***
Rourke
stretched as he walked into his office the next morning. ”Okay, first
things first,” he muttered putting down his briefcase. ”I’ll get a list
of Meredith’s neighbors and make some phone calls.” He opened the laptop
on his desk and tapped the power button. It began to hum to life. As it
did, Rourke slithered out from behind his desk and grabbed his coffee mug from
the corner. He looked inside it and made a little face. Brown
residue from the previous day’s coffee clung to the sides and bottom of the
cup. ”Eh, I’ll just rinse it out,” he said as he walked to the break
room.
As he ran some
water into his cup his phone began to ring. Sighing, he put the mug down
and pulled out his phone. A number he now recognized as Mira’s was on the
screen. ”Hello, Detective Rourke,” he said answering the phone. He
reached over for the coffee pot as he talked.
“Detective
Rourke, it’s Mira Grolinsky,” Mira said. Her voice was tired. But
it wasn’t the tired of no sleep. It was the tired of one who was too emotionally
stunned to entirely accept what was going on around them. It was
something, unfortunately, Rourke had heard a lot of in his line of work.
“Your mother
died last night?” he said, gently. He placed the coffee pot down next to
his mug.
“Yes,” Mira said
a quaver in her voice. A pause. ”No, she didn’t die, she was
killed. He did it, I know he did.”
“The man from
last night?” Rourke asked. He leaned against the counter top, careful not
to jostle the coffee pot.
“Yes. No.
I mean–” She stopped. ”I need to talk to you in person.”
“That’s fine,
Mira, that’s fine. Do you want to come to the precinct? Or do you want me
to come to you?”
“Let me come
down there. I have to get out of here,” she said.
“Alright, let
me give you directions.” He gave her quick directions to precinct and
then after re-assuring her again, he hung up the phone.
“Great, another
dead witness,” he said, pouring the coffee into his cup. ”This has career
ending case written all over it.”
Thirty minutes
later, Mira was sitting down in front of his desk. There were no traces
of tears on her face, but it looked like it had been freshly scrubbed with soap
and water. Her cheeks were still a little red because of the violence of
the washing, as were her eyes, likely from the violence of her tears.
Rourke steepled his hands. ”What did you want to tell me, Mira?”
She looked down
into her hands. ”You’re going to think I’m crazy.” She shook her
head slightly. ”I think I’m crazy.”
Rourke glanced
over at Connor’s book, “By the Fire’s Light” still sitting on his desk.
His eyes widened slightly as he remembered the words Meredith had
screamed as the ambulance attendants loaded her up. ”Why don’t I try to
guess,” he said slowly, still looking at the book. ”The man you saw, you
don’t think he had a face.”
Mira’s head
snapped up, brown eyes meeting Rourke’s hazel ones. ”Yes,” she said.
She stared at him for a moment longer. ”How did you know?”
“Well,” Rourke
said, sliding the book over to Mira, “that’s going to take some explaining.”
Briefly he narrated the events of the past few weeks to her. First
the death of Connor, followed by Cassandra Brighton, then Ellen Kennedy, and
now her mother Meredith Grolinsky.
Mira turned the
book over in her hands. ”And so, this ‘Slender Man’ has been spotted in
some way, shape or form at all the deaths?”
Rourke nodded,
then paused. “Well, most of them. I haven’t interviewed anyone who saw
him around Cassandra’s death yet. But she did die in a fire, like the
victims in Connor’s books. Cassandra thought she saw a faceless man look
out Connor’s window. Your mother saw what she thought was a tentacled man
leaving Dr. Kennedy’s car. And now, you, you think you saw a faceless man
shortly before your mother’s death.” He put a hand to his forehead.
”I don’t know how he got in or out without anyone seeing him, but I think
you really did see your mother’s killer. I think we have a Slender fan on
the loose, and we need to catch him before he gets anyone else.” He stood
up and Mira looked up at him as he did so.
“You think I’m
next,” she said simply. ”He goes after those who witness him and his
crimes.”
“I think it’s
possible,” Rourke said. ”I want to assign police protection to you for
the time being.”
Mira looked
down at the book again. Her hands wandered over the title. ”Hm,”
she said. ”Do as you please.” She stood up and handed him the book
again. ”I have to go arrange for my mother’s funeral.” Without
another word she left the office.
Rourke took the
book and put it back in a drawer. Turning to his laptop, he accessed the
police network and found an address for Mira Grolinsky. He made a quick
call and had a patrol car assigned outside of her house. Then he began to
methodically call Meredith Grolinsky’s neighbors, hoping to find clues.
The sun had set
once again before Carl Rourke got up from his desk and looked out his window.
”Another day another dead end,” he said as he shut down his laptop.
He hated this. This killer had been two steps ahead of him from the
beginning. Killers usually messed up eventually, but he didn’t want to
have a double digit body count before he caught this guy. His smartphone
trilled in his pocket. Taking it out he saw, again, Mira’s number.
”Well, third’s times the charm,” he said answering the phone. ”Yes,
Mira, how can I help you?” he asked.
“I bought that
book today, “By the Fire’s Light”,” she said, sounding oddly calm. ”And
I’ve been doing some research and some thinking. And I think you’re half
right. I think I did see my mother’s killer.”
“Okay?” Rourke said,
confused. ”Did you have something new to tell me?”
“I think,” Mira
said, slowly, “that you have one thing wrong. I don’t think you’re
looking for a man.”
“Well, it could
be a woman I guess,”Rourke said with a shrug.
Mira sighed.
”No, Detective.”
Rourke’s
eyebrows knit. And then he realized what she was talking about. ”Mira,”
Rourke said, as if he was talking to a small child. ”The Slender Man is
not real. He is a fictional entity.”
“Was,” Mira
said, still calm. ”We have summoned him and he has come.” He heard
the scratching of something on the other end of the line, possibly a pen on
paper. ”And what can be summoned can be dismissed.”
“Mira,” Rourke
said, still slightly patronizing, “it’s been a long and hard day for you.
Get some rest.”
“I will when I
am done. You take care of yourself, Detective. Who knows, he might
move after you next if this doesn’t work.” She hung up.
Rourke quickly
called the officers in the patrol car currently in front of Mira’s house.
After verifying she was at home, he left instructions for them to watch
for any comings and goings to her house carefully. Then, finally, he left
the office for his home, this time with his copy of “By the Fire’s Light” in
his briefcase.
Rourke turned
on his bedside light as he slipped into bed that night. He tried to focus
on the book in his hands. He just felt like there was something he was
missing. And it wasn’t that this Slender Man was real. Unable to
concentrate on the book and his tiredness finally catching up with him, Rourke
let the story fall from his hands as he closed his eyes, not even bothering to
turn off the light.
***
Rourke dreamed.
He was in a closely overgrown forest. Every which way he turned, he
brushed up against tree branches and overly tall ferns. Something tall
moved at the very edge of his sight sometimes, but he couldn’t tell what it
was. He caught a good glance of it to his north (or at least he guessed
north from the moss on the trees) and he began to move towards it.
Something
touched his shoulder. Rourke turned around and found himself looking at
young man with black hair. ”Detective Rourke,” he said, quietly.
”Do not follow it. It will come after you soon enough without you
encouraging it.”
Rourke raised
an eyebrow. ”Who are you?”
“Connor,” the
young man said.
Rourke cocked
his head. For some reason the name sounded familiar, but he couldn’t
place why.
Connor shook
his head. ”Don’t question, just listen,” he said, looking over his
shoulder. ”I don’t have much time and this is important. Dr.
Kennedy had the right idea. It runs on belief. But there is too
much now for one person to deny it existence.” He shook Rourke slightly.
”Do you understand?”
Rourke shook
his head. ”I don’t,” he said. He felt as if his mind had been
wrapped in a blanket, warm and stifled. ”But I should.”
“Just remember
then,” Connor said. ”One person is not enough. Nor two.” He sighed.
”We gave the nameless one a name,” he muttered. ”And he will not
give it back.” He looked into Rourke’s eyes. ”It is easier to
modify a story than to negate it,” he said. ”Tell Mira that. It’s
too close to her now, I can’t reach her. I won’t be able to reach you
after this.”
Rourke felt the
hairs on the back of his neck raise. There was something behind him.
He could feel it. He could see it in Connor’s terrified gaze.
Connor’s hands tightened painfully around Rourke’s arms. Rourke
tried to turn and see, but Connor held him fast.
“No,” Connor
whispered. ”Don’t look, not yet.” He leaned in close and whispered
in his ear. ”I am free, but others are not. I can’t help them, but
you and Mira can. Please remember.”
Rourke nodded.
”I will.”
“Good,” Connor
said. ”Now,” and his face suddenly twisted, “wake up!” he screamed, still
leaned in close to Rourke’s ear.
***
Rourke jumped
up in bed. ”Holy Mother of God,” he said, head in his hands. ”What
was that?” Without thinking he was already reaching for the notebook he
took with him on investigations. Quickly, he began to jot down the dream.
A sense of urgency permeated him, a feeling that he could not let this
dream slip from him.
Rourke shook
his head as he transcribed. ”Lord, Rourke, you are losing it. Have
a dream about Connor Russell, and don’t even realize its him in the dream.
Some detective.” He glanced over at his clock. Two in the
morning. Even though he thought he was a fool, the feeling of urgency did
not leave Rourke. In fact, if anything, it was growing stronger.
”It’s too close to her now,” Connor had said. Slender Man was obviously
what his dream Connor was referring to.
Rourke
considered going back to bed, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep.
Not unless he was sure Mira was okay. He pulled his smartphone off
his nightstand and dialed Mira’s number. It rang five times and then went
to voice mail. He hung up and stared at the floor for a moment. If
it was only two in the morning the same patrol car would probably be in front
of her house. He dialed through to the officers inside again. They
quickly assured him no one had gone into or left the house.
Hanging up the
phone and putting it back on the stand, Rourke grunted. ”That’s that.”
He moved to turn of the bedside light he had left on when he went to
sleep. His hand hung there as he stared at the light. The dream may have been
just a dream, but Rourke had learned to trust his gut over the years. And
his gut was telling him he had to get over to Mira Grolinsky’s house right now.
He took in a deep breath, held it, and let it out. ”Fine,” he
growled, getting up.
Mira lived in a
small community about thirty minutes from his house. There were about
fifteen house arranged around a good sized lake in the middle. A light
breeze brought the smell of the water to Rourke as he climbed out of his car.
He nodded to the officers in the patrol car as he walked over to it.
“Something
wrong, Detective?” the young woman said inside. Rourke recognized her as
Samantha Layton, a five year vet of the force.
“No, I don’t
think so,” Rourke said. ”Ms. Grolinsky just called, said she had
something she wanted to show me,” he said, lying through his teeth. He’d
be damned if he told these officers that a bad dream had prompted him to come
here. ”Keep an eye out, though, okay?”
“Will do,”
Samantha said with a nod. She prodded the young man next to her.
”Hear that, Craig?” she said, as he started slightly.
Rourke turned
from the car and walked up to the house. A motion sensor light on the
garage went off as he walked up the driveway. His long black shadow
stretched away behind him as he rang the bell on the house. He followed
this up with several solid knocks. Silence met his ears as he waited.
He put his head down and listened. No, it wasn’t quite silence.
Just there on the edge of his hearing he thought he heard… crackling.
Whipping away from the door, he moved to the living room window. He peered through the partially open blinds and saw a soft orange glow inside. He drew in his breath.
Whipping away from the door, he moved to the living room window. He peered through the partially open blinds and saw a soft orange glow inside. He drew in his breath.
Rourke turned back to the patrol car that Samantha
was already climbing out of. ”Call the fire department!” he yelled.
”And stay back!” Rourke pulled a Maglite flashlight out of his coat
pocket. With a straight focused blow, he hit the corner of the living
room window with the butt of the light. It fragmented and fell into
little pebbles, designed to break in a way that wouldn’t leave shards that could
cut people. He smashed the window again, leaving a hole big enough for
him to climb through.
“Mira!” Rourke shouted, flipping on the light as he
dragged himself through the window. A small trail of smoke was filtering
into the large living room, past the two black leather couches and easy chair.
He ran, following the trail and the orange glow towards the back of the
house.
Rounding a corner, he spotted a glass sliding door
that was now reflecting a wall of flames that danced in an almost impossible
straight line in front of it. A table with a golden tablecloth shined
brilliantly in the light. And there, in a corner behind the table, flames
surrounding him, stood a tall man in a business suit, towering over the
cowering Mira in a corner.
“Halt or I will shoot!” Rourke said, pulling out
his gun and dropping the flashlight.
Mira looked out around the man, eyes wide and
unbelieving. ”Detective?” she said, fear and hope mingling in her voice.
The man turned to face Rourke, which was a funny
choice of words since he had no face Rourke could see. Rourke leveled his
gun on his extremely skinny center mass. ”Do not move!” he roared.
The man cocked his head and took a gliding step
forward. And as he did, to Rourke’s astonishment, the flames danced and
followed him, gliding perfectly. Training overcoming amazement, Rourke made
sure Mira was not standing behind the man and then opened fire. He fired three
shot point blank into the man’s chest.
He didn’t even stagger. He glided closer to
Rourke. Rourke’s eyes widened. ”Bullet proof vest,” he gasped
stepping back. ”But even with a bullet proof vest, he’d still feel the
impact,” a small corner of his mind whispered back. Ignoring that part of
his mind for now, Rourke leveled his gun at the man’s head. He fired. He
watched as the bullet hit dead center where its face should be. It,
because even Rourke had to admit, when a man was hit in the face with a bullet,
the bullet didn’t stop and then slowly sink into the face without leaving a
trace. A black tendril whipped from behind the thing’s back and Rourke
realized he was about to die.
“No!” Mira screamed, dragging herself from the
corner. She coughed as she ran past the thing, and grabbed Rourke’s arm.
”Don’t believe in him!”
The thing’s tendrils began to whip angrily as she
spoke and it moved forward aggressively. Rourke looked around him.
The flames had circled them, blocking the entrance back to the front door
and to the sliding door that led down to the lake below. ”The lake,”
Rourke said, an idea forming in his head. He grabbed Mira. ”Come
on!” he said, whipping the table cloth off the table. He wrapped it
around them and ran as the thing struck forward, its tendrils landing where he
and Mira had been standing a mere second ago.
Rourke propelled himself and Mira through the flame
wall in front of the sliding door. He felt the flames biting into the
tablecloth, felt the heat searing into him. With a bounce he hit the
glass door. In desperation, he ripped off the tablecloth, Mira helping
him, as he grabbed the door. With a shove, it fell open, and he and Mira
were running breakneck down the hill leading to the lake.
“It’s easier to modify a story than to negate it!”
he said breathlessly to Mira, as they ran. ”What is the natural enemy of
fire?”
Mira’s eyes widened in recognition. ”Water!”
she said, as they closed in on the lake. She started to turn to look
back.
“No!” Rourke said, waving an arm to keep her
attention. ”Don’t look back!” And then they were plunging into the
water. It seeped into Rourke’s shoes and socks, making his feet feel like
someone had placed weights in them. Rourke and Mira struggled forward,
each helping the other, until they could no longer feel the lake bed
beneath them and they were dog paddling in the water.
“We have to believe,” Mira said through chattering
teeth looking back at the house.
“We won’t be enough,” Rourke said, looking back
with her. The thing, the Slender Man, stood at the edge of the shore, the
flames following him in a dancing swirling line down from the house. It
stood, black suit melding into and out of the smoke. But it did not come
forward. Sirens filled the air as a fire truck approached the house.
The Slender Man tilted its head as if listening. And then, slowly,
it seemed to melt into the very shadows made by the flame’s light.
Rourke felt Mira grasp his hand. ”Well, it
was enough for now,” she gasped, trying to stay afloat with one hand.
“For now,” Rourke agreed, beginning to swim for
shore.
.................................................................................................................................................................
And just like this my dears we are back, sorry for the wait we were gone visit some relatives...Sadly back I am, but not both are back...
So you must realize Zane is gone, ocupied otherwise...
Please, we expect you back for more of this macabre dance...
Only My Masters...
~Jane, the Red Dress