Offenderman Chronicles

Chapter Three

A/N: The original chapter was literally so bad,,, "You're immortal I guess",,, time to rewrite this shit. with that said i finished writing this past six in the moment so haha there are gonna be errors.

Karelia's POV
~~~

Though reluctantly, I sat up to stare at the two of them. I'd never gotten a good look at the more vulgar of the two, but perhaps I shouldn't have been distracted by his complete lack of eyes.

"What the fuck did you just say?" I wasn't in the mood for being polite, especially not to such characters. Plus, if what they'd said was true, they couldn't actually do much to shut me up. Or, at least, not for long.

Slenderman turned to stare toward me with eerie blankness, before he finally seemed to decide it was worth speaking to me. My vision was hazy. I could only barely make him out as he moved closer. Or, at least, I assumed he had. He had sort of just suddenly been closer, as he had every other time.

"I don't know why you won't die."

The words were as sharp as they were the first time- almost as much as the terrible pain in my stomach that I was just becoming aware of. I wondered, for a moment, why I hadn't noticed my guts almost falling out of me previously. I didn't have time to dwell on it, no matter how unbearable it seemed. I didn't want to lose consciousness again- who knew what would happen in the meantime? I struggled through. "Maybe it's just because I don't want to."

My other defenses unavailable to me, I turned to snark. I wasn't going to sit here and take it. I heard the sound of somebody teleporting away, and my first thought was that it was Slenderman. However, I was clearly wrong, since he soon spoke to me again. His tone, though I now realized that I couldn't hear it so much as feel it, had become looming and threatening.

"We could easily make you want to."

My stomach would have dropped, but the fact that it was physically doing such already prevented that. He continued.

"I'm surprised that you don't already."

Not willing to push him further, I backed off a bit, remarking plainly on the situation.

"So, you're not even going to try to patch me up."

Some hell of a power play he had going on, literally leaving my guts dangling out of me.

"Healing is not what we do." His words were rushed. I stared at him dead on for a moment- or tried. Sure, my vision was swimming enough to stop me from seeing straight, but I was pretty sure that this was his general direction. I stayed silent. Surely they had someone to patch up their own injuries? I gave a soft, but bitter smile when he confirmed my suspicions in just the next sentence.

"... I might know somebody, though."

~~~
Charlotte's POV
~~~

The silence was making me nervous as I biked down the road. Usually, I walked here with Karelia. Now? She was nowhere to be seen. I really hoped that she had just taken a sick day, or something. I'd have to check on her later.

Speaking of mysterious absences, my mother hadn't shown up, either. Sure, she wasn't the best person. Probably one of the worst, actually. But I did worry- for my own safety, not for hers. If she had gotten herself killed? Good riddance. But I might have to move away.

I don't know why I was so concerned about having to move away. I stayed quiet as I stepped into the school. The absences weren't surprising. That Jane girl wasn't there- but more importantly, Karelia didn't show at role call, nor did she appear at recess. She was missing for art class and I didn't see her waiting for me outside the greenhouses.

It was jarring, at best.

She wasn't answering her phone.

Stressed, I decided, for my own sanity, she must just not be feeling it. The bike ride home was even more sullen than the one there, and I was greeted by the television when I got back. I'd left it on earlier, and it seemed like it had switched itself to the news channel while I was out. I let the ramblings of the newsreader fill my head while I grabbed an energy drink from my fridge.

"... didn't come home last night, an  orange rose stripped of its petals  that were scattered all around left at her mother's doorstep... ... She is begging anyone to tell her if they have seen a Karelia Mayari... medium frame... dark complexion... hair like a cloud... blue clothes... a good girl... wouldn't leave for so long..."

My attention snapped to the television at the sound of her name. I felt frozen for a moment, but matched into the living room to properly listen.

"... a string of disappearances associated with roses, the girls coming back after a few days, perfectly fine... An odd, but harmless mystery..."

Oh, harmless my ass. It was clear they weren't planning to do anything about it. With a gutteral growl, I picked up my phone to dial Karelia's mother.

"Hello?"
The voice on the other end of the receiver was tense and sleepless.

"Hey. I heard you couldn't find...?" I couldn't bring myself to finish the sentence, gripping tight onto the fabric of my own dress. I only heard a sob from the other end. "I can help." I offered.

"Could you?" She sounded desperate. It broke my heart. "Please, they barely described her on the news... I told them, a photo..."

I nodded grimly, though she couldn't see it. "Of course, Mrs Mayari. I'll... I'll do missing posters, okay? And I'll see about some kind of alert."

As I hung up, I knew that I had a lot of work to do if I ever wanted to see her again.