The Slender Man Game of Myths

by J. Ernest Kallendrine

  ‘Arresting officer?’ Kate says, ‘So I’m going to be arrested?’ The officer smirks at Kate, ‘Only under formal questioning. I’ll give some time to think about it.’

  Kate begins to think about what happened to Rachael. It seems unbelievable what she witnessed. What would other people think if she explained something so unexplainable?

  She thinks about some psychiatrist listening to her story, and how they may take her away for some sort of evaluation. Her choices are limited. Rachael is gone and if she tells the story, there is no way of bringing her back. She has to look out for herself.

  She looks at the officer resting his pen on the notepad, waiting. Kate clears her throat, ‘Rachael gave me a message after school saying that she needed to talk to me over the internet. We linked up and she started telling me.’

  The officer stops writing, ‘What did she have to tell you?’

  Kate feels sweat starting to bead on her forehead, ‘She needed some advice about a boy we both knew. I know him a little better than she does so she asked me if he was single and if I would introduce her to him.’

  The officer scowls at the notepad as he scribbles down her story. ‘So she called you about a boy. What did you see in regards to her disappearance?

  ‘I saw her go to her window and I think I saw a hand grab her arm and pull her out.’

  The officer begins writing again. He stops and looks at Kate, ‘So you saw someone grab her arm and pull her out, correct?’

  Kate nods, ‘Yes.’

  The officer begins to scratch his chin, ‘The report stated that you said to your father that Ms. Overton was dead. How did you come up with that conclusion?’

  ‘Umm,’ Kate says softly, ‘I…I don’t know. I just said it. I guess I assumed it because she was pulled out. I don’t know for sure. I just blurted it out.’

  Kate’s dad takes her hand and holds it in his lap, ‘She was hysterical. If you saw what she saw, you would be hysterical too.’

  The officer raises his eyebrows, ‘And how do you know what she saw?’

  Kate’s dad clenches his jaw. The muscles on the side of his face tense and turn red. ‘Her friend’s boyfriend just died the other day. She’s been through a lot. Do you have any more questions or are we done here?’

  The officer begins to flip through his notepad. He stops halfway through and traces down the page with his finger.

  ‘Kate, do you know of anyone she was having a problem with?’

  Kate shakes her head, ‘No, not that I know of. I mean, some people don’t like her at school but not in a “I-want-her-dead” type of way, just a typical high school drama type of way.’

  The officer begins to write in his notepad, “And who are these students that didn’t like her in a typical high school type of way?’

  ‘There’s a bunch of them.” Kate relies, ‘Pretty much all the girls at school except for a few. And those few are the smart, nerdy girls who probably have more important things to think about.’

  ‘What about boys? Any boys you know with any vendetta against Ms. Overton? Maybe someone who felt slighted by her because she turned them down for a date?’

  The radio on the officer’s hip begins to crackle. A stern voice funnels through its caged speaker intertwined with static.

  ‘All units, we have located the suspect Simon Pilsner and he is currently in custody. All available units please report to location one for further assessments.’

  Kate watches as the officer switches off his radio and continues to write. ‘Simon?’ she thinks to herself, ‘A suspect? That can’t be right.’

  The officer closes his notepad and signals for the young officer. ‘Pack up the computer and lets go.’

  He turns to Kate and her dad sitting on the bed, ‘We’re going to take your computer down to the station for further evaluation. You’ll be able to pick it up in the next 48 hours. I thank you for your time and enjoy the rest of your evening.’

  As the young officer begins unplugging the cords of the computer, the older officer walks out the door.

  Kate’s dad walks over to the young officer and begins assisting him. ‘Be careful with this, it cost me an arm and a leg.’ He says.

  The young officer smiles, ‘Don’t worry, we’ve never damaged a computer yet. You’re in good hands.’

  While her dad and the young officer wrap the cords and carefully place them in the box, Kate slips out the door and begins to follow the older officer. She sees him walk out the front door as she looks down the steps. She quickly scurries down the steps and runs up behind him.

  ‘Excuse me. I didn’t mean to be nosy but I heard you had Simon Pilsner in custody. Can I ask why?’

  The officer opens the door to his cruiser and removes his hat. ‘Do you know Simon Pilsner?’ he asks.

  ‘Well, he goes to my school. I don’t really know him that well. I’m just curious because I recognized the name.’

  The officer tosses his hat on the dashboard of the vehicle, ‘Someone saw him around the area at the time of the crime. Nothing serious, we just wanted to question him. I’m sure it’s nothing, just standard procedure.’

  The young officer walks out the door carrying a large brown box. ‘Pop the trunk.’ he says as he struggles to carry the box down the steps of the porch.

  The older officer goes to the back of the car and puts his key in the lock of the trunk. Kate follows closely behind him.

  ‘Are you going to go through my computer tonight? I have some password protected files in there and I’ll gladly help you guys out.’

  The trunk of the car opens and the young officer slides the box in. ‘No,’ the older officer says, ‘We are stretched pretty thin tonight. We probably won’t get to it until tomorrow.’

  The young officer opens the passenger side door and slips into the seat. The older officer does the same. As the mumbling sound of the engine starts, the older officer rolls down his window. ‘Remember, there’s a curfew tonight.’ he says to Kate. ‘If I were you, I’d hurry up and get inside.’

  Kate slowly begins to walk up the stairs of her porch. As she watches the officers back out of her driveway, she begins to think about Simon.

  ‘Why would he be around Rachael’s house? It just doesn’t make sense. And why didn’t he call me?’

  Kate’s mom partially opens the front door and sticks her head out. ‘Are you coming in? You had a long night and you should get some rest.’

  Kate lightly taps the wooden railing of the porch, ‘Yea, I’m coming. I’m just going to stay out here for a bit to get my thoughts together.’

  ‘Ok,’ Kate’s mom says softly, ‘Me and your father are turning in for the night. If you don’t want to go to school tomorrow, we completely understand. Goodnight honey.’

  ‘Goodnight mom’ Kate says as she leans over the railing of the porch.

  The door calmly closes behind her. Kate looks around the empty streets of the neighborhood. The scratching sounds of the wind blowing dried, dead leaves across the street are the only sounds snapping the deafening silence. Kate walks midway down the stairs of the porch and takes a seat on the top step.

  ‘I have to talk to him.’ she says to herself. ‘He must be at the station, he has to be there. But at soon as I start my car, mom and dad are gonna flip. They’ve already had quite a night; they don’t need any more added stress.’

  Kate restlessly rises from the step and begins to pace across the wide cement square leaning to the sidewalk.

  ‘I could walk there. If the cops pick me up for breaking this curfew what can they do? Bring me back?’

  She begins to nervously tangle and untangle her fingers. She squints as she tries to look as far as she can down the street. Everything still. Everything quiet.

  ‘Simon will probably get out tomorrow anyway. I’m worrying about nothing. I’m sure he didn’t do anything. It has to be a coincidence he was near Rachael’s house. I’ll just go to bed, get up early and go down to the station. That sound like a more feasible plan th
en risking getting myself grounded, or worst.’

  She walks up the steps and grabs the doorknob. She can’t bring herself to turn it. She can’t go inside knowing Simon may be blamed. Her hand remains on the knob so long; the heat from her grip warms the cold metal.

  ‘If Simon tells the police what we know, he’ll sound like a crazy person. If he tells them to talk to me, I could lie and tell them I don’t know what he’s talking about. But then, I’ll be alone in fighting this thing. If I do tell them, I’ll seem crazy too and they might send me away.’

  Kate releases the knob. She swiftly skips down the steps and begins walking in the direction of the police station. ‘Either way, we still need each other.’ She thinks to herself. ‘If we can finish this, we need to do it the same way we started it….together.’

  Chapter 16

  Simon looks around the empty desks at the police station. A few are tidy and neat, most are disorganized with piles of unsorted documents scattered around and most have large papers cups of still steaming coffee. He looks over to a caged cabinet filled with miscellaneous items wrapped in plastic bags. From baseball bats to computer hard drives, every item is wrapped and tagged with a number written on a bright orange piece of paper.

  While looking through the small metal wire thin bars, he sees the stainless steel fittings of his camera.

  ‘What did I leave on there? He wonders nervously. He begins to scratch the rough denim of his knees uneasy. ‘I should have changed the memory card. Dammit Simon! Why didn’t you change the memory card? He says to himself.

  He looks across the room and sees a semi dark cell with a person lying on the bed inside. The light cracks through the upper window of the cell and shines down on the smutty, cut up foot soles of the person lying on the cot. The inhabitant of the cell isn’t sleeping, just lying there with his arms folded against his chest. Except for the occasional readjustment of the position of his rams, he does not move.

  The entrance door of the room opens. A female officer walks in with a hand full of files. Simon watches her as she slowly closes the door behind her and surveys the room. First her eyes float over to the man in the cell. She stares at him momentarily. Simon sees the man in the cell swivel his head in her direction, before turning back and staring at the ceiling.

  The female officer then looks at Simon. Simon begins to rigorously dig his nails into his jeans. He doesn’t know what to expect. He doesn’t know if one of the files she’s holding contains his past. Many things happened in his youth. Is today the day his ghosts dig themselves out of their graves and rattle the skeletons in his closet?

  The female officer casually walks over to the desk where Simon is sitting and plops the pile of files down. She looks around the station before pulling a chair from another desk in front of Simon.

  ‘Hello.’ she says with a smile, ‘I’m Officer Carlson.’

  Simon begins to dig his nails deeper into the knees. The dirt and grime from his jeans begin filling under his fingers. He watches her flip quickly through the files before pulling out a thin yellow folder with his name written on the tab.

  She opens the folder and removes a single piece of paper, the only piece of paper in the file. He breathes a deep sigh of relief. ‘Maybe they haven’t gone through the pictures on my computer,’ he thinks to himself.

  Officer Carlson pulls her chair closer to Simon. She looks down and sees his hands shivering in his lap.

  ‘Are you nervous?’ she asks him. Simon takes another deep breath, ‘A little. It’s just that…I’ve never been in trouble before.’

  Officer Carlson lays the paper on the desk, ‘Well, you’re not in trouble. Well, not officially anyway. I just want to talk to you about some things that happened tonight. Are you thirsty? Can I get you something? We have orange juice, water, coffee….’

  Simon shakes his head, ‘No ma’am. I’m ok.’

  ‘Ok, but if you ever get thirsty, just let me know ok?’ Officer Carlson says. She leans back in her chair, ‘I’m sure you know what’s going on by now don’t you, the whole situation with Rachael? You guys were friends right?’

  ‘No ma’am’ Simon replies, ‘We just go to school together.’

  Officer Carlson takes a pen from her pocket and begins to write on the paper lying next to her. ‘So outside of school you two didn’t have any type of relationship?’

  Simon shakes his head, ‘No ma’am.’

  Officer Carlson begins to write once more. If Simon sat up a little straighter, he could see what she’s writing. But he is too petrified to move.

  ‘Simon, the reason you’re here is we would like to know what you we’re doing outside Rachael’s house with a camera and why you ran when we showed up?’

  Simon looks down at the floor. He moves his tongue around the inside of his mouth to wet the dryness under his lips. ‘Can I talk to my grandparents?’ he asks meekly.

  ‘We tried to call them but there was no answer. Once we get in contact with them we will release you into their custody. Now, exactly what were you doing around Rachael Overton’s home? Did you know about the curfew that was installed for all residence tonight?’

  Simon begins scratching the denim of his jeans again, ‘I don’t want to say anything to incriminate myself. I’d feel better if my grandparents were here during the questioning. I’m not trying to hide anything, I just….’

  Officer Carlson smiles, ‘I understand. I’m not going to force any answers out of you. But I would like to remind you that this conversation is off the record. We’re just trying to piece together certain parts of our investigation while it’s still fresh in your mind.’

  A hand held radio connected to Officer’s Carlson’s belt begins to crackle. ‘All units, we have a 6810 near White Cedar Lane with a possible 4110. All available officers please respond.’

  Officer Carlson unhooks the radio from her belt. She holds it in front of her and rests her thumb next to the call button.

  Simon sees a concerning level of concentration on her face. He remembers Kate lives very close by White Cedar Lane. He watches as Officer Carlson waits intently for more information from the radio.

  ‘Excuse me.’ Simon says ‘What’s a 4,1, whatever?’ Officer Carlson continues to stare at the radio, ‘Its code for breaking and entering.’

  Simon begins to get worried. So far, all the victims were kids that went to his school. With Katie’s house in such close proximity to the call, he imagination begins running wild with grim thoughts.

  ‘…And the first code. What does that one mean?’

  Officer Carlson pushes the call button on the radio. ‘This is Carlson, has anyone responded to that call for White Cedar?’ She waits quietly for the radio to respond.

  ‘Negative. All available units are currently busy, any units available that are not currently handling any pressing matters please report to White Cedar Lane.’ The crackling speaker responds.

  Officer Carlson quickly jumps out of her chair. She runs to the closet and retrieves a coat. ‘Listen Simon, I have to take this call. I’ll be back later. Just sit tight until I return.’

  ‘Ok.’ Simon says quietly. Officer Carlson reaches over to the side of her belt and takes a pair of handcuffs from one of the compartments. She walks over to Simon, ‘Wrist please.’

  Simon raises both of his arms and presses both of his wrists together. Officer Carlson takes one of his forearms and firmly tightens one of the cuffs securely around his wrist. She then takes the second cuff and fastens it to the arm of his chair.

  ‘This is only standard procedure.’ she says calmly. ‘I shouldn’t be gone too long. I’m going to lock the outside door since I’m the only one here so you don’t have to worry about someone coming in, ok?’

  Simon nods his head ‘Yes ma’am.’ Officer Carlson runs over to her desk on the far side of the room and grabs a set of keys from the drawer. ‘I’ll be right back’ she says as she rushes out the door.

  The room falls silent. Simon feels the cold metal around his w
rist numbing his skin. He looks over to the semi dark cell containing the old man still lying on his back with his arms folded across his chest. Between thoughts of the prisoner escaping and harming him in his vulnerable state and the potential trouble Kate could be in, his head feels clouded with worry.