Read Online The Slender Man by Dexter Morgenstern - Free Book Online

you couldn't but she wanted me to ask anyway. I have to get mine done
tonight,” I say, staying off the Denise topic.
    She shakes her head and reaches under the bed. “Our
relatives all visited at once, each afternoon. I had to do something to pass
the time when I ignored Denise,” she says. She pulls out a small pile of papers
from underneath the bed.
    “You did your essay?” I whispered in surprise. In shivah
you're not supposed to work or do schoolwork.
    “I did our essays. Just don't tell my parents,” she
says, handing me a few of the papers.
    “You'll want to copy it down yourself though, so it's in
your handwriting, and I put some spelling errors in there for you too.” I smile
at her as I stuff the essay in my shirt. This is at least one good sign that
Shana is still Shana.
     “You want me to sneak you your homework too?” I chuckle.
     She moves her head back and forth as if pondering.
    “Just come? Keep me company?” she says. I nod.
    “Every day,” I say. She smiles.
    “I haven't seen Denise once since you guys came.
    “We tend to ward evil spirits away,” I joke. The door opens,
and I turn to see Mom entering.
    “We need to get going,” she says rather glumly. Perhaps they
ran out of good things to say about Denise and can't handle the awkward silence
any more. Before I can respond, Shana hugs me tight.
    “Come here straight from school.” I am about to ask if she
still wants food but then I realized just how little she ate of her favorite
dishes today and figure I won't say anything.
    “Promise. I'll walk if I have to,” I say. Mom escorts me
downstairs and we see Dad putting his jacket on, saying his goodbyes to the
Hawthorns. Mom and I take our turn and then head out. Dad has already started
the car. The drive home is silent, aside from the radio talk show. It's a local
radio channel and three guesses on what's still the main subject for the local
news? Right.
    As I gaze out the window my mind is stuck on Denise, or at
least the Denise-apparition. I've got to figure out what's really going on.
Maybe the hallucinations really have something to do with the sickness, or
maybe ghosts are just real? I've always taken an agnostic approach to ghosts
and things like that, but if these visions aren't ghosts, then what are they?
    As we get close to home the radio starts to fade out.
Static! I look right and left, looking for… it. Dad is closing in on our
driveway when he slams on the brakes. Does he see it?
    “Adam!” he roars. He and Mom both jump out of the car. I
follow suit. We get out and I walk up to them. There is Adam, cast and all,
walking in the middle of the road. It's like he didn't even see us! As I
approach, my parents are saying things like
    “What's wrong with you?” “Where's your Bubbe?” or
    “You're going to tear open your stitches,” but I'm not
focused on them. I'm still looking for it, but I can't find it, or sense it,
anywhere.
    “I'm going to check on Hannah,” says Dad. “Alyssa, take your
brother inside,” he orders as he busts in through our already open front door.
Mom goes back to take care of the car. I walk over and take Adam's good hand,
but it's limp, as if he's not holding back. He's not even looking at me, or us.
He's looking down the road... at the forest. Suddenly his hand shocks me. Not a
normal contact shock, but that static wave comes through me. He snaps out of it
before giving me a confused and terrified look, but he doesn't say anything. He
starts to walk along with me, and we go inside the house.
    I can hear Dad yelling at Bubbe.
    “What were you doing letting him run around in the road? He
shouldn't have been out of bed at all!”
    “Well I tried to feed the child but he was too sleepy so I
laid him down and went up to bed myself!” she shouts back. I decide to let them
argue as I escort Adam upstairs and back into bed. It's not her fault. It's
something to do with that static shadow, these ghosts, and the illness that's
going around.