Hi, my name’s Venessa. I’m deaf and blind. My life’s pretty hard especially since I used to live alone with nobody to help me. I grew up on a small Alaskan farm in the middle of nowhere, so if we ever wanted a pet we would just go into the woods and come back with whatever we found. The folks around town had always warned us about that woods and its history and we never listened…
One winter afternoon, when I was about 6, I was playing outside in the snow when my Uncle Myles comes over to me and signs, “Why don’t you go find us another pet in the woods?” I signed back, “Okay,” got up, and he handed me a long black leash. I then headed into the woods.
Most people thought I was a pretty fearless kid going into those dark woods alone. But most people didn’t know I was deaf so if I heard a noise, I obviously wouldn’t turn around. So I relied on my sense of smell and touch to get around. I was touching every tree with my little pink mittens so I wouldn’t run into one, when I smelled this awful odor. It smelled a bit like blood maybe? I couldn’t cover my nose with my hand because I needed both of my hands to navigated, so I pulled my scarf up over my nose. Now I just had to rely on my hands…
After about seven minutes of just walking straight with my hands in front of me like a zombie, I run into something. I hit my head on it so I assumed it was very tall. I could wrap my arms around it so I assumed it was very slender. I could feel it breathing down on me. So assuming it would be a good pet, I backed up a few feet and lassoed the creature with the long black leash Uncle Myles gave me and started to drag it home. On the way back I started walking a bit slower so I could take my scarf down to see if the smell had gone away; it hadn’t. In fact it was like it was on my pink mittens now…
I had finally gotten to the farm, and I started running happy to show my family what I had found in the woods, when I tripped over something. I poked it and it was squishy so I jumped on it (probably wasn’t the right thing to do) and some sort of liquid squirted out everywhere with that smell I smelled in the woods earlier. I felt it once more. I started to feel a face a familiar face too… I felt glasses and the only one who I knew who wore glasses was… wait what? It can’t be. He can’t be dead… could he? My Uncle Myles dead? No way. So I continued walked and felt more things that felt a bit like bodies… I had finally reached the house when I realized: it was locked. How odd of them to lock me out of the house like this I’d thought.
I then slumped down, still holding onto the leash, and started to play in the snow hoping that one of my family members would see me and get me in the house. I suddenly heard this faint sound which was odd. It was kinda like a police car siren (I assumed). I heard a man yelling faintly (so quite loud if a deaf person could almost hear it) something like, “DROP THE LEASH MA’AM!” I ignored it but then I felt this cold sensation which was weird because I was in like a thousand layers of coats, sweaters, scarves, and hats that it was practically impossible for me to feel cold. I then felt that I was standing in a different place. Like inside of an apartment and all my layers had been taken off and I felt taller. The strangest thing was I could see and hear and I was still holding onto the leash and I finally saw the “pet” I had caught and it was no pet. It was a Slenderman. With sharp teeth and blood around its mouth. From the look on its face I could tell I would die right then and there. And with one chop he ate me alive. I caught a Slenderman that ate me alive…
