| The Slender Man |
| 1 | Dexter Morgenstern THE SLENDER MAN 1: The Sabbath I can't say I'm a spiritual person, but I definitely enjoy the Sabbath. My family is Jewish, and every weekend we get together with the Hawthorns to celebrate. |
| 2 | We used to go to a synagogue, but ever since we moved here to Murphy, North Carolina, we've been celebrating the Sabbath the traditional way, at home. The closest synagogue here is two hours away and not good enough to be worth the trip, so every week we alternate houses with the Hawthorns, our best friends, to celebrate. To tell the truth, they are our only true friends out here. Shana, their oldest daughter is like my sister. |
| 3 | Every Sabbath we take turns sleeping over at each other's house. I met her on my first day at school here when we moved, and was so happy that I wasn't the only Jewish person there, because honestly this town is so under-populated for its size that I've met at least half of the people here. Shana has an olive complexion; a button nose that she complains is too big, long thick black hair, and beautiful brown eyes. |
| 4 | She's almost exactly my size and even our birthdays are in the same month, May. Ever since we found that out we always celebrate our birthdays together and even ask for the same presents. When we turned fourteen, we both got our own guitars. When we turned fifteen, we both got Labret lip rings. We're not sure what we want this year. We will both be turning sixteen so we want it to be something special, but a car would be too much to ask of our parents. |
| 5 | It took us forever to learn how to play our guitars well and even now she's still having trouble plucking. I'm a natural at it. We found that she is a much better singer though so mostly I play the more difficult notes on my acoustic guitar, and she plays single chords while focusing on singing. It works out well, but both of us are terrible at writing lyrics and guitar tabs so often we just practice our favorite songs. |
| 6 | Right now we are singing the prayer Adon Olam. We always play it, because it is my seven-year-old brother Adam's favorite hymn- well, actually his favorite song in the whole world. I'll admit that we're a little unorthodox with the way we conduct our Sabbath. Normally a song like Adon Olam would be played at the end of a Rabbi's sermon just before the food, but we don't follow that anymore. Instead we play a whole bunch of songs for our family's entertainment, and then we eat. |
| 7 | Her sister Denise likes the song "Complicated" by Avril Lavigne, so we will do that next. As we play I look around the room at our audience. They're all sitting at the dining room table, eyes on us. My family, the Redwoods, is sitting to our left. Adam looks very happy and is mouthing the words while we sing. Next to him sits my mother Sarah. She has shoulder length brown hair that's starting to gray (after all, she's turning forty-five soon), and hazel eyes that look just like mine except... |
| 8 | older. Mom doesn't seem too impressed by our sometimes off-key playing. Sometimes Shana's guitar chords and mine don't mix well, or sometimes we'll sing on two very different notes making it sound weird, but she still looks happy that we're playing. Next to her sits my dad and he looks just as happy as ever. You can almost see tears of joy in his eyes through his almost rimless glasses. He is balding on the top of his head but is still very proud of the thick bushes around it. |
| 9 | So proud in fact that he dyes it black to make himself look younger (although he isn't pulling it off), and just covers his bald spot with his dark blue yarmulke. I modify my hair too though. I'm a natural brunette like my mom, but I think blonde looks better on me, so I bleach mine. Most people are shocked when they find out it's not naturally blonde. Next to him is my grandmother Hannah, but I call her Bubbe. |
| 10 | My grandmother is very old and always seems melancholy, but whenever someone speaks to her she always smiles and appears to be enjoying herself. I don't know, maybe it's just her ashen hair and many wrinkles that make her appear so grim. Despite being in her eighties, she's not senile at all, but I think that has to do with the fact that she has lived with us instead of being thrown into a nursing home. |
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