"Tommy?" I asked in amazement.
"Lyle, Charlie? Is that you guys?" He returned.
"Yeah," Charlie said, "It's us. What are you doing here? You've been missing since Wednesday. What happened?" He played with a strand of his dirty blond hair.
"Come here," Tommy said, "And I'll tell you."
We approached him slowly, and sat down beside him. I looked him in the eyes, waiting patiently for him to begin his story. With a deep breath, he told us.
"I was just explorin' in the woods. I knew where I was, or I thought so, but, when I tried to go back, I got lost. It almost looked like I was in an entirely different part of the woods than I had been when I went in. I know that it makes no sense, but it was like it switched on me."
Tommy stopped for a moment, to catch his breath, and then continued. "I wandered around for a long time, but I got nowhere. So, I kinda just gave up. It started to rain after a while, so I built myself a fort out of some trees and branches. I tried my best to keep it sturdy. Luckily, I'm a boy scout, so I figured it out pretty quickly. I stayed under until the storm stopped, then just walked around for a bit. I didn't really have any reason, other than being bored.
"Later, I saw this deer, and I got hungry, so I went after it. I didn't have any weapons, and I had no idea what I was doing, but I needed food. So, I just chased it through the forest. It got away, but I followed its tracks. I wanted to see if it would bring me to other deer. I walked for hours, but the tracks led me in a circle. I then got really desperate, and took some berries from a bush. I didn't really know if they were poisonous or not, but I figured that I had nothing left to lose.
"I grabbed a bunch of them, until I felt comfortably full, which took a really long time. After that, I got tired. I looked for that shelter that I built, but I couldn't find it. I was too exhausted to make a new one, so I just piled up some leaves to make a bed. When I got up, there was this weird, tall guy standing there. He didn't look like he had a face, but I chalked it up to just being that hungry. That would've freaked me out, but I got very little sleep, so I didn't care much. Anyway, he didn't say anything, but he kind of gestured to follow him. It looked like he was trying to help me.
"When we got far enough, we suddenly stopped. Then, he randomly started attacking me. I somehow got away, but I don't remember how. I just started running. When I was sure that i was away, I built another fort, just so I could have something else to focus on. The rest of the day went a lot like the day before, except that I couldn't sleep at all. Later on, this morning, I thought that I saw him again, so I took off. I'm not sure how long I ran for, but it seemed like forever. My legs were sore, and I was out of breath, so I sat in front of this tree. That's when I saw you two come through."
We wanted to respond, but he left us with so many questions that we had no real starting point. We were all silent for a while, until I decided to speak.
"So much for taking my mind off of Slender Man, Charlie..." I whined. With that, my depression began anew.
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