiding the urge to slump his shoulders, he remained composed, "Couldn't agree more. Here's hoping you have a safe trip."

I think we both know what I mean, Jeffery...

At that, Jeff did slump his shoulders, bringing a scowl to go with it. He sighed, "I'll get my knife..."