12/31/12 (2:55pm) - Day Ten
There was a shift in the wind, everyone could feel it. However the ones who truly noticed it were the only ones involved. John Connolly, age 18, had felt it first. A sudden omen which he didn't care about, not today at least. Even before day one, he never really believed in karma. Good nor bad. True he believed everything happened for a reason but his thoughts on karma might as well relate to good and bad luck.
"I am the Resurrection and the life." The priest began. "God so loved the world that He gave His only son, so that all who believe in Him may have eternal life."
A quiet wave of mournful weeps and cries had past down the rows of chairs. One women in particular held a handkerchief under her eyelids the whole time. She knew what had happen, had she been there when he had died, she'd had probably gone with him.
The priest continued with the service. His sermon was powerful, a loving spiritual speech that had impacted everybody spiritually. Rob was my only concern, standing with the same angry emotion he seemed to always have. One more violent since the beginning of day one.
Robert Kelso, age 18, was a man of many things but patience wasn't one of them. The group could go on for hours about his faults if they wanted to, however they knew better then to complain. Especially on such a dismal day, their minds were focused on the departed. Today should've been a day of peace and tranquility, to honor a person for the love and joy they brought to those around him. However, he wasn't full of love or joy when he had died. No, he hadn't been himself.
Vincent Valdez, age 19, never spoke ill of the dead. In fact he hated anyone that did. Whether the person was good or bad, he condemned anyone that did. He loved his friends as if they were brothers and he'd thought he never live to see the day when one of them left their world.
The priest continued to pray, he was a close friend to the family of the departed. He began to talk about how the departed was "there when you needed him" and "a great man of God". He continued with how "we shouldn't remember him because of notoriety in the town of Green Rook, Connecticut, but with what he had left us in spiritual guidance".
"Bullshit, they didn't know him. None of them do.. fuckin' morons" Rob said in a low tone of voice. He lowered his head and leaned up against the rock wall that surrounded Green Rook cemetery. Even in a time of poignancy, he still tried to act cool.
"Hey, Rob. Cool it, were at a funeral for Gods sake, show some respect" Vincent said. The both hushed up to listen to a poem spoken by the departed's mother.
The four of them stood in the back, watching the service from a keen distance. What they've went through, their social skills have begun to deteriorate. Both Vinnie and Matt had lost their jobs, Rob his girlfriend, Heather her friends, and John his mind.
In the midst of their sorrow, the man next to John, Greg had taken out his video camera and begun to record the service. Gregory Hanson, age 17, had just bought an silver Panasonic SDR-H100 camcorder as a replacement for the one that had been digitally disrupted fro unknown reasons. Greg was one of the very first to become disturbed and paranoid with the event that had occurred over the past 10 days. He recorded everything, he logged everything and everybody, and he put it on his computer, not before saving it to an emergency flash drive which he kept as hung on a silver chain around his neck.
Greg was always mocked, but for some reason he never cared. He could be considered "that one guy" in a group of friends that everybody picks on. The nine of them knew each other since middle school. They were good friends that always hung out. Even before they started to dislike Rob, he was there for them, he always came through for them in times of need. Nor really times that could be counted as "important" or rather "serious" but the minor stuff he did for the group had earned him respect and good friends. Remember though; this all was in the past.
The camera beeped once, signalling low memory space. Greg had used it to record himself while he was sleeping, so that future incidents wouldn't occur without him knowing.
Rob had noticed him videotaping the funeral and furiously slammed the side panel shut and shoved the camera into Greg's chest.
"What the fuck do you think you doing?!" Rob asked in the quietest voice possible. At least, to him it was quiet. It had only attracted two people sitting in the back row. He had been lucky, and had been restraining himself.
"Are you seriously filming? Now, of all times?" Vince whispered aggressively.
"Look I just.. feel like we need this. We need to know what's happening to us" Greg replied.
John looked at the three of them and remained silent, he didn't want to get involved. Sadly for him he was already in it.
"No, you don't pull that kind of shit at a fuckin' funeral. Next time you do, I'm going to smash that damn thing, brought us nothing but shit" Robert finished. He returned to his spot, no happier then he was before. That look in his eyes made everybody worrisome, but he didn't care, now that Jesse was out of his life he couldn't care about anyone.
"Look I was just trying to help. I didn't mean any.."
"We know Greg. It's just.. now's not the best time" Vince replied.
"Didn't help us much in the past either" Rob mumbled under his breath.
The preacher went on, his hands dipped in holy water and made the pattern of the cross on the casket. The family members, friends, and other relevant guests began to walk around the casket to say their last sobbing goodbye's to the departed.
"Dude, can we just leave? I mean I frickin' hate this kind of shit man" Rob said.
"How the hell can you say that? He's our friend and out of all nine of us, I mean, he probably suffered the most" Vince relied. His could feel his face become red with anger and he hated showing negative emotion at a funeral service.
John looked back over and caught his anger. He simmered down pretty quickly to his regular passive state.
"I mean I hate these damn goodbye's I know he's our friend but the reality is he's fuckin' dead, what can we do about it" Rob replied in a exhausted tone.
Greg looked back over to him in shock that he could just say that. "That's cold man"
"Well it's the truth! What the fuck can we do?"
"We can honor him as he is" John said. The others looked at him in shock, as if they forgotten he was with them. Rob took a deep sigh and hung his head in depression. Vince said nothing, as he felt as if he was going to tackle Rob. Greg couldn't agree more, but the fact that his camera wasn't out made him uneasy.
The funeral was finishing up, the last words of the priests were his strongest. It's sad to say that he didn't go out as tough as he should have.
For a December in Connecticut, it was pretty warm out, no snow, no freezing cold winds, just nothing. It was actually rather peaceful. A slight breeze every now and then. Clear sunny skies, it was actually a beautiful day out. A sad day to have a funeral but it was quite beautiful. John's mind was in a flurry of thought. A civil war between his own thought's of reality and what he has seen for the past 10 days. He couldn't fit any of it together. He usually wasn't so quiet but today he wasn't himself. It mind focused on that thing. That thing that took a life of his friend, captured two, and put one in the hospital for god knows how long. How long was it before it came back for them? And that symbol.. it couldn't leave his brain. It was always and always will be, watching.
Day 10 - (4:55) That Evening
That evening they had left the funeral. Greg had suggested going to the hospital to see their friend Chloe and how she was holding up. However, it was Robert's complaining and constant bickering about being hungry that made Vince pull over at a Friendly's restaurant.
They arrived and took their booth, after being seated they perused the menu's on the "famous" ice cream served restaurant. Even in the adult menu they seem to have childish cartoon's running around the edges of the menu saying "I want to go to friendlies" and "Everything's better with ice cream" and none of them could really argue with that.
"Being in a place like this when our friend just died is disgusting" Rob said.
"Your the one who wanted to stop and eat. Wouldn't shut up about it either" Vince replied.
Rob shrugged, couldn't argue with him. He laid his arms down on the table and buried his head into his arms. Muffling swears and obscenities, he was going through the same state that John was but in like him, Rob didn't suppress his emotions. After a few minutes, a cute blond, probably around the age of 22, took our order for drinks.
"You alright John? You haven't said much" Vince asked.
"Well can you blame the poor fucker? Dudes girlfriend is gone, how the hell would you feel?" Rob insisted, not taking into notice of the families around him who just heard him curse.
"Shut up Rob, Heathers.. with us but not in her right state of mind" John replied aggressively. He dug his finger nails into the side of his head, not caring what pain he felt back there.
After a few seconds of silence Greg returned from the bathroom. He slipped into a booth with Rob, trying but failing to tuck away his camera into his jacket pocket. Him just being present had already caught the eye of the three of them at the booth, so attempting to hide his camera was useless.
"Relax guys, I was just figiting around with some settings, nothing to get pissy over" Greg said defensively.
"Bro, nobody was accusing you" Vince said.
They all looked at his blushing red face which he tried to hide in the Friendly's menu. He looked around to see the same three guys starring at him.
"What?"
"You were making a video log in the Friendly's bathroom, weren't you?" John asked.
"Absolutely not! That sick man!" He said defensively again.
"The bathroom? Really?" Vince pointed out.
"We told you to knock it off with the damn camera!" Rob lashed out.
"Well what the hell are we suppose to do? Sit here and eat ice cream, knowing two of our friends are still out there with..IT" Greg said.
The mentioning of "IT" had made the group very uneasy and nervous. Even Robert had settled down. They all looked at Vince who had been tapping his finger loudly on the table. He shook his head, letting out a deep sigh. He put his head back against the cushioned booth and sat their, starring at the chandelier above.
"The Observer" John finally said.
This name didn't go over so well with the others. Rob slammed both fists into the table, making the silverware jump and clang together. Grabbing the hair on the back of his head, he was nearly at the breaking point of tearing it out. John was moved by Rob, he didn't fear him, nor hate him, he just wanted Heather back and for all this madness to stop. Greg bit his lower lip at the name, he remembered seeing that symbol for the first time. Thinking nothing of it and moving on, but then again, and again, and again, until it drove him mad. Not to mention the recent activity that came with seeing it. Vince was pissed off at the name as well as Rob was. He lost his job and his only source of income, now he's trying to get a job back, since he's on leave from college for Christmas vacation. The rest of them were in their senior year of high school.
"Okay listen. If we're going to talk about.. you know who, we're going to need to have everyone here first"
"Paul?" John asked.
"Yeah, he has much to do with this then any of us. It did all start at his house" Vince replied.
John looked to Rob and Greg. He had wondered why he hadn't shown himself during the service. John's thoughts became heavy with fear, was he still alive? Or did they take him as well. Victim of the proxy or maybe just killed in his sleep, these thing were factors one needed to recognize when you are dealing with The Observer.
"Where is he? He never showed up at the closed-casket ceremony either" Greg asked.
"I don't know but it worries me, last time I heard he was checking up on Chloe" Vince said.
"That was two days ago man!" Robby insisted.
"I know. I know. Hang on, I'll give him a call" Vince said with a trembling voice. He put the phone to his ear. His fears could have been more started. Just by picking up a phone and no answer could mean that a friends life was in danger or it was. One ring went by, Vince cursed to himself.
The table was completely quiet. All that could be heard were the families around them. John rested his chin on his fist and looked at Vince's phone as if he was waiting for Paul's face to pop out and say "Hello, I'm alive!". It wasn't long before he lost interest and looked back at the menu's on their table, opening he began to peruse the meals again.
"Happy New Years Eve guys"
Author: Hey guys, I hope you like my new Slenderman story and will continue reading on with me as I post new chapters. I know there thing's I've left out like "Who died" but all in good time it will be revealed. Just to let you readers know.. I'm a big fan of plot twists :D