The Slender Man (5 page)

I walk through the entrance of my school. The Cherokee
County board of education is
very
creative with its school names. Here
we have Murphy Elementary, Murphy Middle, and my school, Murphy High. It’s very
shoddy though, and many residents of Murphy try to enroll their children into
the high school in Andrews; Andrews High. I remember late last year when I
walked through these doors in September. I bought into the myth that everyone
would size me up and shun me because of my freshman status and that I'd have
twenty pairs of eyes boring into my neck. I soon tossed that aside, but now I
am expecting those same burning gazes, not because I'm a freshman walking into
the high school building for the first time, but because I'm the “Lucky One.” I
am the only one of around fifteen students that didn't lose a sibling in the
crash. There are people in all grades that would happily switch places with me,
and like Leanne, they may resent me because that won't happen.

I head straight into my first class, English. I walk into
the doors and I am almost relieved to see that Leanne is absent. That little
bit of relief drops when I see that Jason Larch is here, and he's giving me
that hateful glare I've been anticipating all morning. What I wouldn't give to
have Shana walking in with me right now. I try not to look at anyone else as I
find my way to my desk, but I can sense more than one pair of eyes on me.

It's five minutes till class starts and it looks like Ms.
Alder is in a hurry to prepare something. She looks away from her work just
quickly enough to see me about to sit at my desk.

“Welcome back Alyssa,” she says.

“Th-thank you,” I stammer. I'm a little nervous about Ms.
Alder, hoping that she won't bring up the creative history essay that's
overdue. I look around at the other students and see that most of them are
looking at the books on their desk or whispering amongst each other like
normal. So that helps my mood a bit. I just hope that the gossip of the week
isn't on me.

“Alright class, it seems that many of the students still
haven't returned, but we can't delay any longer. Please open your books to
chapter thirty,” she says. I realize that I don't know which book she means,
but rather than asking on impulse, and drawing attention to myself. I steal a
gaze to my right and see that everyone is opening their literature books. It's
a good thing I looked, because if I had to guess I would have opened grammar

Ms. Alder is a stout woman, but not really fat. She looks
like a woman that simply doesn't have the will to exercise but still doesn't
eat too much, and at her age it's starting to take its toll. She has short
sandy brown hair and bangs that cover half of her forehead, which is a little
too big. She wears contacts, but with her physique, she'd look better off with actual
glasses. She acts as both our history and our English teacher, which is where
my whole dual-subject assignment comes from. She leads us through the next
chapter, which is on multicultural literature, a topic that generally bores me.
Her class isn't very interactive as she reads from the text verbatim, so my
mind wanders. I guess that's why my grades are falling.

 I look around and see Jason Larch just about as entertained
as I am.
Didn't he get arrested
? I think. Why did the sheriff let him
off so easily? He's normally not a pushover. I notice that Jason has a little
bruise on his nose, but it doesn't look broken. Something peculiar about that
bruise is how visible it is from ten feet away. I realize that his skin has
paled a bit, quite like Leanne's. She had a nosebleed, and so did Lionel, who's
also paled. Is everyone getting sick? I take my attention from him and notice
that very few of the other students appear sick. In fact, even Lindsay Willow
isn’t sick looking, and she has been around Lionel. Must not be a very
contagious thing though, otherwise I'd have it by now, because my immune system
is terrible and I get sick at least every quarter.

After Ms. Alder reads the chapter to us, she stands up and
offers a fifteen minute break to everyone. Most of the kids jump up as they
have a sudden realization that they are about to wet themselves and they're
dying of thirst, and pretty soon, it's just Ms. Alder and me.
I should get
up and go too,
I think, but as I do she addresses me.

“Hey Alyssa, we missed you this week,” she says.

“Yeah, sorry,” I say, even though we did have permission to
skip school due to the accident.

“It's not too much to hope you've finished your essay?” she
asks. I cringe, that's the subject I've been dodging.

“No, Shana and I were gonna work on it, and make stories
that work together but-,”

 “Don't worry, only three students have turned in their
essays on time, but I do need yours by the end of the week, and Shana's too,”
she says, and that reminds me.

“Oh, um, Shana won't be able to,” I say.

“Her family is sitting shivah- in mourning and it's a custom
that they don't leave the house for a week,” I continue.

“Well if she's at home she can work on it there, and you can
bring it for me?” she suggests.

“They're really not supposed to do any work during the
shivah,” I say.

“Well just run it by her,” she says. I nod.

“Can you help me with this?” she asks, opening the classroom
closet. I stand up and walk over to her and as I get over there, she's hauling
a television set out.

“What do you want me to do?” I ask.

“Find me The Joy Luck Club in there? My eyes aren't the
best,” she explains. I look and see that it's a pretty old television set, and
pretty small. I wonder how she thinks even the front row students will see it
well.

I go into the closet and sort through the mess inside. It's
full of extra textbooks, pencils, and other items for school, and with no sort
of organization. No wonder she's having trouble finding a single DVD in here. I
look around a bit and realize that there don't seem to be any DVD cases in
sight. Then I realize that The Joy Luck Club is an old movie, and that's an old
television. So I'm probably looking for a VHS cassette. After making that
realization, I see a line of VHS boxes, but a lot of them are empty. In fact,
there are a few cassettes strewn about. Isn't there supposed to be some student
body president to fix these kinds of problems? Maybe I should say something
about this to my Dad, the vice principal and see if he can get the school's
equipment up to date, or at least organized.

 I find the movie, or at least think I do. The sticker on
the tape is pretty badly faded, but I'm sure I can make out the title with what
remains of the tape.

“Here,” I say, handing the cassette to Ms. Alder. She takes
it and puts it into the VCR she just hooked up underneath the television. I see
that some of the students are filing back into the classroom.

“Is there anything else you need?” I ask, brushing myself
off, although the closet isn't as dusty as you'd think.

“No that should do it. Take your seat please,” she says.
After a few button pushes, she starts the movie. She lets it run through the
previews, which I think is a tremendous waste of class time alongside a full
fifteen minute break. During the previews, Jason returns to the room, and he
stares me down for a few seconds before taking his seat. He's got some toilet
paper stuffed into one of his nostrils. So he has a nosebleed too. I guess
that's why Ms. Alder didn't render a “
What took you so long?”

My seat is at an angle from the television, but I can see it
pretty well. After the previews though, something triggers a sense of unease
with me. At first, I think my arm is just falling asleep, but it starts to feel
more like a static tingling, and it courses through me like wind. I
instinctively look around for that static shadow, but I don't see it. What I do
see is Jason stifling a cough and the girl sitting next to him inching away in
disgust, as if she's afraid he'll contaminate her. The static wave- I should
say, is gone by now, but I see some of the other students in the class
squirming about in a similar manner, as if they felt it too.

I turn my attention to the movie and realize what we've been
subjected to, a long, boring drama that we will probably have to write an essay
about. My body releases a yawn at the thought and I realize that I feel sleepy-
very sleepy. I wasn't feeling tired at all this morning, not with the
nervousness of being hated, so a sudden need to fall asleep at my desk comes
off as a little strange to me. The movie- or ‘feature presentation’ begins, but
as the drowsiness sets in deeper, the sound starts fading. I fight to keep my
eyelids open, and see that the sound is distorting into static bursts.

 Ms. Alder gets up and begins toggling the cords, but it
only worsens as the video starts going out. I hear a groan. Is someone really
disappointed that we don't get to watch this movie? I turn and see Jason, eyes
closed, but twitching. He groans again, and twitches a little more. I think I know
what's happening. The fit I had in the hospital when I dozed off and saw that
entity for the first time. Jason's having it now. I contemplate waking him up,
but figure someone like him probably deserves to be stuck in a nightmare for a
few minutes. I wonder if he's dreaming about shadows and static too. Then my
mind hops back to the television.

 It strikes me as odd that after I and probably some of the
other students felt a wave of static pass through us, and then the television-
that Ms. Alder is ferociously trying to fix with the all-powerful toggle
method, distorts, Jason would be having a nightmare. The static actually seems
to come from his direction. At the thought, another wave hits me. The
drowsiness I'd only just managed to knock off comes again, and this time, I
keep my eyes closed for about two seconds to see if it will help.

When I open my eyes, the fiend is there. It's right in front
of Jason, and looming over him. It's slim and shadowy, and looks like it could
be a person if not for the way its body contorts and shakes like- like static,
giving it an indefinite form. It's all black from what I can see and I only
look at it for a second before I react with a loud gasp. I blink, and it's
gone, but Jason is awake and looking at me. In fact, everyone is looking at me.
Some of them look tired and confused, others look annoyed, but Jason's gaze is
different. It's not the hateful one that he and Leanne have been giving me.
It's a gaze that says

“
So you saw it too?

“Alyssa?” says Ms. Alder. She's been toying with the
television, and now the video is back on, except not as good a quality as it
originally was.
Did it leave?
I think. Ms. Alder is giving me a
quizzical look.

 “Oh, yeah. There was spider, it was tiny, but it crawled
into my sleeve… and startled me, sorry,” I say. Ms. Alder nods.

“Try and keep quiet,” she says. Throughout the rest of the
class we watch the movie in its horrible half-visible quality. I hope she
doesn't expect us to do an essay on this, because even when I do try and pay attention
I don't understand anything that's happening. For the most part, I'm too busy
thinking about that thing that I- and now possibly Jason, have seen. After
class, we have lunch period, and I'm on my way when I get grabbed from behind.
It's Jason. He pushes me against a wall.

“You saw him?” he asks.

“H-him?” I stammer. I've never been intimidated by Jason,
but he’s never gotten in my face and held me against a wall before. He's
putting a lot of weight against my shoulder, and it kind of hurts, but I don't
think that's his intention. Still, I'm contemplating using my pepper spray on
him, but I'm not sure it's a bad enough situation to risk having my only
self-defense item confiscated over.

“Don't play dumb. You saw Kenny too?” he growls.

“No, I didn't see him,” I answer truthfully. Was his
nightmare about Kenny?

“You looked right at him and then screamed,” he presses.

“No, I, it wasn't him,” I choke, trying to push his hand
off. He doesn't move.

 “Hey!” I hear. Jason and I both look and see none other
than my dad. He's looking Jason dead in the eye and frowning at him, but it's
an angry frown, that's meant to be intimidating, but looks more like a moping
face. “Get your hands off my daughter,” says Dad.

Jason jerks away from me, and storms off, but not before
giving me one more glare and saying, “He wants my help, and I'm gonna do it,”
he says.

“What?” I ask, but he's got his back turned to me now.

“Are you alright,” asks Dad.

“Yeah, yeah, he's just-”

“No excuses, if he touches you again knock his lights out,
and I'll have him arrested,” he interrupts. I wonder how exactly Dad expects me
to
knock the lights
out of someone like Jason, but I just give him a
nod.

“Roger,” I say.

“I came to get you,” he continues.

“Come on, we're going to get Adam, they're letting him go,”
he says. My eyes light up. Adam's finally coming back! They said they'd only
need him for a couple more days, but it's the fifth day. I don't hesitate, I
don't argue, I don't even grab my backpack, and my dad and I are in the car on
the way to the hospital in less than five minutes.

At the beginning of the drive to Andrews, I feel joyous, and
am highly anticipating getting to hug my little brother again when he’s awake,
but later in the ride, I have time to think. I think about that static entity
I’ve seen thrice now. I’ve seen it too many times for it to be some kind of
hallucination, as I’m not on any medication to induce them, and although the
recent events have downed me severely, I’m not depressed enough to conjure
them.

The only possible solutions I am able to think up, are that
either A: it’s some kind of ghost, or entity like the Boogeyman; or B: it’s got
something to do with the disease that’s making everyone pale and giving them
nosebleeds, which doesn’t add up as much even though it would be the more
scientifically acceptable solution. Then I am struck with worry. If it is an
omen, and I saw it first at the hospital, does that mean something is going to
happen to Adam?