Dexter Morgenstern - The Slender Man

“You’re not going to take me now…” I have to keep going. I march forward and away at a snail’s pace. My body feels like I’m being eaten alive from the inside out but I do my best not to scream. I won’t give him power. I won’t give up.

His grip won’t relent though and I can hear his static screeching all around me again. He’s fighting hard now, there’s no way I can- he’s fighting this hard ! He must be panicking. That can only mean that I’m very near.

“We’re almost there Shana! Stay with me, it’s just a little longer,” I cheer. I have some feeling return, telling me that I’m almost out of this world. I sprint, all or nothing now. I can only hope I don’t run headfirst into tree.

My arms are burning from the pressure of Shana’s weight. Suddenly, I feel my balance return and can run more steadily. My legs are burning hot lead, and my feet feel like they’re about to shatter. My clothes are covered in sweat, constricting me, slowing me down. It’s nearly impossible to get enough oxygen, but as all of these feelings return to me, so does light. Light! I can see.

It’s a little past dawn now and the sun has risen. I can see the edge of the woods, only a few yards away. I move with unrelenting speed. I can still sense him here. He’s going to try and pull Shana and me back. I remember the sudden anxiety I had of being pulled back into the woods the first time I ran from the tree. That seems more likely to happen this time, but I’m not about to let it. It’s only twenty paces away…nineteen… fifteen… ten. I’m holding my breath, but I’m almost there.

“We’re almost there Shana! We’re there! We’re free!” I can’t say it above a whisper though. I don’t have the breath. We emerge onto a road and I hear a honk and turn to see a police car. I close my eyes expecting to be hit, but the tires screech with no impact. I look to see Deputy Yew step out and run over to me. I laugh a tired, tortured, but triumphant laughter, and fall to my knees. Who’s laughing now shadow?

“We made it Shana, the police are here,” I say. She doesn’t respond.

“Shana?” I look down at her. She isn’t moving.

“Shana!” I yell. She’s dead.

I can’t hear anything. I see an ambulance has pulled up with its siren’s blaring. I see men shouting at me, trying to pull Shana from my arms, and I see Deputy Yew. He’s also talking to me, but I can’t tell if he’s helping the paramedics or trying to comfort me. It’s hard to tell from the expression on his face. Most notably of all, I can’t hear my own screams. I don’t want to let go of Shana. I’ve made it this far, how could I fail? She was alive only moments ago, and now that we’ve escaped she’s not even breathing. How could I make it when she couldn’t? I put all the work into getting in and getting out, I was almost beaten, and yet I escaped-and I thought I’d freed Shana.

Even still, the monster made sure that there was no truly happy ending. I won’t be escaping to Michigan with peace of mind knowing the people I care about are safe. I was so close…

Shana is wrenched from my desperate grip and I fall forward. I don’t have the strength or willpower to hold myself up, and yet I don’t hit the ground. Deputy Yew has his arms around me and is pulling me to my feet. He’s still saying something to me, and even though I’ve stopped screaming, I still can’t hear him.

I watch as the paramedics try to resuscitate Shana. She’s not bleeding and there are no wounds on her, so they believe there may be hope for her, but I know there isn’t. I know that whatever the monster did to her won’t be undone by CPR. Deputy Yew puts me in the back of the police car. I can’t tell if I’m being arrested or just given a ride. I’m not in handcuffs and I haven’t done anything illegal-well, aside from minor theft of the axe, and if the police know about it I’m sure arresting me isn’t a priority.

Throughout the car ride, I lay lengthwise across the whole backseat, crying. My hearing slowly returns but everything is still distorted. I can hear Yew saying something on his radio, and I can hear my own sobbing. Shana… I failed her. The car stops and seconds later the door opens. I’m not immediately yanked out, but I guess they figure out that I won’t be moving on my own, and some police officers remove me from the car.

We are at the sheriff’s station. It’s a short brick building with a small cement flight of stairs leading up to a set of dark brown wooden double-doors. I’ve never actually been inside before now. Yew and one of the other officers guides me in and has me sit on a plastic chair near reception. I look around. There’s a lot of running around going on. I can’t tell if this is how they’ve been working since the cases of the other children, or if they are doing this in response to finding me with Shana. I can hear everything that’s going on, and eventually I hear footsteps approaching me.

“Lyss,” says Mom. She puts her arms around me, but I don’t hug her back. I can’t. I feel like I’m frozen in place by grief. If I wasn’t surrounded by people, I’d be a perfect victim for that fiend, no strength physically or mentally.

“As soon as we found you missing we notified the police. We feared the worst! What the hell were you doing?” she asks. Maybe the police haven’t told her about Shana yet.

“Ma’am,” speaks Sheriff Fraser, emerging from the sheriff’s office. “We need to talk. Will you step into this office for a moment?” he asks.

“I’m not leaving my daughter,” says Mom. “Alyssa, answer me.”

Dad walks from around the corner and puts a hand on my shoulder. I immediately think he’s going to come off as angry and try to scold me, but he has a look of relief on his face. Bubbe and Adam are here too. Bubbe has her poker face on. She knows what was involved with this and isn’t going to waste time scolding me or announcing her relief just yet. Adam looks blank. He must have just been wakened and with him still being sick, he probably doesn’t fully comprehend what’s happening. I lock eyes with Bubbe for a moment, but then I see figures emerge from behind her.

Here comes Deputy Yew and another person. I haven’t seen the man behind him before. He looks like he was just awakened too, but is fully dressed in a grey business suit and shaven. The expression on his face shows me a man that hasn’t had his coffee yet. Both of the men step into the sheriff’s office behind where the sheriff is standing. “Well, it’s very important in regards to your daughter,” continues the sheriff.

“Then talk to us right here,” snaps Dad.

The sheriff pauses as if to ponder the situation for a moment, and then finally spurts out. “Alyssa was found with the Hawthorn girl. One of my deputies found her carrying her corpse from the forest,” he says.

My mind blanks for a moment at his words. His recap brings the memory back up, masking all sound in the area. I close my eyes as more tears pour out. I remember trying to look at her face while carrying her. I told her we’d make it, that we were almost there, but I couldn’t see her face. Was she dead then or dying? If I’d just run faster. If I was just a minute faster my friend would be alive. I hear static, and open my eyes.

“No… I don’t want you. Go away,” I mutter aloud. I know he can hear me. I open my eyes and look for it, but all I see are looks of worry and bewilderment from my family and the officers within earshot.

“You think she was involved with the disappearance? Shana and Alyssa were like—”

“Sisters, I know. Every summer my niece comes to visit and brings her best friend along with her. I know what that bond is like. Those two are inseparable. They’d take a bullet for each other. I think that may be why Alyssa was able to find her. It’s the only explanation considering that we’ve scoured the woods for days with no luck. Alyssa is the person we least suspect, but we still need to question her.”