As a taster, here’s an excerpt from my upcoming horror short story The Slender Man:
Transcript
Stephen Connor / Keston, Lancashire, England / 12.2.83
Interviewer: Det. Derek Barnes
SC: Is it on?
DB: Yes, it’s on.
SC: Is anyone listening?
DB: It’s just you and me and the tape recorder.
SC: There’s no-one in the other room?
DB: Why don’t you tell me what happened, Stevie?
SC: I told you before.
DB: For the tape.
SC: I don’t want [unclear] … don’t want to talk about it any more.
DB: It will help us if you talk about it. It will help Tommy. It’s all right, you’re quite safe here.
SC: Is Tommy all right? Where is he?
DB: Tommy will be fine if you tell us what happened.
SC: Is Tommy all right? Where is he?
DB: Tommy will be fine if you tell us what happened.
SC: What should … where do you want me to start?
DB: Perhaps you could begin by describing the location, the time of day, that sort of thing.
SC: It was night-time. It was dark, but there was a moon out, so you could kind of see okay.
DB: And where were you?
SC: In the field by the woods.
DB: In the field?
SC: Yes.
DB: Not inside the woods.
SC: No.
DB: What was the weather like?
SC: It was cold. A bit foggy, misty, like a thin fog.
DB: Was anyone else there with you?
SC: I told you all this before.
DB: For the tape, Stevie.
SC: Like I said, Tommy was there with me and all.
DB: And what were you doing in the field?
SC: Nothing, just messing around. We were … there’s an old bunker in there, from the war or something, we was going to look inside.
DB: In the woods?
SC: It was Tommy’s idea. The woods don’t belong to anyone, we weren’t going trespassing or nothing.
DB: Don’t worry, Stevie, you’re not in any kind of trouble. We just want to understand what happened. Take your time.
SC: We was by the fence at the back of the garages and Tommy said “let’s go in”, but them woods is proper dark and I didn’t want to go in so I said we should … I said let’s come back in the morning, but he said I was just being soft, but I’m not soft, I just didn’t think we’d be able to find it in the dark.
DB: It’s all right. Go on.
SC: So he said “no, come on”, and I said “no”, and he said “well I’m going in anyway” and then he started walking towards the woods, but before he got to the woods we heard the noise.
DB: What kind of noise?
SC: [unclear]
DB: What did the noise sound like, Stevie?
SC: Like sticks being hit together or something. That’s what I thought it was.
DB: Could you see where the noise was coming from? Could you see what was causing it?
SC: I couldn’t see nothing. It sounded like it was coming from in the woods.
DB: Had you ever heard it before? Before that night?
SC: No.
DB: What happened next?
SC: Tommy said “did you hear that?” and I said “yes”, and then it … then we heard it again, and I said “let’s go” but Tommy said “wait” because he wanted to know what it was, then…
DB: Then what?
SC: We saw it, in the woods.
DB: What did you see?
SC: I don’t know, it … it was in the woods and Tommy was … I was by the fence so I couldn’t see it properly.
DB: What did it look like? What could you see?
SC: It was tall and thin, horrible and thin, with horrible long thin arms, and it had a white face but it didn’t have no eyes or nothing.
DB: And this man, he had no–
SC: No, it wasn’t a man, it was too tall and thin.
DB: And this man, he had no–
SC: No, it wasn’t a man, it was too tall and thin.
DB: And you say that the … what you saw had no eyes?
SC: I don’t think so.
DB: Did it have other features?
SC: No. I mean, I couldn’t see none. Tommy was closer, he’ll be able to tell you. Ask him.
DB: I’m interested in what you’ve got to say, Stevie. How far away were you?
SC: From the fence to the woods. I don’t know how far that is properly.
DB: That’s all right. What did the thing do?
SC: Nothing … it sort of just … moved a bit. It was all jerky, like a spider.
DB: Did it come out of the woods?
SC: No.
DB: What happened next?
SC: I tried to call out to Tommy but I couldn’t, it was like my voice was stuck, kind of. I couldn’t go any closer, so I run off.
DB: You weren’t able to move closer?
SC: I mean I didn’t want to. I was scared, it looked scary, I didn’t know what it was.
DB: What did Tommy do?
SC: I don’t know, I wasn’t there.
DB: I mean before you ran.
SC: He was just kind of standing there, looking at it whilst it was moving about in front of him. He didn’t say nothing. Like he was hypnotised, like on telly.
DB: Go on.
SC: That’s it, I wasn’t … I didn’t see nothing else. I ran home.
DB: What about Tommy?
SC: What about him?
DB: You didn’t see him?
SC: No.
DB: And you haven’t seen him since last night?
SC: Where is he? Can I see him?
DB: Don’t worry about Tommy. Let’s focus on you for now.
SC: What did he say? Did he say it was my fault? Where is he?
DB: Don’t worry about Tommy.
SC: Where is he? I want to see him. Where is he? Where–
DB: All right Stevie, I think that’s enough for–
**TRANSCRIPT ENDS**
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Simon John Cox 