Dreams in Darkness

"I'm an arrogant bastard of a nerd, and I have a bad habit of thinking I'm always right. I obsess over stupid things. Greatly appreciate intelligent thought. Overimaginitive... Self-loathing."

So, Damien O'Connor. Proud nerd who lives with his roommate and childhood friend Ted. His '10 college courses have ended for the year, leaving him with his summer job at a boring department store. Said job would be practically unbearable were it not for the girl of his dreams, Amelia, being a coworker there. Damien eventually builds up the courage to ask her out.

Ted, meanwhile, has gotten interested in some strange meme that has something to do with a "slender man" and "Marble Hornets" after hearing about it at a gaming convention. Damien is introduced to the whole phenomenon by his roommate, and, despite finding it pretty scary, takes a strong liking to it.

But little did Damien know that this supposed internet joke would have terrible repercussions for him and his friends. And little did he know that this urban legend would end up bringing back haunting memories from his past....

The blog starts here.

Also of interest, a potential novel adaptation has been announced on the author's personal blog here

Wrong! Confused? Well just read the "Author's" personal blog.

BEWARE: Due to Wham Episodes and a Twist Ending, HERE THERE BE SPOILERS!

This blog provides examples of:

 * Alien Geometries: The brick building behind Damien's childhood home.
 * Amnesiac Dissonance:
 * Berserk Button: Just try directing homophobic comments at Ted while Damien is around. Hope that Damien doesn't strangle you out of anger.
 * Bury Your Gays:.
 * Deconstruction: One view of the Twist Ending is that
 * The Ending Changes Everything:
 * Expy: TheArsonist starts off as one for totheark, right down to hints that the mask that Damien randomly gets is related to his appearance. TA ends up becoming quite different later on.
 * A Fate Worse Than Death:
 * Fun with Acronyms: Who's EVE? Well,
 * Also, the blog's name is Dreams In Darkness.
 * Gainax Ending / Twist Ending:, left comments on the final blog post that result in one of these.
 * Heroes Want Redheads: One of the first pieces of information Damien gives about Amelia is that she has curly red hair.
 * Late Arrival Spoiler: You might want to watch Marble Hornets for yourself before you give this blog a go.
 * Massive Multiplayer Crossover: M, writer of The Tutorial, is a regular commenter.
 * There's also a rather cryptic comment from.
 * Mind Screw: It's known from early in the story that the protagonist is mentally ill, but this isn't really brought home hard until the ending, which
 * Also, there's the "Author's" blog to consider.
 * Multiple Endings: According to one amusingly paranoid Slendyblogger.
 * Nested Story / Recursive Fanfiction / Literary Agent Hypothesis / Refugee From TV Land: Pick one. The supposed author's life is starting to get similarities to his story. People he knows start to resemble his characters, or the other way around.  Time will tell if there will be a third blog, talking about a book deal for Deja Vu Dreamer.
 * Nothing Exciting Ever Happens Here: Nearly word-for-word in the second post.
 * Playing with Fire: The name "TheArsonist" is a rather ironic choice, given Slender Man's knack for setting fires.
 * Shout-Out: To Marble Hornets, Seeking Truth, and The Tutorial.
 * The blog's banner is a panel from Neil Gaiman's The Sandman.
 * Considering Damien's reference to the band Thrice on his user profile, it's safe to say their song "The Arsonist" was the inspiration for the name of Watch This City Burn and its user account.
 * "Now, more than ever, I find myself believing The Navidson Record could have actually taken place."
 * Split Personality Merge:
 * Stylistic Suck: Watch This City Burn, Damien's fake Slender-blog, is an example of this
 * Averted with.
 * This Is Sparta: "Date. was. great. That is all.
 * "GET. UP. MAKE. ME. It seems Damien and even write like this, in all caps no less.
 * Through the Eyes of Madness: It's established early on that Damien has issues; his mother was a paranoid schizophrenic who murdered his father and he's on antidepressants and antipsychotics.
 * Unlucky Childhood Friend: Damien is one to his childhood friend Emily.
 * Unreliable Narrator:
 * Unspoken Plan Guarantee: The Arsonist seems to have a goal, and seems to have some sort of plan. Whether it's for the good of society or its detriment is unclear.
 * Ultimately.
 * Wham! Episode: "mynightonthetown.jpg".
 * The comments on the post, specifically, those made by  and.
 * Wham! Episode: "mynightonthetown.jpg".
 * The comments on the post, specifically, those made by  and.