Dexter Morgenstern - The Slender Man

After dinner I help clean up, bathe, and then get into some pajamas. It’s been a restless day and I’m ready to turn in early, but I decide I will hold off another hour by cleaning my room a bit. I put all of the clothes strewn about the floor in the laundry bag. Mom will be horrified, but hopefully I won’t be here to hear her when she sees it.

I throw CD’s, books, and all of my scattered objects in places where they belong, just with no particular order. Oh well, I don’t think I’ll need to dig around for any of these CD’s anytime soon since every one of these songs are already on my computer and mp3 player. Cleaning up is really helping to keep my mind off of Shana’s death. It’s going to be sad though, because unless they find some miraculous reason for me to return in time, I’m going to miss Shana’s funeral. Me! Her best friend!

It’s only when I’m finally done distracting myself that I fully take in the thought that even though I’ve saved her, I still miss her, and I’m always going to. Would it be worth it for me to come back for her funeral? Surely the Hawthorns will invite me? I shake off the thought. Now is not the time. Just before I climb in bed I am greeted by a loud static wave that almost knocks me over. “What was that?” I ask aloud.

I can hear a steady flow of static erupting around the room. What’s he planning? My heart sinks. No, no he’s just trying to scare me. I carry on as if nothing happens, except I don’t turn off my light. He seems stronger , I think to myself. He probably is going to try and lure me out tonight, and if that wave is any indication of his persistence, it probably means I’ll have to deal with terrifying images that will be hard to ignore. I won’t let him lure me, no matter what.

I pop two Prozac tablets into my mouth before lying down. I’m not sure what the proper dosage is for these pills. I think I remember seeing both one and two on the bottle. Maybe it’s one during the day, two at night, or was it one tablet, twice a day, not to exceed two tablets in twelve hours? I’ll live either way. I pull the blanket over my head to block out the light and slowly, but surely, I drift off.

I dream for a little while before waking up. I listen for the static, but it’s not present. Huh , I think. Maybe I should get up and check? No, I try and go back to sleep, but that seems to be out of the question. As if waiting for me, I feel the static slowly creep on me and impulsively try to jump up before realizing that I can’t move. The paralysis again, it’s going to try and pull me into the realm. I don’t feel the energy to fight it, but if I don’t resist, then I will be sucked in and have to run out of his domain.

I hear a scream in the distance. It sounds like- it’s Adam. I hear Adam screaming. It’s not the same painful, ear-stabbing scream the Shana gave me when the fiend had her in the first nightmare; it’s the sound of horrified surprise, like something is jumping out at him. He continues yelling and then I hear him .

“Help! Mom, Dad! Alyssa!” he screams. I feel the static grip tighten. No! I should have gotten up. He’s going to get Adam. Wait a second, this is his trick. He’s trying to weaken me by impersonating Adam. It’s what he did to Shana, Jason, and probably the others. This won’t work on me. I try and laugh, and although my voice is blocked by his grip, I can still exhale in rhythm. ‘This won’t work on me. I know what you’re trying to do,’ I mouth while thinking it, hoping he understands what I’m saying.

“Help! Please!” Adam drags on, but I just laugh. I’m not falling for it. I prepared for this. I even took my medicine to help. Adam’s screams are so real, but as I laugh at them, they get farther and farther away, and the fiend’s grip weakens. I’ve beaten you! I think triumphantly.

No, I can say it now. Its grip is weak!

“I’ve beaten you. Na na-na na-na-na, you lose,” I mumble childishly. When his presence fully disperses, I fall asleep with a smile on my face. A few hours later, I wake up. I feel like the medicine has worn off and feel a sour taste in my mouth.

“Forgot to brush,” I mumble.

I climb out of bed and head to the bathroom to brush my teeth. It’s pretty early, but I figure I will go back to sleep for another six hours or so. As I brush my teeth I remember my little run-in with the entity earlier. I don’t feel amused this time. Maybe I’m too groggy for it, but I decide I’ll check in on Adam before I go back to bed. I rinse and then head over to Adam’s room.

His window is open and so it’s freezing in here, but it’s almost always open so that’s not what catches my attention. On the floor is the sling for Adam’s cast. I don’t see him dropping it by himself, and then not picking it back up. His bed is empty. Did it really get him?

“Adam!” I shout. There’s no way. “Adam!” I scream.

“Adam!”

No matter what I do, that monster- he’s always one step ahead of me. I finally thought I had him figured out. We just had to get through one more night and day, and I was ready to handle it, but he saw right through me. He has his own stage set up, and I have no say in what happens. In the middle of the night, when I thought he was trying to lure me out, he wasn’t. He just wanted me to listen while he hurt and kidnapped my brother. He wanted me to try and get up and come to his aid, only to be held back. He got Adam, and he made me listen to it. Maybe I would have figured that out if I wasn’t on the medication.

No, if not for the medication I’d only have been more emotionally tortured by Adam’s cries. Now I sit, half of my body against the wall, as the police- whom I must have seen a hundred times this week already- get their answers. Of course we have none for them. Adam is just another missing child to add to their list. He’s just another one of the children they need to find, but never will. I’m not crying, and there are no tears. I’m just sitting here listening to the footsteps, cries, and words of those around me. The sheriff isn’t here yet, but Deputy Yew is.

Why couldn’t he- the monster, just let us go? There are other kids for him to take still, but he had to come after Adam and me. What makes us so special? Is it that we’ve already fed him so much pain that he wants to milk us for everything we have? I don’t know. Maybe he was irritated that I was recovering so quickly instead of giving in to hopelessness in the face of loss.

There’s got to be something I can do about Adam. Shana is one person I thought I couldn’t live without, but Adam… Adam is helpless. He’s seven, weakened, and traumatized by watching the death of his friends. I recall how much pain and how scared I felt when I was in that realm. How is someone in Adam’s condition handling it? I can’t let him suffer like that. I have to do something about it. Can I go back in and get him out? That axe is probably still on the ground somewhere, but he was watching and waiting for me before. He’ll probably intercept me more quickly from the start. Even if I do make it to the tree, there’s no way I can repeat the process I did with Shana. I was barely able to escape with her assistance that time.

I feel the sounds of those around me drown out, covered by a new sound. It’s him. I turn around and look. Out of my peripheral vision, I catch him standing in the hallway. I can’t look any closer without having my eyes sting. Has he come for me now? No, he’s just here to rub it in and enjoy the fruits of his evil. The adults are downstairs, and even if they were up here with me, they’d be oblivious to him. I look in my hand at Adam’s sling. I’ve been holding it for a while now. This won’t be my last memory of him. I toss the sling in the fiend’s direction not even looking to see if it passes right through him, or if he blocks its course.