Dexter Morgenstern - The Slender Man

“Well, I didn’t say you broke it, you just had the dial turned to the wrong setting or your finger must have been in the way is all. Just be more polite. God knows your father wouldn’t have tolerated that,” she says.

“Take some more pictures though,” she adds.

I nod my head once while turning to look back at the man. “Yes ma’am.”

Jamie is out of sight, but the fiend is still there. Did he eat Jamie or something? No wait, there’s Jamie. He’s like ten feet into the forest, well past the monster. What’s he doing? How would he walk right through him, unless… Jamie couldn’t see him? Did the fiend just not touch him? Maybe I really am seeing things or it is just a tree? No, even hallucinations aren’t supposed to- the fiend is moving. He’s not walking, but he’s clearly turning. My eyes sting, but I watch as he hunches over and leans forward, turning his head and seeming to refocus his eyeless gaze. He’s found what he was looking for-a new target. He’s looking at me.

The burning in my eyes suddenly becomes overwhelming and I flinch, waiting for something to happen, but nothing does. Jamie returns with an annoyed look and gives me a little shrug, like I’m just some paranoid little girl making up stories for attention-

The feeling of being in a low-budget film increases. I can finally sympathize with those female characters I always found so annoyingly stupid. Of course you can’t just run for help, people will just think you’re crazy. I know what I see right now. It’s not my fault Jamie can walk right through the shadowy monster. I try to ignore the entity, but now I fear I’ve caught his attention. It can’t be just because I noticed him can it? Lots of people have noticed him, or something like him. Then again, everyone I know that has noticed him is now missing. Does this mean it’s my turn?

Some of my Bubbe’s advice rings in my ears. She has always told me to be strong, and not let anyone or anything bother me. That’s just what I’ll do. I look away from him and rejoin the party. It looks like the candy has already been claimed by the few present children, but I snap a few shots anyway- after deleting the damaged ones I took of the fiend. How did those ones end up getting messed up? Is it that static I hear when he’s near; does it cause interference? I know when I looked at him my eyes stung and I had to look away, so does that mean he has a similar effect on the camera? I shake my head. I need to just not worry about it. If Jamie was okay after walking right through him, the least I can do is ignore him right?

It looks like the Willows are bringing out the cake. This means one thing, the party has reached its climax. They are gonna sing happy birthday, slam Lionel’s face into the cake, open presents, and then we leave. The sooner the better, because then we can get away from the stalking entity over- he’s gone. No, he’s not gone, he must have just moved because I can still… feel him… I realize I’ve sensed him since we got here, an almost audible static noise running under everything. I hear everyone singing Happy Birthday and realize I must have spaced a good few seconds. I join in, although rather quietly.

I’m suddenly glad I decided to not bring my guitar, because it feels like my singing voice has gotten worse due to the sickness. As we sing, Karen Willow brings out the -of course- Captain America birthday cake for Lionel. It’s got a candle shaped into the number five burning on top of it. It’s actually rather small, but I can see her husband Jamie carrying a larger cake behind her. That must be the one for the guests. She sets the cake on the table and gets Lionel to blow out the single flame. I take a shot of that and then I catch the next scene when Karen forces Lionel’s face into the cake. His face smashes the cake into a giant mush with only some of the outer edges intact.

Lionel jerks his face out of the cake, not fully certain what just happened, and examines it. He’s silent for a few seconds but then he slowly but steadily begins crying. I feel a little guilt wafting in as I watch Lionel, face completely covered in icing and cake, mourn the tragic destruction of the treat he was so excited for. I snap a photo of it, and hope that in time he’ll look back and laugh at himself. I hate seeing little children cry, even just Adam’s recent subdued persona brings me down. I can only imagine what it was like for him.

As bad as I feel with Adam being hurt and my best friend missing, he actually was physically hurt and had to watch as his best friend and classmates died, and he’s half my age!

Karen calms Lionel down a bit but he’s still quietly sobbing. He finally takes a bit of the destroyed cake as Jamie dishes out pieces of the large plain white cake to everyone else. I don’t take a piece though. The cupcake was enough for me.

As the cake is being eaten, Lindsay and Jamie haul out the various gifts for Lionel to claim. At this point he’s excited again, or maybe excited for the first time. I haven’t seen him really fully smile during the whole party. The first present he opens is a very small one, but pretty expensive- a small handheld game console. It’s one of those educational ones. Next he opens our gift, his big plastic shield. His eyes light up when he sees what it is, and his reaction even causes me to smile. That’s something worth capturing on camera. His other gifts consist of learning-to-read books, a remote control monster truck, and things like that. His parents got him a Captain America costume, which matches perfectly with the shield. Maybe our parents collaborated on that one.

As I predicted, once the gifts have been given, the party begins to die out. Of course, we’re some of the last ones to leave. In fact, Mom wants to stay and help clean up. Karen gave her a ride here, so we can’t just leave her, which means the only way for us to go home any time soon is for Dad and me to help. I begin gathering cups, plates, and cans that were left lying around the place. Did no one but me notice the big trash can that was provided? I pile it all into the one trash can, getting as much into the overflowing bag as I can, before Dad gets the bright idea to hand me an empty trash bag to carry around. Smart me.

I feel a little tension release as I clean up. I realize that it is because the background static that was setting my teeth on edge is gone. I look around. Is that monster still here? No, I can’t see him. He must have left, finally. I take a deep relaxed breath and continue my job. Dad hauls both trash bags over to the dumpsters, and then begins to work with Jamie on getting the tables, chairs, and tents put away. Mom’s idea of helping is to stand at the front door chatting away with Karen while the three of us do the work. I guess since she came and helped earlier with the set-up, she doesn’t feel the need to help now, which sounds fair assuming it wasn’t just Lindsay, Jamie, and some of the other guests that set things up while she chatted with Karen. Where is Lindsay anyway, and why isn’t she helping? She must be inside with Lionel.

I help Dad and Jamie by picking up plastic chairs and carrying it out to the storage shed where they’re storing the other items. I keep an eye out for the fiend, making sure he’s not about to ambush me or anything, but there’s no sign of him. When everything including the canvas and poles for the tent are piled in the garage, the yard looks strangely barren.

“I’m gonna get the car started. Go fetch your Mom,” orders Dad. Good he’s ready to go too. I walk up to Mom, still chatting with Karen, and am about to speak when Lindsay approaches.

“Hey, didn’t you want me to give Lionel a bath?” she asks.

“Yeah haven’t you done that yet?” says Karen.

“No, you never sent him up,” answers Lindsay.