Power Outage

It is with much sadness that I make this post. The instant it is published to my blog, I will have changed from 5 posts and 5 followers to 6 posts and 5 followers. Unless I gain another follower, balance will be forever lost.

On Thursday night, the power in my apartment went out. Immediately deducing that this was supernatural work (because jumping to conclusions is fun), I ran outside to find and confront Slender Man, whilst my roommate tried in vain to call maintenance on his dying cell phone.

Much scurrying through the darkness ensued, as I sprinted all across the complex seeking my well dressed foe. Results of my hunt were nonexistent; not even the feeling of being watched or a chill running down my spine. A terribly disappointing search.

Twenty minutes later I returned to my apartment, heart hanging low. My roommate was absent from the place, which was an oddity. I had never traveled far enough from our door that I would not have been able to see him leave. I chalked that up to “Freaky Paranormal Shit”, and shrugged it off.

Here I should probably explain in more detail the relationship between my roommate and I before anyone becomes too confused at my apathy towards his inexplicable disappearance from the room. His name is Jason, for those of you who care. We did not know each other before becoming roommates, and the arrangement is one of pragmatism instead of camaraderie. The interactions between Jason and I are almost nonexistent; I wake up in the early hours of the morning and spend the majority of my time on university grounds or writing, whereas Jason spends most of his days at the various drink filled social gatherings which characterize a university city. When he does return to our home, he has a tendency towards closing himself in his room so that he may spend many hours playing on his Xbox. I find the arrangement very satisfactory, as Jason’s presence in my life is so small that I can almost pretend I am living on my own, while still enjoying the benefits of not having to pay full rent. His ability to magically reduce the strain on my bank account still does not endear him, especially not enough for me to actually feel concern over his well being.

Not that any concern would have been needed; he walked back into the apartment an hour later. The man seemed terribly out of it; eyes were glazed over, and steps were unbalanced. With the gift of hindsight, I now know that I should have questioned this behavior, At that point in time, my mind was more focused on other matters.

The Operator Symbol message I had taped onto my wall was gone.

Someone had broken into my apartment and taken it down.

Making a single sentence its own line for dramatic effect is a cheap and overused technique (I’m looking at you, entire blogosphere.)

An extremely thorough search of my room revealed that the papers had not merely fallen behind furniture, or gained some means of locomotion and hidden themselves in a dark corner. As of today, I still do not know who, or what, took down the papers, and how they were capable of entering my apartment without leaving any signs of forced entry.


But then let us skip ahead a day, to the most wonderful day of Friday. While I was still rather miffed about having all my work discarded by an unseen force (drawing 123 operator symbols takes longer than you would think), the lack of appearances by my desired faceless punching bag forced me to put aside my anger. In a rare moment, Jason and I were actually in the same room at the same time. I was in the kitchen preparing my lunch, while he was in the kitchen preparing his breakfast. Upon looking up from the microwave, Jason said something most interesting.
“What’s that guy in a suit doing on our balcony?”
Yes, Slender Man was just outside the sliding glass door which leads to my balcony. Had I seen him first, my reaction would have certainly been to grab a blunt object and charge at him. But on this occasion, curiosity struck me. My roommate being capable of seeing Slender Man was a possibility that I had not considered. In the name of SCIENCE (because anything is permissible if it is for science), I responded to his question by saying, “What guy in a suit?”

And lo, when he looked again, Slender Man had vanished. Jason’s expression was one which I will forever wish I had photographed; a mixture of shock, disbelief, and some tiny hints of fear. He said nothing more about the incident, returning to his food preparation, though I could see him glancing back towards the balcony occasionally.

It is now the second day since Jason’s infection. I am keeping a much closer eye on him than I have before; I do not want to miss one moment of this drama playing out here. I think I will enjoy watching him squirm in fear. It can be used to provide me entertainment while I think of a way which I may harm Slender Man.

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