Brighter than a spoon



brighter than a spoon was a blog by alliterator and marked the first appearance by The Cold Boy. It can be read here.

In 2012 alliterator rewrote brighter than a spoon for the National Novel Writing Month contest. The new version can be found here here.

Summary
Tav Lowe starts the blog to post his poetry, but he starts posting strange things people say to him. Soon, he posts a strange post which foreshadows a box appearing on his doorstep. The box belongs to The Slender Man and Tav must return it to him. Unfortunately, Tav's apartment is burglarized (though they do not find the box) and he comes under the supervision of SMSC Agents Liza Jane and Aladdin Sane. When the burglar (a former Proxy named Phillip Jeffries) returns and forces Tav at gunpoint to show him the box. Tav does, but then starts unconsciously shouting "His eyes are closed, his mouth is open, and his arms are outstretched." They appear to be transported to where the Slender Man is and the Slender Man kills Jeffries. Then Tav is returned shaken.

Soon after his first look at the Slender Man, Tav meets a homeless runner named Agnes Day and her dog Opus. Agnes says that Tav is a receiver - that he is "tuned into" the same frequency as the Slender Man - and that she can help him cope. Days later, Tav hears everyone in a market start chanting "We are cold." After that, Agnes reveals that she isn't just running from the Slender Man - she is running from the Cold Boy as well.

Agents Liza Jane and Aladdin Sane return and Liza Jane talks to Agnes alone. It's revealed that they are actually sisters. Aladdin Sane tells Tav a story of why is in the SMSC, first mentioning the Plague Doctor. After their talk, Agnes reveals that Liza Jane wants Tav to be bait in a trap for the Slender Man and the Cold Boy. She also says that she's been using Tav, too, since she figured out the Cold Boy wouldn't come near her if she was near a Receiver. Tav agrees to be bait. They go into the maze and separate. The Cold Boy appears and follows Agnes, but the Slender Man does not appear until Tav rips open the box and looks inside: inside is a picture of what is right in front of him, only with the Slender Man there. This causes the Slender Man to appear. The Cold Boy wants to take Agnes, but then Tav starts speaking for the Slender Man, saying that she was no longer alone and cold and that there were "rules." The Cold Boy leaves, but the Slender Man takes Tav's hand and he disappears.

A week later Tav reappears, though his memory seems to be fading. He tries to quickly write what happened: he found himself in a mental hospital where the doctor tried to convince him the whole thing was a fantasy he had made up. When Tav wasn't convinced, however, the Slender Man appeared and took him away to another world - a world where the Fears had taken over and were at war. Tav meets an alternate Aladdin Sane and his own alternate self, who is a Proxy. His own alternate self shows what happens when the Fears fight outright - the stars go out and "the quiet claims us all." The Slender Man returns Tav to his own world afterwards.

Tav doesn't know if his memories of the other world are real or fake, made up by the Slender Man to force him to become a Proxy. He decides he will go on the run with Agnes, but they will no longer be running away from the Slender Man. They will, instead, run towards the future, waiting for tomorrow.