Byron's Secret (Slenderman Romance)

Chapter 22. Hallucination

As I finished grading the last canvas, I slid it back into the paper bag and closed my binder. Groaning as I stood, I stretched my whole body to make the stiffness go away. I grabbed my phone from my bag and saw that it's only an hour before midnight.

I chucked my phone back in my bag and a piece of paper caught my eye. That's right . . . The college form, I'd better do it. Might as well since I did stay up late already.

Taking it out from the bag, I quickly answered all the information it needed, it didn't take long since I'm familiar with this. After I graduated, I didn't waste any time and applied for schools in our city. Sadly, I was rejected every time, which brings me here.

I don't hate this place, I think it's just nice to still be with my family and maybe I wouldn't be worrying about 'disappearing' out of complete nowhere because of an old folklore.

Speaking of the disappearances－

My eyes fell on the box which Byron graciously lent me. Double-checking the form, I kept it in my bag along with my binder before grabbing the box under the table and placing it on the couch beside me.

I peered through the items inside, but it's all newspapers, cut-out articles, photos that looked as old as my parents' photos and some that looked very recent, and Andrea's journal－good God, it looks amazing, it's leather-bound, it looks so medieval!

Calming down, I excitedly took it out and unfolded the journal. Inside, it was just a normal binder similar to mine, I guess the leather cover was just for presentation, it can be removed too . . .

The first page reads Andrea's name and grade followed by her title, 'The History of The Disappearances' written in black, just like the rest. I quickly skimmed over the journal, there were pictures but not much and the journal is really thick but I found at the end, that Andrea left blank pages. I think only half of the journal was written on.

I shut the journal close and put it away. I'm quite tired already, I planned to do my research today but I didn't think I'd finish grading this late.

Sighing at the lingering curiosity, I took a random article from the box and read it. It had a headline that reads 'Bachmeier , des Mordes schuldig , töten große Mann'.

What the fuck? Is this Slavic? Wait, no, it looks German but I'm just guessing . . . I don't really know any other language, I remember bits and pieces from my Spanish and French classes but that's it. The whole article is in another language . . .

There's a date beside the headline, it's a little smudged. I strained my eyes to read what the date was and I think it says '1893'. Seriously, Byron, what the fuck? How did he even get his hands on something this old? Internet?

But . . . article doesn't look very old, the paper actually looks new and it looked taken care of. I guess I might have just read the date wrong, it's barely distinguishable anyway.

I examined the paper and turned it around to see another article. 'Bachmeier, guilty of murder, blames tall man (1893)' it says on the top of the paper in all caps. Except it was handwritten, just like the rest of the article.

Is this Byron's handwriting? It's similar, I can tell since I kind of always watch him whenever he grades his tests and quizzes. I think . . . this is a translation of the one on the other side, given that both says 'Bachmeier' on the headline. The headline and date is similar enough.

Could Byron have translated this? It would have been pretty hard since it's a long story. But him translating this is a good explanation on why the paper was new even though the article is from the 1890's. He must have reprinted it or something.