Dexter Morgenstern - The Slender Man

After Dad finishes reciting the passages, they lay Denise into the grave, and we all line up to pour a shovelful of earth into it. Since I sat in the first row, I am one of the first lined up to take their turn. As I approach, one of the funeral staff hands me a spade, and I scoop up a shovelful of dirt and place it upon Denise’s still very visible coffin. The dirt splashes against the coffin, not even making a dent in filling up the grave. I hand the shovel to one of Shana’s relatives behind me, and move on. I stand and watch as everyone takes their turn with the spade. Some of their relatives cry, or say a quick farewell as they take their turn. Others remain silent and solemn.

When Leanne is handed the spade, she looks reluctantly at the grave, as if she doesn’t want anything to do with the burial, but she quickly recovers from her hesitation and dumps a hefty amount of soil into the grave before handing it back to her mother. Leanne didn’t lose anyone related to her in the crash, but I’ve heard that she lost a baby brother to pertussis sometime before I moved here, but she never talks about it. Either way, it’s probably not the first time she’s had to deal with something like this. Leanne and her mother are the only Sourwoods that came, and lined up behind them are the Willows. The Willows didn’t lose any of their children in the crash. Their youngest is four, and an only child. When everyone in the line has taken their turn, the grave is still nowhere near filled. It’s now that Dad ushers some of the mourners to stand around the grave and recite the burial Kaddish. Most of the people around the grave are Denise’s family members, in fact I think my Dad—who’s leading the ceremony, is the only one not directly related. After the burial Kaddish, he leads all of us- at least those of us that know the words (not including me) into the mourning Kaddish, while the hired funeral staff takes over filling the rest of the grave.

After the burial, Dad hosts a memorial session, and throughout the whole event I can feel Leanne’s eyes boring holes into my neck. I catch her looking at me twice, and then avert my gaze, knowing she’s still looking at me. If I’ve done something to set her off, I don’t know what it could be. After the memorial, I decide to confront her.

When most of the audience drifts around the site, not wanting to be the first family to leave, I approach Leanne. I tap her on the shoulder and she turns around to face me. It’s only when I get this close to her that I realize just how pallid her complexion is. She barely has any more color on her skin than Adam. She looks me up and down, sizing me up, as if she hadn’t noticed me all day, and wonders why I have the audacity to purse my lips at her like this. She raises her eyebrows. I hold my hands out and shake my head.

“I don’t like passive aggressiveness Leanne. What is it?” I say. She cocks her head to the side as if not sure how to respond to my approach. I can tell she originally intended to play dumb for her initial response, but is intuitive enough to know that I’m ready to skip that.

“I don’t like you,” she finally says.

“It seems like more than that. You don’t stare at someone for hours just because you don’t like them. You look like you want to kill me. Like you hate me. Why?” I ask.

Now Leanne purses her lips.

“Look around you,” she says. I look around.

“Everyone here has lost something. Everyone except you,” she continues.

“You don’t think I’m suffering from this?” I ask.

“Your phony empathy can’t compare to real suffering. You’re just playing along, not sure how to handle it. You think you’re the lucky one,” she answers.

“Are you saying that Adam should have died too?” I ask, getting angry.

Her eyes tell me that is the truth, but her mouth doesn’t want to admit it out loud.

“I’m just saying it’s not fair that you all got to cheat your way out of it. This is one of three funerals I’m going to, but this is probably the only one you’ll go to. Am I right?” she asks snidely.

“Cheat my way out of it? What do you—”

“That’s because you don’t care about the dead children. The only reason you’re here is because of Shana, out of respect, but you don’t feel any loss for her sister.”

“How can you say that? They’re like family to me.”

“But they’re not your family. You haven’t suffered any real loss. You think Lady Luck is on your side, but it’s about time— oh,” she stops and puts her hand to her face.

I narrow my eyes and try to figure out what’s wrong, and then I see it. I see a little trickle of red running from between her fingers. She’s having a sudden nosebleed. I think about offering help, but after her selfish reasoning over how I didn’t lose Adam or care about Denise, I really don’t think I should. She pushes past me, I guess to get a tissue, but the closest building to the funeral site is the funeral parlor which is a few hundred feet away, so she breaks into a jog. It almost mimics the speed she runs in front of me on track.

Something catches my eye. I look and see Lionel Willow running around the graveyard, seemingly unattended. Lionel is pretty short, even for a four year old, and the puff of curly brown hair on his head is almost as big as his face, but it’s not him that catches my eye. I walk over to investigate closer and as I approach I almost see it. It’s mid-afternoon, bright daylight so you can see through the lightly spaced tree line, but in one area, in one gap, you can hardly see anything. Instead there is blackness. It’s not just a shadow; it’s out of place, like someone is standing there. Could it be someone hiding behind a tree? No with the way the sun is positioned, from behind the trees, the shadow would be cast toward us. This one is in one spot. I walk over to it, hoping it’s just a trick of the eye.

As I get closer I can see that the shadow is moving, and I recognize the movement. It’s got those violent, jagged contortions like the static being from my dream. Only this time it’s not as vivid or as clear. If not for the incident in the hospital, I probably would think it’s all in my head. I walk over to Lionel and he looks up at me. I’ve only met Lionel a few times, mostly on special occasions, and every time I meet him he gives me a big baby-toothy grin and says

“Hi.” This time Lionel stops moving and begins to cry. I squat down and put my hand on his shoulder. He’s starting to wail and I heard a pair of footsteps approach. Mrs. Lionel comes swooping in and picks him up.

“What are you doing way out here?” she asks him, but more in a cooing manner than scolding him. She looks at me quizzically.

I shake my head and say “I saw him running around over here and came to get him then he freaked,” I explain.

“Oh, but he loves you! Maybe something spooked him. This isn’t a very happy environment,” she explains with a grin just as toothy as her son’s. Her teeth are bright white. In fact, it looks unnatural, but with her being a dentist I guess you can expect that. He begins coughing and a spot of blood appears on her neck.

“Oh I see,” she says.

“Someone’s allergies are acting up, huh?” she says in that same cooing manner. I give a forced smile and she nods back at me before patting him on the back and walking back over to the others.

At that I remember why I came over here and look back to the tree line. The being is gone, but I can still… feel it. I look around the trees from my position and when I don’t see anything, I turn back around. Is it really the same thing I saw in that dream? I wonder. I know my eyes aren’t playing tricks on me. Maybe it is some kind of omen? Maybe Death is watching over us hungry for more? I begin to walk back and notice the place is starting to clear out. I don’t see any of the Sourwoods and it looks like the Willows are about to take their leave as well. In fact, even the cemetery staff seems to be done with their job. I guess that’s my cue to catch up with my family.