‘Nibbles! Come on! I’ll leave you out here! You don’t want that, do you?’ she yells. She steps farther into the woods. She claps her hands together, ‘Nibbles! Nibbles! Come on Nibbles!’
She starts to slowly walk further into the woods. ‘If I lose this dog, Dad is gonna flip.’ She thinks to herself. She slowly walks deeper into the woods. She looks back and notices the road is no longer visible.
‘I’m going to get lost out here looking for that damn dog.’ she thinks to herself.
As she walks into the woods, she tries to remember certain trees she passes so she can find her way out. The blustery wind slows to a breeze. The quiet calmness amplifies to a deafening silence.
The crunch of the dried leaves echoes against the trees as Kate pilots her way deeper into the woods. She stops and listens for movement.
‘Nibbles, you have to be out here somewhere…’ she whispers to herself. She walks further. She hears a light crunching sound beside her in the distance. ‘Nibbles?’ she says as she slowly approaches the noise.
The closer she gets to the sound, the less light from the moon radiates through the trees. In the semi dark clearing, she sees a piece of paper nailed to a tree. The corners are tattered and the color of the paper is a brown, rusty shade.
She shuffles through the leaves, examining her surroundings. She reaches out and touches the paper with her fingertips. The cold, gravely, wet texture feels rough as she pinches it.
She gently lifts the paper from the tree, tearing it from the deeply grooved bark of the tree. She flips it over and sees dirt caked on its underside.
‘Yuck, who put this out here?’ she wonders to herself.
She takes her hand and flicks off some of the loose dirt stuck to the paper. As she cleans the dirt off, she sees a faintly drawn circle around the edges. She rubs the dirt from the center of the page, and sees a chaotically drawn “X” in its center.
She holds the page to what little light she can find and gazes at the frantic scratches scrawled across the paper. She takes the paper by the edge and shakes off the rest of the dirt on the page and sees a name written at the bottom of the page, “Celeste”.
‘I’m guessing Celeste isn’t an artist by trade.’ she says jokingly to herself.
A strong gust of wind gushes through the trees and blows the paper from Kate’s hand. She turns away from the cold chill and sweeps her hair from her face. The wind bears down on her back harshly. She begins to walk away from the cold rush. Another strong gust of wind suddenly hits her in the face. She raises her hand to block the chill. She squints her eyes to find a path away from the clearing. The wind begins to swirl around her, wrapping her in the freezing unkindness of it furious lashings.
Kate covers her face from the flying debris. She feels the sharpness of twigs stirred from the ground, scratching her palms. She hears the rustling of the dried leaves lifted from the Earth as they brush across her ears. She extends her hands into the wall of wind encircling her as it squeezes tighter around her. Between the screeching whooshes of the wind, the screaming sound of a girl threads into the chaos.
Kate leans into the wind cradled around her, desperately trying to make it to the edge of the clearing. The closer she gets to the edge, the stronger and tighter the wind becomes. The flapping of her coat sleeve stings her arms and she fights to walk.
She sees a single, low branch protruding from the trunk, barely close enough to touch. Kate lunges for the branch and wraps her hand around its semi-smooth bark. She tightens her grip and begins to pull herself. She feels the wind grabbing her around her shoulders, pulling her away. The wind pulls her back so forcefully, the prickly bark of the branch slices into her palms. She tightens her grip. She struggles to bring her free hand through the wind to grab the strong trunk of the tree.
The wind swirls around her in a constant, violent cyclone. The fallen autumn leaves that have collected during the season are now completely cleared away. The tops of the trees sway back and forth, creaking and crackling.
Kate extends her fingers to the trunk of the tree. Inch by inch, she sees her hand getting closer. She feels her fingertips scratch the bark. She swipes at the trunk with an open palm while pulling herself forward. As the wind become increasingly stronger and fiercer, she takes another swipe and smacks her hand against the trunk. She instantly digs her nails into the trunk and pulls herself closer. She brings herself closer and releases her grip, only to swipe at the tree again. Her forearm smacks the trunk and she wraps her arm around the trunk. ‘Just hang on Kate.’ she thinks to herself.
She swings her leg around the tree trunk and begins to inch her way behind the tree. The winds begin to die down. Kate’s desperate clasp of the tree does not loosen. The bottom of her flapping coat begins to float gently down to her sides. The roaring of the wind begins to turn into the whisper of a breeze.
Kate looks around. She relaxes her clenched hand from the tree and slowly unwraps herself. The disorder of the event is gone and replaced with deafening silence pulsating inside of her ears.
‘What was that?’ she thinks to herself. She begins to straighten out her coat and compose herself. As she bends down to brush the debris clinging to her pants, and sees the paper with the chaotic “x”.
She looks down at the paper and notices how well preserved it remain, despite being tossed around in the wind. Kate reluctantly picks up the paper and begins to inspect it.
‘Not a rip or tear anywhere.’
As she folds the paper and sticks it in her pocket, she hears a barking in the distance.
‘Nibbles?’ she calls out.
She starts walking toward the sound of the barking.
‘Nibbles, c’mon here boy.’
The barking stops abruptly. Kate picks up her pace as she tried to make her way through the woods. She carefully, but quickly, weaves in and out of the trees.
‘Nibbles! Hey Nibbles!’ she calls out.
A screeching cry of pain and anguish echoes through the woods. Kate begins to run through the trees, ‘Nibbles!’
Nibbles’ cry echoes again. Kate knows he only makes that sound when he’s in trouble. As she runs deeper into the darkness of the woods, the cries of Nibbles become louder and louder. Her wildly swinging arms scrape and graze the trees and she frantically runs to Nibbles.
The cries start to grow faint. Kate slows down. She begins to walk softly over the leaves, surveying the darkness for any movement or sound. She stops for a moment to catch her breath.
‘Nibbles, can you hear me?’ she calls.
She hears a dragging sound close by. She begins to walk in its direction. A shadow starts to come towards her. Kate bends down and picks up a large stick. She cautiously begins to walk. The shadow drags across the ground, bouncing and jerking. Kate cranes her neck and tries to make out what the dark silhouette moving through the nightfall could be. An odd ray of moonlight illuminates Nibbles golden fur as he limps to Kate. Kate drops the stick and begins to run.
‘Nibbles! Oh thank God!’
Nibbles shuffles through the leaves, whimpering and hobbling. Kate drops to her knees and hugs Nibbles around the neck.
‘Where have you been? Didn’t you hear me calling you?’
Nibbles lays down on his side and begins to breathe heavily. Kate tries to pull Nibbles to his feet, ‘We have to go. We’ve been out her long enough.’
As she tries to pick him up, she feels wetness on his fur. She wipes her hand on her jeans, and her fingers leave dark, red streaks.
‘What’s that?’ she says while looking down at her knee. She tries to brush it off, but it smears into the fabric.
‘Nibbles, have you been in a pond or something?’ She begins to stand when she sees something sticking out of Nibbles paw. She delicately picks up Nibble’s paw and sees a sharpened twig sticking out both sides. ‘Oh my…’ she gasps.
She slides her hands under Nibbles and scoops him up in her arms. Nibbles begins to whimper. ‘It’s ok; I’m going to get you some help?
Just hang on.’
Kate looks around. She sees the silver fittings of the fence far off in the distance. She starts to move swiftly to the fence. Nibbles begins to whine as the bouncing from Kate’s jogging swings his injured paw back and forth.
‘You gotta be tough puppy. We just have to get to the road and we’ll get you fixed up.’
Kate struggles to the fence. She can feel the pain of carrying Nibbles is burning her arms and shoulders. ‘We’re close now ok Nibbles. See the fence? Hold on for a couple more seconds ok?’
Kate marches through the leaves to the outside of the woods. She reaches the road and puts Nibbles down. She kneels down beside him and pulls her phone out of her pocket. She starts to go through her contacts until she find her home number.
‘Dad, please be home.’ she says to herself. As she listens to the phone ringing, she sees a pair of headlights coming down the road. She stands up and begins to wave her arms. ‘Help! Help me!’ she yells while jumping up and down.
The car passes her before slowing down and pulling over on the side of the road. Kate looks at the person getting out of the car. A short man sluggishly opens the door and begins to walk towards her. The red brake lights from his car shine down on his slouched shoulders. His hands tremble against his sides as his unsteady legs carries him over the uneven terrain.
Kate starts to walk to the man. ‘Please don’t be a creep, please don’ be a creep.’ she starts chanting to herself.
The man peers at Kate over the wire frames of his glasses. Strands of his neatly combed snowy white hair blow in the wind as he stops and looks at Kate puzzled. ‘Are you alright young lady?’ he asks.
Kate approaches the man, she clasps her hand together in nervousness, ‘My dog has something stuck in his paw and I need to get him to a vet quickly.’
The old man looks over Kate’s shoulder and sees Nibbles lying in the ground. He walks over to him and examines his paw. ‘That looks terrible.’ he says, ‘I’m not sure what vet is open at this time at night but if there is anywhere else I could take you, I’d be happy to.’
Kate walks over to Nibbles and picks him up in her arms, ‘Do you think they can help him at the hospital?’
The man looks at the tears welling up in Kate’s eyes. He hears the weak whimpers from Nibbles.
‘You know, I think they have an animal specialist at the police station. I’m not 100% sure but surely they would need some kind of person who knows something about dogs. How else would they help the k-9s if something happens to them in the middle of the night? C’mon, I’ll take you there.’
Kate follows the man to the car. He opens up the trunk and retrieves a large tarp from the back. He opens the door and spreads the tarp across the back seat.
‘There you go,’ he says to Kate, ‘just slide him on in there and we’ll be on our way.’
Kate places Nibbles on the tarp. She sits down next to him and begins to stroke his head, ‘It’ll be ok.’
The old man closes the door behind her and gets in the driver’s seat. He pulls off from the grassy shoulder of the road and skids onto the road. He looks in the rear view mirror at Kate.
‘So, what’s your dog’s name?’ Kate lifts her head and looks back at the man, ‘His name is Nibbles.’ She says softly. The man smiles at Kate.
‘That’s a great name for a dog that chews on everything. I had a dog like that. Her name was Chomps. I tell you, when I say she chewed up anything and everything she could find, I mean absolutely everything.’ The car slips slightly as he turns down the main road.
‘So, do you go to school around here?’ the old man asks. Kate clears her throat, ‘Yea, I go to Maplewood High.’ The old man nods his head, ‘Oh, ok. My grandson goes to that school. What grade are you in?’
Kate brushes the dirt from Nibbles fur, ‘I’m a junior.’ The Old Man nods his head, ‘Ok. My grandson is a junior too. Do you know Simon Pilsner?’ Kate straightens up in the seat, ‘Yes, I do know Simon.’
The Old Man turns down Main Street. He begins to hum a song as droplets of rain begin to tap the windshield. Kate feels as though she should say something nice about Simon, since his grandfather is doing her this huge favor.
She leans forward and rests her hand on the back of the seat, ‘Simon is a very talented photographer. You must be proud of him.’ The Old Man chuckles a bit, ‘Yes, yes he loves his photography,’ he replies, ‘his walls are full of pictures he’s taken over the years. Ever since he could hold a camera the right way, he’s been taking pictures. You know, when his mom died….’
Kate lips exhale a surprised gasp of air, ‘His mom is dead?’ The Old Man nods, ‘Yea, she died a couple years ago. His father wasn’t around much so it was just the two of them. The poor kid came home and found her lying on the floor. He used to be a happy, sunny kid. Now, he lives mostly inside of his head.’
It begins to rain heavier. The Old Man clicks the switch to his windshield wipers. ‘When we first took him, we didn’t think it would be a good idea for him to switch school so quickly, so we homeschooled him for a while. Do you know he finished all the credits to graduate high school when he was technically a freshman?’
Kate shakes her head, ‘So why does he go to school?’ ‘Well’ the Old Man answers, ‘His therapist thought it would be good to find some friends his own age. I mean, he can’t stay around me and his Mom-Mom all his life. So we called the school and asked if he could take some sort of class and meet new people.’
Kate listens to the windshield wipers swooshing back and forth. She watches the Old Man unhurriedly make his way down the slippery asphalt of the street. She touches the Old Man on his shoulder.
‘I’m sure you meant well by sending Simon to school, but photography class isn’t exactly the most popular class in the school. You should think about talking to him about taking other classes, or maybe a sport. The jocks at my school stick together. That would definitely get him some friends.’
The Old Man chuckles, ‘I don’t think he’d survive any sport. He’s not very athletic.’
The Old Man veers the car along the sidewalk and parks in front of the police station. Kate begins to open the door when the Old Man turns around in his seat.
‘Can I ask you a question?’
Kate takes her hand off the door handle, ‘Sure.’
The Old Man pondering eyes look down at the seat, ‘You’re the only person I’ve met in this town that is the same age as Simon. Hell, you’re the only person his age I’ve met in this town that actually knows who Simon is. With his Mom dying, sometimes me and his grandmother are concerned he might do the same thing his mother did. I know you don’t know the definite answer to this question but….does he seem happy to you?’
Kate scrunches her face, ‘What do you mean?’
The Old Man takes a deep breath, ‘Well, I guess what I should be asking is, does he seem…Well….does he seem like he’s….You know, sometimes you heard stories on the news when a teenager feels alone so they….take themselves out of this world. You know what I mean?’
Kate places her hand on the Old Man’s shoulder, ‘Actually, when Simon first came to the school, he was a very quiet guy. He didn’t talk to anyone and he stayed mostly to himself. But, I think he’s starting to get more comfortable around the school. You shouldn’t worry about him, he’ll be fine. I promise.’
A tear streams down the Old Man cheek. He quickly reaches up and wipes it from his face. ‘Good’ he says in a scratchy voice, ‘Now let’s get your dog in here for some help.
Chapter 8
Kate swings the door open to the police station as the Old Man walks in carrying Nibbles. She frantically walks around the lobby of the police station until she sees a heavy set woman sitting behind a glass enclosed counter reading a magazine. Kate runs up to the counter and anxiously taps on the glass.
The Slender Man Game of Myths Page 6
