Sagittarius Strangler

The Midnight Article "Sagittarius Strangler Stalks Single Shut-In!" was written by u/CreepyvonPasta and posted to r/MidnightPaper.

The text of the post and Article was as follows:

I slammed my apartment door closed and fumbled with the keys. I was incredibly late for work, and with margins being so thin… Well, I couldn’t even think about it. They were looking for any excuse to get rid of people, and not even my 10 years of service would protect me if I drew their attention.

Preoccupied as I was, I didn’t notice myself careening across the vestibule until I crashed into the building’s front door.

“Dammit!” I seethed through gritted teeth. I had tripped over a roll of what felt like a newspaper. I took the time to throw the offending rag in a recycle bin. Useless rubbish; who would leave a blank, pure black newspaper laying about in the middle of the floor?

That vestibule is an entrance I share with neighbors on either side of me. I shot glares at their doors before storming off to work.

Thanks to a merciful bus driver, I eventually made it (turns out I forgot my pass). The 4-story office building my call center operated out of was shuttered. Those bastards didn’t email me... We must’ve gone under! I had plenty of time to weigh my legal options on the long walk home. Now, I’m normally a fairly mellow person, and I’m not making excuses, but this was the worst day I could think of offhand. So, when the lady in 2A, Shannon, ambushed me with outlandish accusations, I was already seeing red.

“What the hell is this!” she screamed in my face, waving that black paper over her head.

“Look Shannon, I’m really not in the mood to deal with anyone’s crazy, so if you’d kindly move.”

“You think this is funny?” She jabbed the paper with her finger for emphasis.

“You think this is an okay thing to joke about?”

“What? You’re not upset I threw out your garbage, are you?” I said, trying to get past her.

Her face grew even more red, “I have no idea what this is, I just found it in the bin! Is ‘The Midnight Paper’ your creepy little arts and crafts project? Look at this headline: ‘Sagittarius Strangler Stalks Single Shut-in!”

I just stared at her. If I hadn’t been so angry, I might have felt concerned for her.

She exploded into “reading” further down the blank page.

“Police looking for suspects in home invasion. Shannon Farley was found dead in her apartment on Ocher Street. The county morgue has confirmed the cause of death as asphyxiation. Insiders report the 26-year-old had strange markings on her neck, one of which resembled the symbol for Sagittarius.’ What do you make of that, New Guy?

I’d lived in this building longer than she had. She was completely off her rocker.

“And then, look at this!” She flipped through the papers to near the nonexistent end.

“My obituary: ‘Shannon Farley will be dearly missed…blah blah blah… she is survived by her parents, Teresa and Ken, and her brother, Rick.’ How do you know my family’s names? Are you going through my mail?”

I shook my head, “I don’t know what you’re on, but there’s nothing written on that paper!”

“Well, that settles it. You’re full of shit! This is as good as a death threat, you know!”

I’d had enough.

“I don’t know what you’re trying to pull, but you do not want to FUCK with me.” Now I was the one encroaching on her personal space. “Get out of my way,” I growled.

She snatched her hefty lanyard. I hear those damn keychains jingle every time she comes and goes. She turned and went for her door.

“You’re sick!” she yelled before disappearing into her apartment.

“Crazy broad,” I muttered.

I finally made it home. It was all I needed, some deranged neighbor out to get me. First thing’s first, I had to check on my work situation to see if they said anything.

My computer was acting strange from the get-go. There wasn’t a prompt to enter my password, and my email wasn’t saved to the browser. I put in my email and it tried to sign me up for one. Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, all my socials said my accounts did not exist.

I’d been hacked.

I called my bank to secure my accounts. They said I didn’t pass authentication. They wouldn’t tell me anything!

I was freaking out by this point. I dialed my mom.

“Call cannot be completed as dialed.”

I burned through nearly every contact in my phone. All of them: “Call cannot be completed as dialed.”

I felt a surge of isolation when suddenly the people in my life weren’t a click away. It was like nothing outside my apartment existed. Or maybe that I never existed. But that was absurd! I remembered moving in, my first kiss, the time I ripped my pants in grade school. Every memory that wasn’t from today became increasingly blurry the more I tried to recall it.

But I’m typing this right now, you’re reading it!

I’M REAL!

...I’m real.

I was struggling with those thoughts when I heard that all-too familiar jingle.

That bitch next door was scurrying out, probably to make my life even more miserable. I even considered the possibility that she was responsible for all this strangeness.

The messed-up stuff she’d said were the only things I could hold in razor sharp focus. I burst out my door to confront her before she could enact whatever plan she’d concocted.

She was just locking up and jumped at the sight of me. Without a word, she juggled through her stupid lanyard looking for something. She finally found a mace keychain and leveled it at me. I cupped my hand over the mace and twisted her wrist, ripping away the lanyard.

Now she had the audacity to mace me? Enraged, I pushed her back into her apartment. She fell on her hands and struggled to get up. I kicked her in the back, her face bouncing off the floor.

I was still holding her keys. I pulled the ends taut, then swung them around her neck like a garrote. The many rings, keys, and novelty keychains ripped into her throat.

She was trying to ruin my life. It was like nothing else mattered; nothing made more sense than to end Shannon Farley.

I pulled up with all my might and held it there until long after her feet stopped kicking.

I rolled her over to revel in her lifeless eyes.

The imprint of her Sagittarius keychain, already starting to bruise.

SAGITTARIUS STRANGLER STALKS SINGLE SHUT-IN!

Police looking for suspects in a home invasion. Shannon Farley was found dead in her apartment on Ocher Street. The county morgue has confirmed the cause of death as asphyxiation. Insiders report the 26-year-old had strange markings on her neck, one of which resembled the symbol for Sagittarius.

Description:

The "Sagittarius Strangler" is a Biological-Type Oddity. Interestingly, the Strangler is the first Oddity to realize that they were created by the Paper, slowly coming to terms with the fact that his memories and life were blurred outside of the confines of the Article he was featured in.

Inability to Read the Paper:

The Saggitarius Strangler found a Midnight Paper on the doorstep of his building on his way to work. Thinking nothing of it, the man tossed the Paper in the recycling bin and went on his way. Upon returning the the building, the Strangler was confront by Shannon Farley, a neighbor that he found irritating. Shannon accused the Strangler of creating the Midnight Paper in question as a way to threaten her life. When she showed him the pages, however, the man was unable to see any text printed on them.

Shannon then read the Article to the Strangler, an Article that described how she would be found dead with a Sagittarius mark on her neck. Shannon suspected the Strangler because he had just moved into the building.

The Strangler paid Shannon no mind, chalking her accusation up to her being annoying and insane.

False Life:

The Strangler returned home, only to discover that he had been logged out of all social media and online accounts. This strange absence extended to his memories as well, as the Strangler discovered that any memories that extended beyond that day were blurry and vague. Indeed, it appeared that the Strangler had come into existence that day, with the delivery of the Midnight Paper that mentioned him.

Prediction:

The Strangler then decided that Shannon Farley was responsible for the strange events and existential dread that he was experiencing. He then attacked her, exactly as the Midnight Paper had predicted. Every detail was exactly as foretold, including the Sagittarius mark on Farley's neck. The mark itself came about as a result of him using her lanyard and keychains to strangle her...a keychain with the Sagittarius mark bruising her neck and leaving behind the mark that would earn the Oddity his monicker.

Origin:

The Sagittarius Strangler is the first Oddity to realize that he came into existence due to the Midnight Paper's supernatural qualities. As a result, his life previous to the Article that created him is unknown and probably nonexistent.

As is the case with all Oddities, it is not known how or why the Articles that mention (or create) them are written, or by who. It is possible that the Paper itself has a conscience of its own and enough agency to seek out or create the Oddities that are the subjects of its Articles.

Regardless, the Strangler is important in that he (like Stephanie Carson and The Removal Doctor) entered the real world and were unable to read the Articles that caused them to come into existence.