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| november 12 2006 |
We’re visiting Noah for his 15th birthday now. We drove down this time because flights were too expensive. I haven’t seen him since 2003, and he’s grown a lot. He’s starting high school now and has a different haircut, but he’s still the same great friend. Even though it was his birthday, he gave me some toys for Oscar and a $50 gift card to Best Buy. He said it’s been a long time since we’ve hung out and these gifts were to make up for my missed birthdays. I feel bad because we also got him a Best Buy gift card, but only a $20 one. He said it doesn’t matter though, since the real gift was having me there in person again. I’m still looking at potential colleges, but I think I’d like to apply to some in Florida near Noah so we can hang out more often. I don’t know if it’s his kindness or the fact that his shadow doppelganger has been helping me, but I feel safest and happiest in his company. There was little to no fighting this visit because John came along with us this time and he and Alex are maintaining the peace between our moms. I’m so happy to have John here to balance them out. For Noah’s party we went bowling, had cake, and saw Casino Royale. After the movie, we came back to Noah’s house and roasted marshmallows on the seawall dock in the vacant lot next door. There were five other kids around the campfire and they all were friendly, except for this one guy Tyler. I remember hanging with him from previous visits and he always came off as an obnoxious dick who wanted to be the center of attention. He kept making jokes that weren’t funny and getting up in people’s space for a laugh. Everything was going fine until he suggested we tell ghost stories. When it
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| november 12 2006 |
was my turn, I felt like I might as well draw from real life experience for an extra spooky story. I told them the tale of Mr. Slim, the faceless man who stalks children while they sleep.* It was hard to properly convey the fear he instills without embellishing a bit, so I added that if you don’t wake up in time to catch him he will devour your soul. I told them he’s been after me since I was young and I’ve been able to survive because I know exactly when he comes at night. Telling the tale reminded me of group therapy at that mental institute when we would take turns sharing stories of what we saw in our visions. It felt really nice to just be open with it. I saw something across the canal and stopped mid-sentence. It was him. I’m certain of it because I felt his gaze. That familiar, awful feeling of impending doom came over me and I froze. It was then that Tyler grabbed me from behind and screamed in my ear. I freaked out and darted around the seawall in a panic, nearly falling in the water as he chased me laughing like a hyena. I ran back inside, locked myself in the bathroom, and cried. I heard them all laughing outside and it felt like school all over again. I stayed there until everyone left and Noah came in to apologize to me for Tyler. He said he’s not inviting him to his next birthday and cheered me up with some leftover cake and video games. As I said goodbye to Noah today, I became very anxious. Considering that this entity seems to be interested in my family and friends, I worry that I might infect him like Kevin. But if shadow Noah is real, what if he’s already infected? On the way home, I saw the faceless suited man. I took out my phone
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| november 12 2006 |
to snap a picture, but realized that it was just a mannequin in a storefront. I also noticed that there are some pictures on my phone that I don’t remember taking. One is us eating at Arby’s and another is the hallway of the hotel that we stayed at on the drive down. Either slight memory loss is a lingering side effect of withdrawal from those caps, or a symptom of seeing that being. I’m pretty sure now that my memory lapses correlate with his presence, like taking a strong magnet to a VCR... except it’s my brain. I’m unsure if the mystery drug compounded my memory loss, but to its credit it seems to have negated the being’s effects on me. Nothing paranormal ever happened to me when I was on autopilot, taking it twice daily. Maybe... they were trying to help me? But regardless, it’s at the cost of my soul. Whether their covert endeavors are somehow worth it for my benefit as a sovereign human being is just another scary campfire story.
*i vaguely remember milo’s campfire story, i was honestly zoned out. i remember him saying something about a creepy man who watches him sleep before tyler pulled that stunt. thing is, what i do remember most was feeling that same nebulous feeling of impending doom for a brief moment as milo ran. i thought nothing of it at the time. now i know that i could feel the administrator's presence back then too. our family is cursed, and has been for some time.
