Two Fridays ago. The 8th. That was my set mission date. I left the hotel after 'cleaning' up the area to make sure it looked every bit as nasty as it did when I found it. Just in case I guess. My mission: Get home as soon as possible and get the hell out of there even faster. It took a full week to get there by water and walking. I considered trying to get a ride, but I figured a guy hitchhiking with a small boat wouldn't stand much of a chance. Fast forward through all the boring details of the trip: No Slendy, no dreams, no muggers, not even a wild animal. Which, now that I look back, ought to have been clue number one.
The following Friday I showed up in the old neighborhood.(I use the term loosely. Seeing more than 20 people in one day around here is unnatural.) I have to admit, I did something (probably dumb) when I arrived. I walked around in the town's center..I guess I wanted to see if anyone remembered me. I wanted to know what the people I grew up around had to say about the certainly strange events surrounding my leaving town a few months back. But no one said a word. No one mentioned the missing person or the half-burned house even if I mentioned it first. I wasn't popular by any means, but you'd think someone,anyone, especially in a small town setting, would have remembered SOMETHING. That someone, like the grocer, or the manager of my favorite restaurant, or the town gossip even, would have at least recognized me. It's not like it had been years. Surely some news would have been left floating around, right? Clue number two.
Clue number three came shortly afterwards, when I decided that it was time to make a move. I walked past the site of the car accident. There were no signs of it. I broke a fence, dented the hillside, snapped tree branches..But none of that was there. It was like all the evidence had been erased somehow. For some idiot reason though, I decided to go through with it. I think walking up the driveway was the hardest part. Knowing that I was now a stranger here, an intruder to my own house. Evidence of the fire still covered the part of the house I set fire to when I ran for it and lit the place up with our Slender friend still inside. That was apparently the only part that burned...I dismissed that as the fire department being good at their job. I neglected to remember that the closest firehouse is 15 miles away.
Either your memories were altered or everyone else's were. I'd go with yours simply because we know someone's been playing with your wetware, and it's a lot easier to do that to one person than an entire city of people. So obviously the fire happened, but did the rest of it? Hard to say, though you might be able to find something in a local newspaper for that day or the following one. If it happens that newspapers for that day are conspicuously missing, I'd say chances are good that at least one person's memories were altered.
ReplyDeleteIf my memory is tainted..Then...Someone must have been messing with it for some time now. Even before I started noticing. In fact...In fact they must have been messing with it very closely after the events happened. I wrote about it, back in March.. My God..
ReplyDeleteI am going out tomorrow to find a newspaper, or try anyway. I know right where to look. I think. I can't trust my memory anymore it seems.
Thanks for the idea.
Is that where you went? Huh. Well, come back as soon as possible. I am getting rather bored here. And your basement smells of ashes. :)
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