Strange Objects - The Sequel

NOTES ON THE DISCOVERY OF
STEVEN MESSENGER, AGED 19 YRS.

by Dr Hope Michaels, Director
Western Australian Institute of Maritime Archaeology

It has been several years since the disappearance of the young(er) Steven Messenger and so I was surprised (not to mention excited) to learn that he had been discovered. I was informed by his mother, Irene Messenger, some weeks after his whereabouts had become known to her. Apparently he has requested to see me....or at least mentioned my name. It seems Steven Messenger has been under the care of a nondescript mental Hospital in Broome, after being taken there by police due to the state that he was discovered in. From what I gather he had resorted to thievery and a life on the streets in order to survive since leaving home. Driven by some force I have yet to comprehend, Steven Messenger stated that he had traveled north until he reached the exact point on a lonely stretch of highway upon which his father died on the 6th January, 1986. How he knew this location noone knows. If anyone can precisely locate the position themselves after so long. This piece of information is one of the more coherent statements made by Steven to his mother since his discovery.

The following extract from a police report confirms this. Presumably :

From the testimony of Mr. Jack Graham
Age : 25 yrs
Occupation : Real Estate Agent

Question : " ....and why did you stop? "

Answer : " He was standing right in the middle of the road. Sort of standing there with his back to us looking at the ground. "

Question : " And what did he do when you stopped? "

Answer : " I had the headlights right on him, it was around dusk. But both then and when the car stopped he did nothing. "

Question : " Nothing? "

Answer : " Yup. Just stood there. Didn't even flinch. I rolled down the window and asked him what he was doing so far outta town so late and did he live around here? What was he doing standing in the road and that sort of thing, but he still stood unmoving, looking at the road. "

Question : " So what did you do then? When he didn't respond? "

Answer : " I was opening the door then, about to get out and approach him, when suddenly he started walking off the road at an angle that would take him cross country....but directly towards town. I yelled at him again, asking if he wanted a lift somewhere, but got no answer. I figured he must know where he was going. Perhaps he lived on the property he started walking through. So I closed the car door after a while and kept going. "

Question : " And so why do you feel this needs to be reported now? "

Answer : " I just can't stop thinking about it. What if the guy was deaf or something? Wondering around at dusk with his back to oncoming traffic. A driver gets the low sun in his eyes and ...well...that's all it takes. I also can't be sure he was a farmer's son or anything. "

Question : " Why's that? "

Answer : " He was dressed like a city kid. Had this sort of 'movie star' look about him. *Laughter* ...or....at least what I saw of his back! He had a red T-shirt on. And tight, white jeans....."


Not much of what Steven says makes alot of sense now unfortunately, and he is said to be suffering from an acute case of schizophrenia. I was also dismayed to learn that he no longer possessed the ring. However, when I visited him recently, he bore his usual blank gaze out the nearest window. He remained quite silent for most of the encounter, until I asked about the ring. He suddenly jumped up and went to the window babbling about 'rings in the sky', other selves stealing the ring and then started wheezing and gurgling in his throat. I looked to the observing psychiatric nurse, thinking he was honestly having trouble breathing, but she merely shook her head. She explained that this behavior had become a common trait of Messenger's. I recalled something he had written in his journals about a wheezing character at the window and now decided to dismiss this as demonstrative of the onset of his current behavior. I left dismayed, thinking I may never find the ring.

Steven had covered quite a considerable amount of ground on his journey, and Broome had only been revisited as Steven apparently was making his way back home. He just never got any further. This leaves me with quite a haystack in which to search for my own needle.

I was informed later that evening that another sighting of Steven Messenger (now known to be a false) had occurred on the same stretch of highway. I was perplexed. So was the witness himself apparently, for the figure he had spotted was said to have vanished into thin air. Apparently Broome Police had pulled him over for speeding some distance from the actual site of the sighting. He was in quite a state of panic. He described yelling to the figure to get it's attention when it suddenly turned to regard him. It's eyes were aglow and it's 'hair ablaze with light'. It then promptly vanished from sight. This witness was revealed to have an unacceptable blood alcohol level.

I'm not sure of the validity of this claim, but I'm starting to entertain the idea that perhaps Steven Messenger had a companion upon his leaving home. Perhaps in his new schizophrenic mindset Steven witnessed this character as possessing supernatural powers, and would explain the mysterious man who stood at his window, went through his drawers those last few days and pervaded his dreams at night. This may also agree with Ms Meryl McAlpines testimony which completed my notes on Messengers disappearance. She reports seeing a figure that appeared older than Steven Messenger, and in fact she was surprised upon learning of Messenger's age, thinking the figure she witnessed to be in his early twenties. Perhaps the ring was stolen from Steven after all. I plan to investigate this matter further.


Extract from the notes of
DR. LEWIS VENKMAN
Psychiatrist, Broome Mental Hospital

"....it is under treatment with such antipsychotic drugs as Thorazine and Clozopine that Steven produces some written work. He is still very distant when it comes to social interaction, but perhaps due to his apparent intelligence still feels the need to express himself somehow. He has procured a scrapbook in which he writes, copies and studies quotes from books and newspapers. One such passage is from Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" :

"...No one ever found out what became of Deagol; he was murdered far from home, and his body was cunningly hidden. But Smeagol returned alone; and he found that none of his family could see him, when he was wearing the ring. He was very pleased with his discovery and he concealed it; and he used it to find out secrets, and he put his knowledge to crooked and malicious uses. He became sharp-eyed and keen-eared for all that was hurtful. The ring had given him power according to his stature. It is not to be wondered at that he became very unpopular and was shunned (when visible) by all his relations. They kicked him, and he bit their feet. He took to thieving, and going about muttering to himself, and gurgling in his throat. So they called him Gollum, and cursed him, and told him to go far away....."

(Pg. 67, 'The Fellowship of the Ring'. Chap 2. The Shadow of the Past)

"Something ghostly and green haunts the scene of The Musings of Dan"
or
"I still haven't found what I'm looking for...maybe it's in The Lair of Dan"