Hey, everyone. Sorry that I haven't updated in more than a week. I was actually planning on putting another writing example yesterday, but never got the chance because I was at the hospital. Don't worry, I'm fine. It's best to start at the beginning, though.

Thursday night, Sarah's dad came back after taking off a few weeks ago. You'd think that'd be a good thing, but he had been in an accident or something like that. He had bruises all over his body, most of which had already turned into yellow or purple splotches. He also had a really deep cut on the back of his leg, and Sarah told me that he probably won't be able to walk on it again.

Anyways, his family took him to the hospital around eleven and stayed there for quite a long time. Most of the day, actually, now that I think about it. Sarah called to let me know, and being the concerned, sympathetic guy, I brought lunch to her family. I think they were grateful, except for Sarah's little brother. Apparently, the little shit likes chicken nuggets instead of a hamburger.

Her dad hasn't said anything about what happened, and the doctors told us that he'll probably be there for another week. Strangely, Sarah's mom volunteered to stay behind to keep him company. Maybe she felt guilty about chasing him off or something, but because she was staying the kids also had to stay. I felt that was a little unfair for them, because really, who wants to be stuck in a hospital for the next few days? And since Sarah doesn't have her license yet, there was only one other person who could drive them home. Guess who that was? Yep, you guessed it. Me!

I took Sarah and her family out to eat before driving them home. Sarah was depressed the entire time, though... Maybe because she was right when she had felt something was wrong when her dad didn't come back after a few days. Now that I think about it, I probably should have stayed with her after I dropped them off...

Well, I hope her dad makes it out okay. Sarah would be crushed if she lost her dad.

Right, I know that's not why some of you are reading this. I did say I had some more writing stuff for you. This time it's a little different, though; I'm not examining character archetypes or looking writing parts. It's more like a theme, mixed in with my own feelings and opinions on the subject. Most of this has been brought out by reading some of these Slender Blogs, or watching this documentary about the thing on Youtube. Enjoy!

Darkness
It's a relatively common theme in the media, actually. Whether it's fantasy, horror, or action, you'll find this there. Almost every time you'll find that it's the old theme of the Light versus the Darkness, with the Light winning almost every time. I'm not a huge fan of cheery happy endings, because in the real world not everyone wins; sometimes the villain wins! I mean, just look at the Casey Anthony trial!

Now, while I'm okay with the heroes winning all the time (I don't like it; it's just okay), a place where the villain wins all the time would just be downright depressing. It's like there's no hope at all for you, no matter the effort you put into taking down the villain. It also adds a layer of predictability to it, too, because if you know the villain is going to end no matter what, then what's the point of reading it?

So, how can you make something where the villain always wins, and have it be interesting at the same time? The answer to that question is hope. If you place a thin veil of this between your heroes and the villain winning, then the heroes will have this false hope that they can defeat the villain and live a normal, happy life. As the reader, you're hoping for the heroes to find a way (unless you're a sadistic bastard) to kill the son of a bitch, and that thin veil blinds you, too. That takes away the predictability of the villain winning away. A good example of this would be George Orwell's 1984. If you've read it, you're hoping that the protagonist finds a way to beat this government that is pretty much brainwashing the entire world. There's even a part where it seems like our protagonist is about to join some sort of rebellion. And then near the end we find out that it was all just a lie, and that there had been no hope from the very beginning of the book. Talk about depressing, huh?

I think I've gotten a little off topic from my original subject of darkness, so it's time to come back to that. To me, darkness is probably the scariest thing in the world. Time seems to go so slowly when you're in it, and you always have this feeling that you're being watched. And the worst part is that something could be watching you in the darkness, and you'd never know. Something terrible could be hiding there, something so awful that if you were to see it you would be scarred for the rest of your life.

And that's what I've had to deal with the past few nights. Yes, I know I'm seventeen and that I shouldn't be scared of the dark or monsters under my bed, but I am. Well, not the monsters under my bed because I have so much shit under there the monster wouldn't fit. But something in the shadows - yes, that fucking terrifies me. It's almost like I want to look sometimes, yet I feel if I do it will get me. I remember when I was seven I had a nightmare where I felt like I was awake, and there was this presence behind me, almost wanting me to turn around and see it. That was the worst nightmare I've ever had, because even after I woke up I still felt like I had that presence coming to get me. That's normal for most nightmares, though, right?

I'm probably just paranoid because of all this Slender Man stuff, but hey, it brought back old memories. The creature itself is a symbol of horror, though, and I love that. You can't run from it, you can't hide from it, and you have no idea what it wants. That leaves enough for the imagination to fill in, and in my honest opinion, the imagination is the scariest thing of all.

I'm really tempted to start my own little tale in the Slenderverse, or whatever it's called. I think it'd be just the thing to help me think creatively. I'm betting Charlie would like it, too - more specifically, some of those videos on Youtube. And Charlie Al Wymer, I know you're reading, so you better go ahead and search the videos yourself, or else I'm going to annoy the hell out of you the next few days.

Oh, I almost forgot! Two more things before I go. One, an apology to my followers. I didn't mean to sound so asshole-ish in my last post, I was just having a rough day. Sorry!

And finally, does anyone know who the hell that amiwhereallcry guy is? He put this video up on Youtube which was a cheap trick in trying to scare me, but I'd like to make sure he isn't some troll who has been posting on other blogs. I only got this response after I mentioned Slender Man, so I think he has something to do with that.

Until next time!

- Arthur Pierce

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