Slenderman and the Black Eyed Children

She turned away from the lamp post and lent into the wind, her face
stung from the bullets of diagonal winter rain. She pulled her shawl
closer around her head and made off to her next destination. As she
pushed against the winter weather she fully exposed the poster she had
pasted for a young man with a fur-lined hood to read.

Have you seen this girl?

Sally aged 9

Missing since Sat 3rd June

Last seen in Sparrow Park, Geelong West.

Somewhere deep in the recesses of his mind, he heard his mother slur
“luck is not mentioned in the bible, there is no such thing………Never
ignore a coincidence James, never ignore a coincidence.” He smiled at
her memory opening his heart with childish joy, the smile, as ever,
lasted a few seconds until he remembered the slipper, the belt, the
walking stick……. once he got to the gin bottle his heart had frozen and
his smile had turned back to the pained grimace he had adopted during
childhood and held ever since.

The question his mother just raised remained with him though. Why
this notice? why this lamp post? He had never before taken any interest
in the lost dogs, kittens or parrots that festooned the power poles of
this narrow Geelong West street. So why now? and why had the memory of
his long-dead mother decided at this moment to rear its ugly drunken
head? Why did his brain spout the long repeated phrase that seemingly
did her no good in her cruel, drunken and worthless life? He mused and
considered the time that had passed since he last thought of her. He
tried to remember the last time but couldn’t make it out through the
boozy haze that constantly consumed his mind these days. So why now?. He
was unaware however that throughout his subconscious mind his mother
stalked, studied him and influenced his every, move and every decision.

Lost in his fury and indignant frustration at being reminded of the
childhood that, no matter how hard he tried, he just could not drink
away, he tore off one of the mobile number strips, stuffed it the warm
pocket of his prized parka coat and took one last look at the photo of
the girl.

He turned and walked on the nagging question of why? The answer
continued to evade him but the question would not leave him in peace.

He stopped suddenly and searched for his phone to check the date. The
3rd was two Saturdays ago, he had been walking home from Bar Pizza
through Sparrow Park and saw… well he thought he saw… that figure like a
man but taller and thinner slipping…..no floating it's way behind the
toilet block. He shook his head. It had been a shadow, a shadow, that is
what he had told himself that night. A shadow distorted by the
moonlight and the alcohol. He turned and looked back at the lamp post
with the poster on. This was just a coincidence of course, of course. He
walked on further and put it out of his mind and concentrated on his
tasks for the day.

“luck is not mentioned in the bible, there is no such thing………Never ignore a coincidence James, never ignore a coincidence.”

Tasha pushed through the door and stripped off her black coat, she
patted her black jumper to see how wet it was and decided to leave it
on. She looked in the hallway mirror and saw an old, pained widow
dressed in black and looking back at her. Only a fortnight ago she had
been a young yummy mummy all school runs and coffee with the girls at
Rushbrooks. The girls didn’t know what to say anymore, at first they
were all supportive and never left her side, now they had to get back to
their own lives. even Pete had been told he must go back to work, His
boss was sympathetic but the psychologist had told us that he needed to
get back to normal. Normal! she scoffed, Sally was her normal,
all the things she did revolved around Sally. How could she do school
pick up and drop off without her? They would call the men in white coats
before you could say boo.

She walked through to the lounge and glanced at the gin bottle. It
fixed her gaze for a moment as it promised to dull the pain and fire
that raged inside her for the morning, maybe it could let her forget for
a while, maybe even it could let her sleep for the first time in a
fortnight. She tore her gaze away from the bottle and went to the
kitchen where she flicked on the kettle. A coffee and another look for
clues round at Sparrow park would be the best idea. She smirked at the
phrase ‘looking for clues’ who the hell did she think she was Daphne?
More like Thelma these days she thought dryly. She whistled for Noodles
the daft Spoodle who certainly was no Scooby-Doo.

Jim pushed on through the rain lost in his thoughts and memories of
his mother. He hated it when he thought about her, he hated the fact
that despite everything he had loved her and especially hated the fact
that he missed her and wanted her back in his life. He knew that she did
not deserve his love, he knew this because he told himself so over and
over again. He hated the fact that he could never understand why he
cried through his sober nights.

As he turned Jim looked through the curtain of rain and realised that
absent-mindedly he had taken a wrong turn. In the middle distance, he
could see the desolate shivering mirage of the playground and swings.
Sparrow Park was glibly becoming clearer, usually a place of such joy
and happiness for children and parents alike. Right now it looked like
one of the haunted houses in the horror movies that had
so enthralled him when he was a teenager. They scared him then but
nothing like the sight of this children’s playground was scaring him
now. Why the hell had he found himself here? “….never ignore a
coincidence” he heard once again. His inner monologue screamed like a
dying dog for his mum to shut up and leave him alone.

In the distance he saw a shadow moving by the toilets, he flicked his
eyes to see nothing but the wind pulling the trees from one side to the
other.