Slenderman, Slenderman, Take this Child

by McGeorge, Lee

  The doctor looked away… She was posing… she was posing in a way he liked to see women pose. The girl was trapped in a young offender’s facility but she wasn’t helpless. The twelve year old knew what power she could wield. She knew what buttons to press. Jemima rolled onto her back and with one leg straight in the air she pulled on the other sock, allowing her dress to fall aside, naked from the waist down whilst staring at the doctor, her mouth open slightly.

  He turned away again and purged deeply through his nose. This girl was a horror. It was like she was in his mind and playing out his fantasies.

  When finally ready, Balfour led her to the meeting room, the same as used for the hypnosis sessions. The darkened room removed all distractions except for the people sitting in the wing-back chairs.

  “Hello, Detective Henry,” Jemima said as she climbed into a chair.

  Henry pulled out the Nuremberg dial and showed it. “This thing, it points the way to Slenderman. Is that true?”

  Jemima Collins nodded with a smile. “Yes… for you.”

  “What does that mean, for me?”

  “If you use the dial, you will find Slenderman.”

  “I spoke with somebody by telephone last night, a man who called himself Jacob. Is he Slenderman?”

  Jemima nodded nonchalantly, but it was non-committal. “He can be, sometimes.”

  “Explain it.”

  Jemima settled herself back into the chair and made herself comfortable. “I’m surprised you haven’t discovered yet… It should be obvious.”

  Henry shook his head. “Well, it isn’t obvious and I’m not going to play games with you. Explain it to me.”

  The girl stared into his eyes and leaned forward slightly. “What happened with your daughter? She was screwing around with a boy, right? With a man older than her.”

  “That’s none of your business,” Henry yelled, standing up. “Wait a minute… how do you even know that?”

  Jemima smiled with absolute confidence. “I’m trying to explain Slenderman… may I continue?”

  Henry and Balfour looked to one another, then Henry sat down slowly. “Go on,” he said.

  “That boy made you so mad. He was having sex with your daughter. You could imagine it. You imagined her putting... ‘his thing’... in her mouth and it made you crazy. You imagined her riding him in his car and she was on top, bouncing up and down and it drove you insane… Am I right?”

  Henry said nothing. He clenched his jaw, biting his teeth together hard.

  “I’m trying to explain Slenderman,” Jemima said again. “But I need you to acknowledge that what this boy did to your own little girl, your perfect beautiful princess, was making you crazy.”

  “Get to the point.”

  “But the real reason it hurt so much, Detective Henry, is that you didn’t want to imagine her having sex with anybody... except yourself.”

  Henry got out of his seat and gripped her dress by the collar, lifting her out of the chair. Balfour jumped forward jamming his arm between them.

  Jemima Collins threw her head back and laughed. “Oh, what a dark gift I was given… Slenderman is you, Detective Henry. On one side he’s a loving father who cares for his daughter; and on the other, he’s the man who wants to own her sexually.” Balfour physically pressed himself between them but Henry held him aside and slammed Collins against the wall, her dress in his fist, his teeth grinding together. “You’re a man who makes love to his own wife,” Jemima said, “but I know you picture your daughter when you close your eyes… That little girl was never safe from her own father’s imagination… Don’t worry, you’re not the only father to love his little girl so much. Lots of men want to own their daughters sexually.”

  Henry let go of Collins and moved away.

  Balfour held an arm as a barrier across Jemima’s chest to keep her in place.

  “You are two fathers,” Jemima said. “You are the father who cares for his little girl and you’re also the father who wants to take a shower with her… Slenderman is my two fathers. One of my fathers is Max and one of them is Jacob.” Balfour looked straight at Collins and she gave him the smug self-satisfied grin of a player holding all of the cards. “If you follow the dial to meet Slenderman you will find Jacob. If I follow the dial I will find Max.”

  “Jemima,” Balfour said thinly. “What is your relationship with Max?”

  “He was my lover,” she said. “We lived in another lifetime. We lived in Berlin. We were rich at a time when everybody else was poor. We lived the jazz scene, we smoked opium and had our way with countless children… But they killed me. I died in Berlin… Max found a way to live forever… and love me forever. He used the Eye to live immortal and he searched to find this host for me. He lives through Jacob now; and he has a way that we can be together forever.”

  Henry put his hands over his face. “This is pointless,” he mumbled.

  “And I can prove everything I say,” Jemima said.

  “Prove?” Balfour said. “Prove what?”

  “I can take you to meet Max… If you follow the dial to Slenderman you will meet Jacob. It was Jacob who killed my father and uncle. It was Jacob who entertained himself on Helen’s womanhood. But if I follow the dial to Slenderman, I won’t meet Jacob. I will meet Max… and so will you.”

  ----- X -----

  Jemima sat in the back of the car with her wrists cuffed ahead of her in a fixed handcuff that pointed her hands in opposite directions. Balfour sat beside her with his arm linked through hers.

  Henry pulled into a petrol station and walked to the shop.

  “It was nice to find Jemima,” the girl said.

  “What do you mean?” Balfour asked.

  “Jemima. This young girl with her fine untouched body…” She stared out of the front window for a moment then mumbled, “It will be such a wonderful gift to give Max this child’s virginity.”

  “Do you think you are somebody else now, Jemima? Huh? Is that what you’re pretending to do now?”

  “I am somebody else,” she said resolutely. “It took Max many years to find me a body; and what a beautiful young body I wear now… I will allow Max to defile it.”

  “Okay, enough Jemima. Just... shut up.”

  Henry returned carrying two bright red petrol cans and started filling them from the pump.

  “Why has he got those?” Jemima asked. Henry popped the boot and dropped the petrol cans inside. He got back in the car. “Why have you got petrol?” she asked seriously.

  “Because I remembered your uncle was trying to set fire to your precious Max.”

  He started the car and drove.

  Highgate was close… It wouldn’t take long.

  ----- X -----

  John Henry pulled up beside Highgate Collegiate School. He opened the compass and turned back between the seats to show Balfour. The needle was pointing directly at the building, wavering slightly.

  “It’s pointing to Max,” Jemima said. “He’s in there. If you go in without me you will meet Jacob… and he’ll kill you. He’s strong now. Did you see what he did to Helen? You need to take me with you.”

  “You’re not going anywhere,” Henry said.

  “Somebody is inside,” Balfour said nodding his head towards the school. “The front door is open, look.”

  Henry and Jemima both looked, tilting their heads to see past the bars of the school gate. Balfour was right. Over that entrance to the school were two heavy wooden doors ahead of a glass door. The wooden doors were open. “The police were searching here last night. They could still be here; or perhaps the caretaker… I’ll go take a look.” He closed the dial and got out of the car.

  Balfour and Jemima watched John Henry try the front gate, then climb over the railings and begin walking across the playground. The sky was charcoal grey as the last of the autumn sun vanished behind buildings. The wind was picking up too. “I don’t think he should go in there alone,” Jemima whispered. “I think we should help him.”

&nbs
p; “I don’t think so,” Balfour said.

  “He might be in danger.”

  “That’s why I say no. Your safety is my responsibility.”

  John Henry was at the doors of the school. He looked back over his shoulder towards the car, then entered the building.

  “Jacob is going to kill him,” Jemima said.

  ----- X -----

  Why the hell was the door unlocked?

  There was nobody here and the school was left open. Had nobody locked up after the search last night? He took his mobile phone and turned on the light, throwing a beam ahead of him. The reception area had an office with a counter similar to a bank, with a high glass wall to separate the children from the office and with a circular grille to speak through.

  Henry turned to the right from entering the front door and pushed the heavy doors to the school hall. The caretaker had been angered at the chairs in the hall. They should have been in neat rows, yet they had been tossed around and piled up haphazardly. In pitch black, with boarded windows, Henry’s torch could only make out the random placing of upturned chairs.

  He took out the Nuremberg dial and shone his light onto it. The dial twitched and pointed behind him. He turned on his heels and walked back out through the door to the reception area, following the dial. He entered the main corridor and passed the wide staircase watching the dial until it suddenly swung around to point behind him.

  What the hell?

  Henry turned about face and stepped forward slowly, watching the dial until it wavered then gently rolled around to point backwards. This was the point. This was the exact position, but there was nothing here. He was in a bare corridor with doors to classrooms on either side.

  Then he realised…

  He tilted his head up to the ceiling.

  Whatever it was that the Nuremberg dial pointed to was directly above him.

  “Oh, Jeez…” he whispered. “Do I do this?” He wavered for a moment then walked back to the staircase and began climbing the stairs, looking up all the way to the top floor. The ground floor windows were boarded up, but higher in the building, through the glass shone the thinnest grey light.

  He turned off his light as he climbed the stairs. He stepped lightly, listening for the slightest sound, straining, trying to pick out any movement, but all he could hear was the wind outside.

  On the first floor he looked back and forth along the corridor. Classrooms on either side. A clear and unobstructed view to the ends of the corridor; but there was something else, it was suddenly colder here, more than downstairs. It was like walking into a freezer.

  John Henry took the Nuremberg dial from his pocket and turned on the mobile phone light. He looked at the dial and watched it swing around as a sudden hit of heavy footsteps came from above him. His eyes went to the ceiling, tracking the sound until it stopped. The dial was pointing to the source of the sound.

  The Slenderman was up there. He was walking around and the dial was pointing straight to him.

  Should he go up?

  He shone the torch beam at the ascending stairs and noticed they were now coated in a fine mist that seemed to be rolling down from above. It was around his ankles. He was standing in an ice cold mist.

  Footsteps above. Thud, thud, thud, in quick succession.

  Slenderman was moving. The dial swung to point in the opposite direction.

  He was up there.

  Should he go up?

  Helen had chased him and gone insane. The father and uncle had chased him and lost their lives. But there’s no such thing as Slenderman, is there? There isn’t a real monster. It’s a person behind the monster. It’s Scooby Doo. A ruse. Pull the mask off the beast to find an ordinary fool behind the spooky legend.

  A solid thud from above.

  John Henry backed away slowly. He got back onto the stairs and descended, walking backwards, staring up, looking up the stairwell to the ceiling until at the ground floor. He stayed there for a moment. He shone the light from his torch up to the ceiling, picking out the details as far as they could be seen.

  Then a movement.

  High up, on the third or fourth floor, something seemed to whip through the air. It was as though the air was misty, greyed and cloudy, but something black had whipped through it. Then again. A whip like motion.

  Henry held his breath as he looked up.

  Then he saw it.

  A hand wrapped its long black fingers around the bannister. Slowly, wrapping the digits around the wood like a snake. Then another hand, coiling the fingers. Then slowly, with all the time in the world, a head covered in a white sack peered over the edge to look down at John Henry. Above the figure, black tendrils stirred the mist around the Slenderman that watched him.

  Jemima Collins was right.

  She was right about everything.

  ----- X -----

  Balfour watched as John Henry sprinted back across the playground and threw himself at the railings, scaling them with ease. He ran to the back of the car and grabbed the petrol cans. He slammed the boot and tossed both cans across the railings.

  He opened the door and passed Balfour the keys.

  “He’s in there,” Henry gasped. “Slenderman. I’ve seen him.” He jammed his finger at Jemima and said to Balfour, “Get her out of here. Call nine-nine-nine. Tell them I’m in pursuit of a suspect inside the building.”

  “What are you going to do?” Balfour asked.

  “I’m going to burn him to a crisp.”

  John Henry slammed the door and began scaling the railings again. Balfour got out of the car and walked to the driver’s side.

  “What are you doing?” Jemima asked.

  Balfour started the engine. “You and I are going back to Westwood.”

  “But we can’t… Detective Henry will need our help.” The car started moving. “Please… Doctor Balfour, Jacob will kill him without our help. No… No we can’t go.” Jemima’s voice became shrill but Balfour was ignoring her, bringing the car to speed. They were leaving, heading away. At this, Jemima Collins lurched forward to reach her arms across the seat and over Balfour’s head, jamming the handcuffs under his nose as she yanked his head back. “I said, No!”

  Balfour flinched at the cuffs across his face, twisting his head and trying to hit the brakes. The car zigged on the road, the back end swinging away as the wheels skidded until the front end clipped a parked car and brought them to a halt. The airbag popped as Jemima crashed against the back of the car seat. A moment to shake away the cobwebs, then she had the door open and was sprinting along the wall of the school, her hands still fixed in solid handcuffs across her chest.

  “Jemima… JEMIMA!” Balfour got out of the car staggering, his legs like jelly. The girl was running along the wall of the school, then she ducked down the side where the school wall met a private garden. Balfour tried to give chase but his world was spinning, his legs were wobbling and his adrenalin was in overload.

  Jemima began cutting across the playground towards the front door of the school.

  How had she gotten inside?

  There must be a break in the railings. Some secret entrance known to the pupils through which she had somehow slipped inside the school grounds.

  “Oh, Christ,” Balfour lamented as he clambered onto the railings. It was hard. The metalwork was dirty. “Jemima!” he called again as the girl reached the school doors.

  She was running, her face turning red with exertion. “Max. I’m coming, Max. I’m coming to you,” she called out as she ran.

  Then she entered the school and vanished from view.

  ----- X -----

  John Henry had paused at the foot of the central staircase to look back up. He couldn’t carry two petrol cans and use his phone for the light at the same time. He checked his pocket for the disposable lighter. It sparked easily enough, but this would be tricky. A can of petrol was not a quick weapon.

  He scanned the reception area and spotted a small, plastic, waste paper bin. He tipped it ou
t and half filled it with petrol. He left the half can of petrol behind and began climbing the stairs with the second can and the waste bin of fluid. The lighter was in his hand, pressed between his palm and the bin.

  If he saw the monster again, if he got close enough, he would throw the fuel and see what happened.

  It wasn’t much of a plan.

  He was at the first landing and feeling the cold again when he heard running footsteps from below. He looked down to see a grey shape darting for the staircase and rushing up towards him. He dropped the petrol can the better he could hold the bin with both hands, then he heard Jemima Collins screaming. “Max!” she yelled. “MAX!”

  Henry called back, “Jemima, get out of here,” but over the top of him came an almost bellowing whoosh of wind and the sound of movement. John Henry looked over the bannister and saw the Slenderman on the floor above, looking back down over the railing. In a split second the monster was across the bannister and free falling to his level, the wiry thin body stopped as dark tendrils grabbed at the staircase, stopping the fall. The monster was like some kind of ungodly spider, able to dart from one place to another, holding itself away from the floor with the tendrils.

  The Slenderman looked back across its shoulder to Jemima, running up the stairs.

  Now was the chance.

  Henry tried to throw the bin of fuel but the creature noticed an instant too quickly. It bounced to the side as a tendril whipped the fuel bucket out of his hands to splash down the stairwell. Missed.

  Worse still, the whipping tendril had knocked the lighter from his hand.

  Down below, Doctor Balfour entered the building and yelled, “John. Where are you?”

  Again, a distraction.

  Henry didn’t wait. He dove for the gas lighter and can of fuel. He twisted the cap off the fuel can; petrol poured out as it lay its side. Slenderman looked back, but it was too late, Henry lit the pool of fuel and a burst of flames shot up as the fluid rolled across the floor and started spilling down the stairs.