Dexter Morgenstern - The Slender Man

He begins to recite his list of students. He starts with Jason Larch and then moves onto the other students I haven’t met.

“Shana Hawthorn…,” he says, forcing me to wince. “…and most recently, Leanne Sourwood,” he finishes. My eyes widen. Leanne is the other person I didn’t see in class today. She must have gone missing over the weekend like Shana did. That means three of the missing children I know personally.

“Like I said we’ve narrowed the search down, and it seems they are all students in this school district. So we—”

“Have you found any suspects?” asks a voice. Sheriff Fraser looks around the audience to locate the voice, but I already know who it is before she stands up, Rita Larch. “Who are your suspects?” she repeats loudly. I use my hand- that’s already working on stopping my nosebleed, to cover my face as I look down.

“Here she goes…”

“Well we’ve gathered some volunteers and our fine policemen are undergoing a thorough search of the surrounding forests,” he says.

“Well what about Mario’s house? Isn’t he the number one suspect? Have you searched his house? Why are you searching the woods if you haven’t searched through his house?” she banters.

“Now Mario Douglas is wanted for questioning since his disappearance from the hospital, but we have credible reason to believe that if these are kidnappings we are dealing with that he would be unable to commit them in his current physical state, and that he indeed may have been kidnapped as well,” explains the sheriff.

“So? That doesn’t make him innocent. I could kidnap a kid with a stubbed toe too,” she argues.

“We will look into this, but we believe it is more likely a third party to—”

“Third party?” she interrupts. “Well who’s the second party? Kids just don’t go off missing on their own,” she continues.

“Well we are also looking into the possibility that some of the first missing students- the ones that disappeared shortly before Mario did, may be partly responsible.”

I wince. That is not the thing to say to Rita if you want her to shut up. She catches on to what he’s saying, and I savor that brief pause she takes before she releases her outburst.

“How dare you accuse my son of- anything? I will find some real policemen and lawyers to put you down,” she begins. As she continues shouting, I see Deputy Yew leave his position in the background and walk forward. He steps down from the podium and approaches Rita, who’s sitting in the front row.

“Ma’am, I need to escort you from the audience,” he says. I didn’t see the sheriff issue a formal order or even wave, so the deputies must have received instruction to remove anyone who caused a scene. Whatever it is, the sheriff isn’t objecting.

Rita sizes up Deputy Yew, who is only about her size. “Oh no, you have absolutely no right. In this country we have freedom of speech, and I will say what—” she protests, but he interrupts.

“Ma’am, in the country we also have laws against disturbing the peace. Now I’m going to ask you one more time to exit the building with me, or I will remove you from the premises by force.”

I smile when I hear those words. If there is one good thing during all of this strife, it’s hearing Rita Larch being put in her place. I can hear her objections as Yew escorts her through the hall, and then the sheriff resumes speaking.

“Like I said we have reason to believe that if these are kidnappings, that there is an unknown third party involved. Now we are doing all we can with our limited police force to put a stop to this. We’ve even notified the adjacent counties as well as the state police department,” he finally says.

“Now one thing I have to say and another one of the main reasons I have brought you all here is that due to the multitude of students missing from this area, and the fact that an unknown third party is suspected to be responsible for their disappearances, the Cherokee County Board of Education has permitted a temporary district-wide suspension of educational activities,” he announces, and you can tell he had to practice that one in the mirror.

Due to the grim situation, no one openly cheers, but I can see smiles cross the faces of many, even mine. It’s not that I’m for skipping school, but with the losses I and those around me have suffered, I’m not fully able to focus on school.

“Are there any questions?” asks the sheriff.

“Yeah,” says one parent, standing up.

“I understand the need for our children’s safety, but how will we ensure the education of our children remains unaffected?” he asks. My smile fades.

“We’ve already worked this one out with the board, and we all agree that the teachers will issue a week’s worth of their curriculum to be done at home. I understand that this still puts a dent in their education, particularly physical education and group functions, but I am not against meetings in private, supervised places and exercise at home. Our main priority is to keep the children of our community safe, and that’s a lot easier to do when they’re with their parents than at a school,” he explains. I have to admit, aside from Rita, the sheriff knows how to plan ahead to give people what they want. Maybe that kind of leadership is why he’s been elected.

“How long do you anticipate that this will take?” asks another parent.

“We are hoping to solve this issue immediately, but hoping to and doing so are two different things. To ensure operational security, will be giving limited updates to the public, but if we find any priority suspects, or any of the children, we will let you know,” he answers. A few more parents ask random and sometimes redundant questions, but the sheriff eventually closes the school assembly with one final note.

“One more thing I’d like to add is, people close to the missing children noted that shortly before the child disappeared, they complained of hallucinations. If anyone has hallucinations about seeing missing relatives, please notify the police, as that may something to do with their disappearances. Thank you.” After saying that, he steps off the podium and leaves the crowd to be excited and somewhat bewildered. I can see why he would wait to say that until after the barrage of questions were answered. After all, even I’m seeing things.

I can’t seem to get any sleep. Whenever I try to rest I end up with my face buried in a pillow; sleepy but not sleeping. You’d think that with my health and all of the drama going around that sleep would be the perfect escape, but I just can’t seem to reach it. I lay here on my bed listening to the sound of dishes clanging as breakfast is being made. When I feel blood running down from my nose again, I have to force myself to get up and take care of it. I grab a tissue from the box that’s been lying on my bed all night. I wipe up the blood and then throw the tissue in the trash can that has been sitting beside my bed all night as well. By now you can see nothing but bloody tissues inside.

I come up to a sitting position and take in just how gross I feel. Well, not necessarily gross, but the dryness isn’t just in my throat and nose now. Now I feel like it has spread to my skin and I’m getting even worse. I sluggishly walk downstairs to get breakfast, maybe that will help. Mom has made muffins and eggs. When she sees I’ve entered the kitchen she begins fixing me a plate. I grab the carton of orange juice from the refrigerator and pour myself a hefty glass. I’ll have enough Vitamin C to last a week. Mom sets my plate on the table and I sit down. Adam is in the chair next to me and he’s already eating. He looks like he’s fully recovered from the crash, aside from his broken arm, but I can tell he looks just as sickly as I do. One thing I notice about him is that he’s all dressed up.