Slenderman

 A friend of mine worked in schools as a mental health counselor before she retired. She lent me Slenderman by Kathleen Hale. This crime took place is Waukesha, Wisconsin and the author grew up in that area of the state. She knows Wisconsin people and Wisconsin politics and Wisconsin culture. Sometimes I had to smile at her descriptions of the weather. She wrote things like since it was deer hunting season the men in the town wore clothes soaked in deer urine or people wore ankle length down coats so they looked like caterpillars running from their car to the court house. The story is about 3 twelve year old girls at a birthday party. One of the girls stabs her friend 19 times while the other girl watches. I felt bad for all three girls. Morgan, the one did the stabbing was living with early onset schizophrenia. She saw clouds and rainbows all the time. She had voices talking to her since before she went to school. Morgan was a seriously ill child whose father also had the same problems but he refused to talk about it. Our society doesn't seem to accept that mental illness is an illness. The system in Wisconsin refused to treat Morgan for her illness for years.  Would they also refuse to give insulin to a diabetic? Morgan didn't choose schizophrenia. Now Morgan is being treated medically for her illness but she is not being treated socially. She has no idea how to interact with people her own age. When this incident happened on May 31, 2014 I didn't pay much attention. I don't remember hearing about it. I was fascinated and horrified by this true crime story.