Where do I begin?

Elliott here.

Managed to wrestle coherency out of Elaine for a little while. I think anybody with a shred of common sense will figure she's not in the greatest of states - but hell, is anybody? Anyways. Got her functioning long enough to get myself on here. Figure you deserve an explanation.

Let me start off by saying we're safe - or, well, as safe as we can be given the circumstance. It's me, Elaine and Emily crammed in a car. It's spacious, at least, and Elaine and I are taking shifts. Em is basically comatose on my lap, the poor thing - she's got the softest brown hair and the clearest fucking blue-gray eyes and she just looks completely and utterly destroyed. I can't say I blame her, either - seeing what she saw there is something no six-year-old should have to deal with. Or anybody, for that matter.

From what I've heard, Rich and Shaun are travelling together. Good on them. They're tough bastards. Alex is with Steele, Rivers and Ray and they're not doing so hot - though they're alive, and fuck that's worth a whole lot right now. Rivers, Steele, thank you again for taking in Alex. I don't think I can express my gratitude enough. I don't even want to begin to think of what would happen to him if you didn't agree - and I'm so, so sorry about getting you dragged into this. Rivers, you'd better pull through. I've got a debt to repay to both of you.

But enough stalling.

Hope.

I could tell the place was off the second we set foot inside the concrete walls. Something about the way the floors creaked and the way the light hit the paint made the place seem uncanny. It had the same smell in the forest - under the pine and the damp earth, there was the unmistakable /stench/ of sulfur, pine and something I think we eventually nailed down as tar. Acrid and bitter. It burned your throat and made your eyes water. It wasn't nearly as strong as the forest had been, but it was still there. Notes of it on the edge of every breath. If you didn't step out for some fresh air you'd develop a headache - or, that's what happened to the three of us. Rich hated the place, Alex was uneasy and I was on edge. Every time I'd slip to the roof for a cigarette I'd see the slender bastard at the edge of the property, watching. Waiting. As if something was keeping him out.

We figured that one out, huh?

It was one hell of a deal, too. Tried leaving Hope to go shopping with Alex once. Second we crossed the property line Tall, Dark and Slender was on us - on /Alex/. We weren't two steps over and got back before he could be snatched up, but I don't think I'd ever been more scared of losing one of them. The second we were back over He stopped. Went back to watching us. Waiting.

(And of course now that we're out it's only gotten worse. Off in the corner of your eye. Like you've got blind in the deepest part of your peripheral vision, except the hole wavers every once and a while. It's barely a movement at all - always seems to happen just when you forget it's there. The fucker's toying with you and you know it and goddamnit it's working.)

...

I'm stalling again.

Can you blame me?

(Yes. Get on with it, Broodmoor.)

I... wasn't actually around for the start of it. I was supposed to be out of Hope by noon today. While everybody was having what'd be the last communal lunch, I was packing. Missed the glorious reappearance of Slender himself, Rivers getting his leg splayed open and destroyed - by the sounds of it, anyways - and the chaos that tends to follow this kind of stuff.

But I'd be damned if I didn't feel it in the place. So could Alex. I think to an extend everybody else could, too. If you stared at the walls they'd flicker and the rotten eggs and pine stench was noxious. But that aside, the place was quiet. Peaceful. Deceptively so, you could say - the calm before the storm.

(And don't think I didn't notice the date. Maybe it's coincidence, but I'm not stupid enough to dismiss it so quickly.)

Then hurricane Slender hit with full force. Rivers loses the use of a leg, Steele grabs him, Ray and Alex and books, Nick and Ellen are off riding flaming wolves somewhere, (/how much I wish I was kidding about that/) and I come into the kitchen just in time to watch Jennifer and Adam get run through by Dr. Stalktopus himself.

Elaine's standing between them. Defending them from Slender. He doesn't take kindly to this, of course, and grabs her by the leg and tosses her across the room. It's then that He turns his attention to the mother and child and lets them share the same fate as their husband and father.

Adam wasn't old enough to chew his own food. Babbled and bubbled. Couldn't have been more than a year and he was slaughtered in his mother's arms. Her dad was killed off before then - shotgun only a couple feet away. I didn't want to think about it.

And there's Emily, staring in horror.

I grabbed her and ran. 'Course Slenderfucker grabbed me. Popped my arm right out of its socket. Hurt like a bitch. Still hurts like a bitch. Popped it back in a while ago but it's still awkward and painful as fuck. But I'll live. Bastard's been waiting twenty years for me - a few more won't kill Him.

Had my bag over one shoulder and Em over the other. Injuries be damned I wasn't going to let her die. Ran until we got out of Hope - which had by then turned into a maze in itself, doors leading into different rooms than the ones you entered through. Windows blocked halls and I think we ran along the top of a door frame at one point. It was messed up. BC had some seriously weird architecture, but that was unsettling. This just didn't make sense. The kitchen was on fire. The sitting room - the one with the piano - was soaked in gasoline. Wouldn't be long until the fire reached it and there'd be a sizeable boom to follow - at least if Hollywood has taught me anything.

Flash of red. Giggle. Green eyes.

Writer. Couldn't see the bastard but I knew he was there. Probably the one responsible for filling the rooms with gas. Crazy bastard.

(Guess the forest wasn't enough for you, huh?)

We started driving. We're still driving. Not going to stop until we get to Vermont.

Time for my shift. I'm probably forgetting a few things. Going to add what I can as I can.

Departures and Another New Arrival

After quite a lot of insanity, Michael has left for real. He's pretty much single handedly responsible for making all our lives at Hope more interesting, what with the slendercrazy, but I'm going to miss the bastard.

He's the first of the long term 'residents' to actually leave, which is a little sad. Here's hoping the fucker doesn't get himself killed out there on his own.

Opal and Alice left a couple days ago, though that hasn't made much difference as they were in lockup the entire time. Considering what happened when the RtS folks let her stay with them, I certainly wasn't going to take any chances. I must confess to breathing a sigh of relief when they left, though.

TMV is also leaving, which is another one that I'm sad to see go. He's been a good friend to me for quite a while, I'm sad to see him leave. But, he has things to do, and I'm certainly not going to get in the way of that.

Still, the house feels so much emptier, even with Lexi arriving. It would be enough to depress me, except that the fact that my life is at the point now where I have time to sit around and be sad because friends left is kind of insane, in a good way.

I'm still working on sorting through Cam's journals and such. There should hopefully be a post up on that within the week.

A Day of Peace

We have another new arrival today and I have to say, he's probably the one I've been most excited about. Shaun's here, and it's completely insane and completely wonderful. He's just looks so fucking happy to be here. I'm glad I could do this for him. He's my oldest friend among the runners, and I really honestly never expected to get to meet him. And yet. Here he is. I'm excited to have him here.

To add to the general air of excitement and good cheer, Joel's back! Not Wolf, not that weird halfway state, but Joel. Lucas has been floating on air all day and I can't honestly say I blame him. It's good to have my friend back, and at this point I know too well what it feels like when a lover goes over...
But Joel's back and smiling and they're billing and cooing again like they always used to. I swear, there's something in the air here at Hope, everyone's being all couply.

So, tonight Hope celebrates. Because apparently, sometimes things really do work out.

Just a Little Note

I've been a bit busy to update-there's a lot to do getting a place this large set up, a lot of little things that need to be taken care of-and that take a lot longer with injured ribs like this.

Lis, Tia, and Blake arrived Wednesday. It's been good to have them, and the impromptu birthday celebrations the other night were fun. I have been very glad to have a chance to spend time with Lis in person, and it's been fun getting to know Tia and Blake.
They've settled in pretty well, and I'm really glad to have them all.

Nemo last night as well, bringing with him three rather special folks. Levi, Jennifer, and Emily Johnson. Now, these three don't have a blog, but they do keep tabs on them as much as they can. Mostly, they just focus on running.
They are probably the only family of runners that I've heard of (except perhaps for the ill fated Delmonts, but they weren't running all together). These guys are smart, all three of them. When Emily started seeing slendershit, they did the standard police thing, but when it wasn't working, they did some research. Found the blogs, started reading, figured out what was going on.
They weren't going to let their daughter go. So they packed her up, piled into their minivan, and started running. That was... mid August.
They've held it together pretty well, all things considered, but they were running low on funds to pay for food and such even before the van broke down. They hid out in an abandoned house and tried to set it up to be as safe as possible and sent me a distress call-they found the post about Hope, and how I promised to get people here if I needed to, and just went for it. They didn't really have many options left.
About an hour later Nemo emailed me asking if I needed anyone brought to Hope. Seemed perfect. Worked out pretty damn well. The kid's crazy about him from what I can tell, anyway.
I'm just glad I could help them. Em's such a sweet kid, I can already tell. And Jennifer and Levi? They're just... so devoted to her, it's beautiful.

Visitors, Requests, and a Name

I have to say, I honestly didn't expect Hope to take off so quickly. That's the name I've given this place. Hope. Because that's what it is.
In any event, I didn't expect this place to get so popular so quickly. But it's looking like there's going to be twelve people here by next week. So, I'm really excited and proud of how well Cam's dream has paid off. I've got all of you, and as of today I can safely say I think we're as safe as we can be. Mystery was very helpful with some protective mojo we could try, and looking through Cam's notes, he's got some really good ideas, all of which he's incorporated into this place.
I can't promise that it'll work, there's no guarantee, but it seems likely, anyhow.

In other news, we had a visitor today. David, to be precise. I've dealt with him a couple times before. I'm never quite sure what to expect with him because he seems quite fond of me, but he is David, and he's done some terrible things to people.
But, again, he was quite friendly with me. He showed up at the gate and asked to see me, didn't object when I refused to let him inside(Polite or not, he's still a proxy).
I took him out to get dinner at this little diner not too far from Hope. We had a nice chat. I think... I dunno, I think he's fucking lonely or something. I'm not sure what he wants, otherwise. He's not making threats or trying to seduce me to the fucking darkside, just... talking.
I don't really know what it was about, but what I do know is that seeing him like this, I know why TMV was willing to go with him.

In any event,  he's long gone by now. I really just have one more thing to say. Anyone who wants to come stay at Hope needs to email me, and I'll chat with you and hopefully give you directions. For security I'd prefer not to put stuff up in comments about it-I don't want proxies tracking you here.
My email is takethemyth@gmail.com
I hope to hear from anyone who needs me. Hope is here for those who need it.