The clock on the wall seems to have slowed to a standstill. The uneasy, rhythmic beat of Kate’s pencil eraser bouncing off the Lucite surface of the desk seems to replace the ticking of the second hand.
‘There’s no point of talking to Simon again.’ She thinks to herself, ‘He’s already proven himself to be a touchy jerk. I don’t need to put up with that kind of abuse. And I doubt Linny will be thrilled to see me neglecting her and her problems again for him.’
As Mr. Woodford aims for the finish line of his lesson, Kate notices it’s almost lunchtime. She begins to think of a plan of how to avoid Simon.
‘I could grab Linny and sit outside today. But it’s freezing outside. Or we could sit behind the jocks. He’ll never come over there. And if he decides to, I’m sure the wall of meatheads will make him think twice.’
The lunch bell rings. Kate and her class rise from their seats and gather their belongings and Mr. Woodford wipes the sweat from his brow and slumps down in his chair. As they begin to file out the door, the crackle from the intercom grabs everyone’s attention.
‘Students, please remain in your second period classes.’ Principal Weir commands.
The class begins to look at each other with surprise. Mr. Woodford struggles from his chair.
‘Alright everyone, back to your seats. I’m sure this will only take a moment and you all can go to lunch.’
The class eagerly takes their seats and starts to speculate what the reason for the unannounced announcement.
‘I bet it’s a drug search. They brought the dogs and they’re roaming the hallways.’ A guy in the front says. The guy beside him starts to look worried, ‘I hope not. I have some…umm…afterschool snacks in my locker, if you know what I mean.’
A girl sitting behind the boys leans over her desk. ‘Drug dogs? C’mon, you know they only bring in the drug dogs in the summer. It’s probably a fire drill they are required to do but forgot to.’
As the class chatters, Principal Weir’s voice comes through the speakers.
‘Students, teachers and faculty,’ he says somberly, ‘It is my heartbreaking duty to report that one of our own has passed away. Donovan Sutter….’
Kate feels a cold shock race through her body. Her hands freeze, dropping the pencil to the floor. She expels all the breath in her lungs with a low gasp, and is unable to breathe anymore in. She feels as though her body has stopped, and she is just sitting in a hollow shell.
Principal Weir continues, ‘Mr. Sutter, or Donovan as he was known to his friends, was a stellar athlete, a kind, studious, respectful pupil and above all, a wonderful person inside and out. I regret to inform you of this terrible news. Today, at the orders of Sherriff Morrison, we will be closing school early so you may grieve with your family and friends. Sherriff Morison has also instructed that all students proceed directly home after you leave the building. A curfew has been activated for tonight and will continue until further notice.’
The humming of silence fills the room. Mr. Woodford removes his glasses and hangs his head. The class begins to look at each other in disbelief. One of the boys in the front leans closer to the one beside him. ‘Who was Donovan?’
The boy across the aisle looks at him, ‘He’s the one who always wore that lacrosse jersey and skip class’ he whispers back. ‘Oh, that sucks. He was alright.’
Mr. Woodford rises from his seat and looks woefully over his students, their faces full of shock. ‘Class is dismissed. Remember, there is a curfew tonight so make sure you go home and spend time with your loved ones.’
Mr. Woodford eyes begin to fill with tears, ‘You never know how much time you’ll have with them.’ He says in a scratchy voice.
As the class begins to leave, Kate is still frozen in her seat. Mr. Woodford looks up at Kate, her eyes fixed into staring at empty space. Mr. Woodford walks over to Kate and puts his hand on her shoulder, ‘Are you going to be ok?’
Kate snaps out of her abstractive gaze. She sees Mr. Woodford hovering over her. She silently begins gathering her books. She tenderly rises from her seat and looks at Mr. Woodford, ‘Yea…I’m fine.’
Mr. Woodford gently pats her on the shoulder, ‘It’s been a tough couple days. That poor kid, had his whole life ahead of him. The best you can do now is comfort your friend in this situation.’
Kate’s head snaps around to Mr. Woodford, ‘Oh my God! Linny!’
Mr. Woodford shakes his head, ‘Yes, Linny she going to…’
Kate sprint out of the classroom. She pushes and shoves the kids in the hallway trying to make her way to Linny’s class. She ignores the sobbing and crying sounds filling the tightly pack corridor as she weaves through the crowd. If she wasn’t there for her problems last night, she is more than determined to make up for it now.
She reaches Linny’s class and pushes her way through the steady stream of exiting students. As she shoves the last kid out the way, she sees the classroom is completely empty. She promptly turns around and grabs the sleeve of the last student leaving.
‘Earl.’ She says with a quivering voice, ‘Have you seen Linny?’
Earl nods his head, ‘Yea, someone came and took her out a couple of minutes before the announcement about her boyfriend. By the way, that’s crazy huh? I wonder what happened to him.’
Kate runs past Earl. ‘Thanks.’ She says as she runs out of the classroom.
Kate swiftly walks through the halls. She can see news vans parked outside through the glass entrance of the building.
‘Oh great, not again.’ She thinks to herself. As she pushes the door open and begins to make her way to the student parking lot, she hears someone call her name. She turns around and sees Missy Gunter standing with a group of reporters and camera man.
Missy points in Kate’s direction as the cameramen swing their lenses in her direction.
‘That’s her.’ Missy says.
The reporters and cameramen begin to rush over to Kate. Kate takes a couple of shaky steps backwards. The reporters quickly surround her and point their microphone in her face.
‘Are you Kate Newberry?’ One reporter asks. Kate nods her head, ‘Yea…why?’
The reporters squeeze around her in a circle. ‘Ms. Newberry, ‘the reporter says, ‘What did Donovan Sutter say to you before you left his store?’
Kate looks at the reporter confused, ‘What are you talking about?’ Another reporter elbows his way through the crowd and sticks a recorder in Kate’s face, ‘There is surveillance footage showing you entering the store and leaving after Donovan Sutter was killed. What was your purpose for going into the store?’
As the crush of reporters tightens around her, Kate becomes disoriented. The reporters continue to shout questions as she tries to retain her footing.
‘Ms. Newberry. Mr. Sutter’s cranium was partially missing. Did you see any suspicious people around the store after you left?’ one reporter shouts. ‘Ms. Newberry have you been questioned by the police?’ another one shouts.
Kate tries to push her way out of the crowd, but the crowd moves with her. ‘Ms. Newberry, has your car been checked for forensic evidence?’ another reporter shouts.
Kate feels a arms wrap tightly around her shoulder. She tries to free herself, but the grip of the arm gets tighter. She looks at the hand gripping her shoulder, and sees lavender colored nails. She knows only one person who would wear such a tacky color…Rachael.
Rachael stands closer to Kate and begins to smile at the reporters. ‘Excuse me guys.’ Rachael says in a calm voice, ‘you have to understand this is a very difficult time for us. Donovan was such a good friend to us all and we are still shocked about the news of his sudden passing.’
Kate tried to wrestle her arm away from Rachael, but Rachael desperately clings to her. Rachael begins flipping her hair with her free hand, ‘We both would love to answer your questions, but we are still going through the grieving process. Actually….I was also supposed to be there that night.’
Rachael manages to squeeze out
a few crocodile tears. She hangs her head in a feigned sadness as the reporters continue to shout questions at Kate.
‘Ms. Newberry, on the surveillance tape, Mr. Sutter seems to be running in the same direction you exited when leaving the shop. Did you actually leave the premises? Did you set up Mr. Sutter? Did you two have a secret romantic relationship?’
Kate shuffles around in a circle looking for a place to escape. Each sliver of space appears in the crowd is quickly engulfed with bodies pushing to get closer. Kate’s feet slip on the gravel underneath her while being jostled around. She slips and falls into the crowd, only to be lifted and thrown back in the den of lions.
She feels a throbbing pain on the inside of her arm. She fights off the unruly crowd and rolls up her sleeve, exposing a large bruise.
Looking at the “fresh kicked red” coloring of her arm, her heart begins to beat faster. Her breath begins to shallowly pulsate in her nose. The darkening of her vision is a warning sign. She needs to get out of this situation, now and fast.
A hand reaches through the crowd and grabs the back of Kate’s sweater.
‘Move out the way!’ she hears a voice scream. Her body is being pulled backwards. She collapses into the bodies behind her. The more she feels the pull, the less contact from the crowd bumps her.
She stumbles out of the crowd into open space. As she back peddles, the hand pulls her close. ‘C’mon, we gotta get outta hear.’ She looks around, and sees Simon, dragging her from the fracas.
Kate drapes her arms around Simon and hugs him tightly, ‘I’m SO glad to see you.’ She says through the tears in her eyes.
Simon continues to walk with her away from the melee, ‘Don’t get too sentimental yet. Get your car keys out. I’ll hold them off while you get out of here.’
Kate digs around in her pocket and whips out her keys with a violent jingling sound. Simon sees the crowd getting closer. He sees Rachael scuffling with a few reporters in an effort to keep with the pace of the crowd. ‘Hurry up! Get in your car!’
Kate sprints to the car and crams her key inside the lock. She turns it with such force, the key bends inside. She grabs the handle and swings the car door open, almost hitting Simon.
Just as Simon is about to close the door, Kate pulls him by the shirt, ‘Look, I’m sorry about what happened today.’
The crowd gets closer.
‘Kate, if you want to get out of here I suggest you…’
Kate puts her hand over Simon’s mouth, ‘Just listen for a second! My number is 255-9050. Remember that, regular area code, ninety, fifty. I want you to call me after I leave.
The crowd finally catches up with Simon and Kate. The crowd pushes against the door, crushing Simon on the inside. Simon slams his hand on the car and his other on the top of the door and pushes as hard as he can. ‘Ok, I will, just get out of here!’
Rachael hears Simon. ‘He’s trying to get her out of here.’ She says under her breath.
One of the reporters close to her hears the faint remark. ‘What did you say?’ he asks.
Rachael rips the notepad from the reporter’s hand, ‘Give me a pen! Hurry up!’ The reporter searches the inside of his jacket, ‘What do you need a pen for?’
Rachael’s hand shoots inside of his jacket, ‘I’m trying to get you a story!’ Rachael frantically searches inside of the reporter’s coat, ‘What kind of news person doesn’t have a frickin’ pen in their hand at all times!’
A reporter standing on her other side teasingly waves a black and silver pen past her face. As Rachael reaches for the pen, the reporter pulls it back.
‘So what do you plan on writing down that’s so important?’ he ask slyly. Rachael grabs the pen and tries to yank it out of the reporter’s hand. The reporter pulls it back and holds it tightly to his chest, ‘Oh no, no, no. Whatever you plan is, I want in.’
Rachael rolls her eyes, ‘Ok, ok. Just give it to me before she gets out of here.’ She turns to the other reporter, ‘Make yourself useful and block the car.’ He starts to head out from the crowd and stops. He turns to Rachael with a look of concern. ‘So, you just want me to stand in front….’
Rachael snags the reporter by his collar and pushes him out of the crowd. ‘Yes!’ she yells, ‘In front of the car!’
As the reporter sluggishly makes his way to the car, Rachael begins vigorously scribbling a message on the notepad. She rips the paper from the pad and crumbles it into a tight ball. She begins to fight through the crowd, holding the paper snuggly in her clenched fist.
‘Kate, Kate!’ she screams.
Kate looks up momentarily at the many people calling her name. But for a split second, she thought she heard her name being called by a familiar voice. She sees their microphones reaching over Simon’s back and camera men sticking their lenses under Simon’s arms to retrieve some kind of usable footage.
Simon begins taking powerful steps backwards, pushing the reporters out of the way.
‘Kate, I’m about to close the door. Are you ready?’
Kate nods, ‘Yes, I’m ready.’
Simon begins to count down.
‘One!’ Kate puts her key in the car’s ignition.
‘Two!’ Kate turns the key and the car starts with a thunderous, knocking roar.
‘Three!’ Simon turns around and shoves the crowd with all his might.
He drives his feet into the ground as Kate reaches for the stick shift.
As she pulls the stick shift back in drive, a small ball of crumpled yellow paper lands in her lap.
‘What the…’
Simon slams the door, ‘Go! Go, go, go!’ Kate pushes slightly on the gas pedal and sees a nervously frightened man standing in front of the car, waving his hands wildly. ‘No! Wait, wait, wait!’ The man yells. Kate tenderly takes her foot off the gas petal.
Simon bangs on the top of the car with his forearm, ‘Hey! Kate! Go! What are you doing?!’ The frighten man jumps out the way and rolls across the hard blacktop of the parking lot.
Kate mashes her foot of the pedal. The skidding of her wheels creates a large cloud of dust behind her. She looks in her rear view mirror for Simon but the giant dust cloud swallows the crowd. All she sees are random shadows bending over and coughing or swinging their hands back and forth in an effort to fan the smoke and dust away from their faces.
Kate speeds down the road. She blows past the news vans and security guards perched on the lawn. She whooshes past the semi opened gates of the school, clipping one of the gates and causing a spark against the driver’s side door.
Kate’s foot remains firmly planted on the gas pedal until she sees the mailbox in front of her house. She slams on her brakes, throwing her forward in her seat before jerking her back.
Kate’s dad runs outside. He sees her staring wide eyed in her car, hands gripping the wheel so tightly her hands are turning white.
‘Kate?’ he says calmly. Kate turns to him trembling, ‘Is anyone following me?’
Kate’s dad looks around. He kneels beside the car and pries her hands from the wheel, ‘No, why? Was someone after you?’
Kate looks at her dad brutally concerned face. ‘No. Well yes. Never mind, it’s not important.’
Kate’s dad shakes his head, ‘You didn’t hit another car did you? If you did, we’re going to have a long talk about your driving privileges.’
‘No Dad. Not this time.’
Kate’s dad gets to his feet and helps Kate out of the car, ‘I guess you had a tough day huh? Mom is cooking teriyaki chicken and chili cornbread so, looks like your luck is getting better.’
Kate hears a light scratching sound as she puts her foot out the door. She looks down and sees the crumpled ball of yellow paper being gently blown across the concrete of the driveway. She traps the paper under her foot and bends down to pick it up.
‘What’s that?’ Kate’s dad asks. Kate begins unraveling the paper, ‘It’s probably just trash.’ Kate’s dad begins to walk in the house, ‘Oh. Make sure you throw it a
way, especially if it has any bank account information on it.’
Kate begins to carefully unravel the crumpled yellow ball. She lays the ball on the hood of the car and presses down on the paper to smooth out the wrinkles and begins to read the message written on it.
The Slender Man Game of Myths Page 12
