Life imitates fiction. Or reality. Or the collective reality that was created by fiction

Horror is not confined to movies and television shows anymore.. Lately, headlines of real events have been shaping up to be more frightening and disgusting than the tales of fiction.. One such headline comes from Wisconsin.. 

From what we know, a 12-year-old girl was stabbed 19 times in a wooded area of Milwaukee this weekend. Two other girls apparently lured her there.. after the stabbing, the 12-year-old crawled her bleeding body to her own rescue..
Someone riding a bike miraculously found her laying on the ground.
She is not dead. She is actually, again by a miracle of some sort, in stable condition.
But here is where things get a little creepy.
According to the police report, the girls who stabbed the other girl were compelled to do it after reading up on SLENDERMAN—the fictitious character that was created online as an experiment but somehow took on a life of its own.. people claim they see SLENDERMAN, hear him.. are haunted by him. But he only existed in contemporary paranormal circles. He was a creation. Some with an imagination think we created SLENDERMAN from nothing, an experiment gone haywire to the point that now he manifested like Freddy Kreuger..
But these girls took things further than others I have heard of.. According to the police, they were on CREEPYPASTA.. They said they were trying to get SLENDERMAN appear in their reality but that they had to kill someone first in order to summons him. Creepypasta has even been forced to respond to accusations that it fosters violence.. It most certainly does not. If you’ve never seen the site before, it’s primarily fiction literature.. it’s not meant to conjure up evil.. get a grip and understand reality before you point fingers at a website for doing absolutely nothing wrong.
Meanwhile…
Even more information is being revealed about their relationship to the would-be victim.. They had a sleepover with her Friday night. They attended the same school.. CNN is reporting this:
According to the criminal complaint, the suspects had been planning the attack since February.
They first thought to kill the victim by placing duct tape over her mouth while she was sleeping and stabbing her in the neck, the complaint read.
Next, the plan was to kill her in a bathroom where there was floor drain that could make cleanup easier, it continued.
But, finally, the girls decided to do it in a park while playing a game of hide-and-seek, the complaint read.
It states: “As they left for the park … (the victim) was walking in front of them and Geyser lifted up the left side of her white jacket and displayed the knife tucked in her waistband. Weier stated she gave Geyser a look with wide eyes and, when asked what that meant Weier stated, ‘I thought, dear god, this was really happening.’”
The girl was a ‘millimeter’ away from death as one stab wound was near her heart.. 
With this crime, I have read some parents and non parents clamoring for a ban on horror-related websites. You know, China and Australia style.. That would be difficult here in the free US of A with that pesky first amendment blocking censorship..
But with every passing day, each new website, and now the SLENDERMAN crime these two girls committed, SLENDERMAN is coming alive more and more.. he’s in the collective consciousness. He’s alive and well online. The paranormal entity took on a life of his own—and apparently is now inspiring crimes in his name.. 
This is disturbing and hopefully not a trend-setting moment.. 
12-year-olds need to be taught the separation of fact from fiction. A generation lost in space.. the kids aren’t alright.

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