The New Kid

The Midnight Article "The New Kid: Jailed Teacher Tells Bizarre Tale" was written by Fernando Iglesias Meléndez (u/MidnightPaper) and posted to r/NoSleep.

The text of the Article was as follows:

“THE NEW KID:” JAILED TEACHER TELLS BIZARRE TALE Former English teacher Mark Bailey, found guilty of murder last winter, sat in the visitation room of a maximum-security prison. He looked gaunt, pale…haunted. He was a far cry from the young, athletic man that was a constant presence on millions of television and phone screens across the nation.

Bailey seemed to have it all. He had taught at Roslyn High School for almost a decade. He was well-liked, with many students citing him as the reason they discovered a passion for literature. He was the coach of not only Roslyn High's girl’s volleyball team but also the town’s little league team. He was married to his High School sweetheart, Holly Bailey, a kindergarten teacher.

On the outside, his life was not just innocuous, but downright inspirational: it’s a well-known fact that, instead of traveling to Europe or Hawaii for their honeymoon, he and Holly opted to join the peace corps to volunteer in Africa.

So where did it all go wrong? What transformed the Mark Bailey from five years ago, a well-loved coach and volunteer, into the Mark Bailey who must now be separated from the prison’s general population for his own safety?

The answer has a name: Stephanie Carson. Carson was a senior who attended Herricks High School. She was popular, smart, the star player of the girl’s volleyball team, and already accepted into several Ivy League schools. Stephanie’s promising life was cut short when, after a few weeks of stalking so severe she placed a restraining order on him, Bailey broke into the Carson family home and attacked her with a knife.

Bailey’s trial was a lighting-fast affair, the evidence stacked against him so completely it left no room for interpretation. Yet, there were many online who rallied to defend him, citing his strange, disjointed testimony as evidence for mental illness.

“You don’t understand,” said Bailey in court, “she’s not what you think. You’ll see. Just wait for the new school year to start. If I had more time, maybe I would’ve put an end to it.” After being reminded that Stephanie is now deceased, Bailey exploded into a series of bizarre statements and accusations, many directed at Stephanie’s parents.

After several months of being blocked by Bailey’s court-appointed psychologist, we were able to secure an interview with him. Sitting behind the glass in a beige jumpsuit that seemed to be several sizes too big, Bailey spoke into the phone mounted next to the window, his voice a distorted whisper.

Almost immediately, as if knowing what we were there to ask about, he launched into his story.

“Her name was Monica first. Monica Campbell. So that’s how I think of her. She was the new kid that year. She moved here from California, or so she said. She was instantly popular. Pretty, from a family with a lot of money. She was at the top of every class, straight A’s, 4.0 GPA. She came to the first volleyball practice and everyone could see she would become the best player on the team. She was in my English class too, and she seemed to know more than I did, could quote Yeats on the spot. Oscar Wilde was her favorite though. She got into Yale. Stanford too. Went for Yale for Chemistry. Bright kid. She was even homecoming queen.

There was something about her. Like a spark. Monica was almost too bright. Strangely intelligent. She seemed to be able to learn things right away, and remember every little detail later. My car broke down once, right in school. There must’ve been a dozen teachers trying to help out. Harrison, the science teacher, was fiddling with the motor when Monica walked right up. She looked down at the engine, rolled up her sleeves like a fucking mechanic, and started working on it. She fixed it. The car started right away.

She apparently spoke Japanese, German, French, Spanish. We could only verify the Spanish and the French, but she spoke them fluently.

A few teachers cried when she left, saying they’d miss hearing her laugh in the halls. She made a big impression. Obviously.

I don’t know about her parents. I think her mom came to school once or twice. Dressed like she was attending the Oscars or something. But we didn’t see her after that, or the father, not even at the graduation. Monica was valedictorian.

It was the year after that that things got weird. The first semester had just started when there was a new kid in school again. Her name was Natalie Creed. She moved here from California. She was instantly popular. Pretty, from a family with a lot of money. She was at the top of every class, straight A’s, 4.0 GPA. She came to the first volleyball practice and everyone could see she would become the best player on the team. She was in my English class too, and she knew more than I did, could quote Shakespeare on the spot. Emily Dickinson was her favorite…and she looked just like Monica. Everyone asked her if she was related to her. She said no. But there were rumors. Maybe she was a cousin or a lost sibling.

Her parents didn’t come to school either. She was valedictorian, the homecoming queen too. She got into Harvard and NYU, went to Harvard for Chemistry.

It was weird, everyone said so, but they seemed to forget right away. I was the only one who kept saying how strange it was. That made them look at me like I was crazy, or worse. So I let it slide.

The year after that, we were at a volleyball game at a different school…and there she was again. Her name wasn’t Monica or Natalie anymore, it was Jennifer Cook. She was the best player on that team. Better by far than anyone on ours.

I knew something was wrong, but even asking about her made people look at me like I was sick. There are enough stories about teachers becoming obsessed with one of their students for all the wrong reasons. But it wasn’t like that with me. She looked the same, she acted the same, she always went off the study Chemistry.

So…I followed her home. And the house was one of the biggest in town and we’re in Long Island. It wasn’t Monica’s house, but damn well could have been. Then I saw her, the mom. Monica’s mom.

I knew something was wrong, but when I told my wife, she told me that I was losing it. That I couldn't follow anyone home, let alone a High School student. I was a teacher, for God’s sake.

The year ended. When the new year started up, I went looking for her. I went to every school in the area…and I found her. Her name was now Stephanie Carson. She looked the same as Jennifer Cook, the same as Natalie Creed, the same as Monica Campbell. It wasn’t just her looks, she sounded like her, moved like her, played volleyball like her.

I followed her home again. It was a different house, but the same tax bracket. I waited until nightfall then snuck in. A window was wide open. There weren’t any family photos on the walls, just art. The house was fully furnished, not a fake house or anything…they must have been moving for real.

Nobody was home yet, so I looked everywhere. I had to find an explanation. The door down to the basement was open…and that’s where I found it. It was like a fucking lab. There were machines I couldn’t even recognize, a freezer the size of the wall with frozen Petri dishes and test tubes inside. There were also weird books. Astronomy, occultism, demonology.

Then she snuck up on me. Quiet. She must’ve hit me with something because I blacked out. I woke up in the hospital handcuffed to a gurney. The police were there, my wife wasn’t. They said that Monica…Stephanie, was putting a restraining order on me. That I had been following her for weeks. They didn’t seem to know I had broken in. Maybe she didn’t want them to.

My wife wasn’t home when I got back. She didn’t answer my calls either. A few weeks later, I went back to the house, around 4:00 am. I didn’t know what I was going to do, but I knew she would be asleep. Maybe I could get her to talk somehow…I wasn’t really thinking straight.

I broke in again. Through the same window. I went down to the basement…and it was empty. Totally empty. Just bare concrete and drag marks where things had been taken out.

I was furious. She was hiding things to make me look worse. I could almost imagine her having those things taken out with a condescending smile on her face.

I went up the stairs. I thought her room had to be one of the smaller ones, but when I opened it it was all wrong. There were two sets of clothes in the closet. The bathroom was set up for two people. It was the parents’ room. I checked the other small room, but it was completely empty. There was nothing on the walls, nothing on the carpeted floor, nothing in the closet.

Only the master bedroom was left. But why would they give the master bedroom to their daughter? I opened the door. She was sitting up in bed. Waiting for me. With a smile on her face.

I asked her who she really was. I told her I knew she had been in my class, in my volleyball team, in my school. She just said one thing, and it was enough to me lose control: ‘that wasn’t me.’

I pulled her off the bed, dragged her down the stairs. I was going to show her the basement, you see? But it went wrong. She was faster than me. Stronger than me too. She forced my fingers apart and rushed for the kitchen. Then she just waited by the knives. Like she was inviting me to use one.

So I pulled one out. She smiled again. So I stabbed her. Then again. Then again. She was still smiling when the police showed up. Later, they said that she had called them. That she had gotten away for a few moments and called them from the bathroom. But that was a lie. She must’ve called them before I went up to her room.

Her parents were at the trial. And that’s when I knew. They didn’t look sad. Just annoyed. Like I had broken one of their toys. It was the parents, you see? They’re behind this. I should’ve waited for them. I should’ve killed them instead.”

Bailey became frantic when the interview was coming to a close, like a castaway watching a ship fade into the distance.

“Look! It’s up to you! Go to every High School in Long Island. You’ve got to find her! She’ll be there. She’s blonde. Blue eyes. She must be about to graduate again. Follow her home. Get to the parents. Get them talking! You’ve gotta find out why!”

Bailey was found in his cell a few days later. He’d chewed through both of his wrists. The damage was so severe that he bled out before he got to the infirmary. Nobody involved with this publication fulfilled his last request, and we urge our readers to ignore it as well.

Description:

"The New Kid" is a Biological-Type Oddity who appears to be a popular, wealthy, and extremely intelligent High School girl in Long Island. Mark Bailey, her teacher and volleyball coach, noticed a pattern involving the New Kid.

First, Monica Campbell moved to Roslyn, Long Island, and enrolled in Roslyn High School during senior year, stating that she had moved there from California. She immediately became popular and began exceeding in both her studies and extracurricular activities. She was a straight A student, spoke at least 5 languages, and, according to Bailey, was "strangely intelligent." She seemed to be able to learn any skill in seconds. Monica had a particular interest in Chemistry, and she chose to major in this subject at Yale.

At the start of the next school year, a girl who looked exactly like Monica Campbell enrolled at Roslyn High School. Her name was Natalie Creed and she said she moved there from California. She was immediately popular and was, like Monica, wealthy and possessed the same intelligence and talent for volleyball. She had a particular interest in Chemistry and decided to study that subject in Harvard.

The next school year, while visiting a different High School in Long Island for an away volleyball game, Bailey spotted a girl who looked exactly like Monica Campbell and Natalie Creed on the opposing team. The girl was better than anyone on both teams, by far. Her name was Jessica Cook. Bailey followed her home and saw that Cook's mother looked exactly like Monica Campbell's, and that her house was equally as opulent.

Bailey confessed his stalking of the girl to his wife, who reprimanded him. So Bailey decided not to press things further.

When the new school year started up, however, Bailey was unable to let go of his obsession. He began actively searching for a girl that looked like Monica Campbell, and he found her. Now her name was Stephanie Carson, and she appeared to share the same traits as all the other girls. Upon breaking into her house and confronting her, Bailey became violent and eventually killed Carson with a kitchen knife. He was jailed and subsequently committed suicide, but not before telling the reporter from the Midnight Paper to go after Carson's parents, as they were the ones responsible.

Origin:

Not much is known about the New Kid's origins. Bailey suspected her parents were involved in the creation of duplicate girls. His suspicions arose when he explored the basement of the Carson home and found state-of-the-art lab equipment and books on the occult.

When the OP of the Midnight Paper series on NoSleep eventually met up with Stephanie Carson, she divulged a wealth of information about her origin. Apparently, Stephanie was created by her parents to be a duplicate of their daughter, who died at the end of senior year due to a drunk driving accident. Unable to cope with their loss, they resorted to recreating her using stolen lab equipment from their mysterious jobs. As the duplicate girl graduated from High School once again, they were unable to let go of her. They sent her off to college, yes, but they also made a new version of her to keep them company for one more year.

However, they soon found that recreating their deceased daughter wasn't enough. They had to perfect her. After each iteration goes to college, Stephanie's original parents create a version that's slightly tweaked. They're constantly trying out variations of genes, attempting to create a version of their daughter that is the most intelligent, most athletic, and most able to quickly learn new skills and talents.

However, their research soon stalled. They'd hit a plateau of "perfection," and found themselves creating multiple versions of their daughter with the same outcome. This plateau was hit several years back, before Bailey even encountered Monica Campbell.

A common trait shared between all

"Arent's" and Parents:

Stephanie's original parents do not live with her. They have apparently grown out of their desire to recreate their deceased daughter to spend more time with her. Instead, they have replaced that longing to relive their daughter's senior year with an all-consuming desire to create a perfect version of her. They focus all their time and energy into studying their own genes human biology and chemistry and imbuing each iteration of their daughter with the best traits.

In order to raise each version of their daughter, they have created duplicates of themselves to live with and protect her. However, since they also rely on these duplicates to procure "ingredients," Stephanie was left alone and was able to be killed by Bailey. These duplicates are referred to as "Arent's" by each version of the New Kid.

Contrary to each iteration of the New Kid, which is always created to have the peak level of human performance in all traits, the "Arent's" are created to be dumbed-down versions of the originals. They're little more than drones, created to have just enough intelligence to carry out errands and to protect and accompany each iteration of the New Kid. It can be inferred that each New Kid has a new pair of Arent's, but this is not explicitly stated.

Personality:

Stephanie Campbell is, like all versions of the New Kid, extremely intelligent and well-read. She possesses a wealth of different talents and abilities, and is able to learn, perfect, and retain any new skills she tries out in mere seconds.

Campbell's intelligence has cursed her with constant impatience, as everyone is several intellectual steps behind her at all times. As a result, she is often sarcastic.

Stephanie inferred that both her and multiple New Kids were depressed about their meaningless existence, and that she wasn't the first version of her that wanted to die. This implies that Stephanie allowed Bailey to kill her to, as she put it, "make her parents look at this version of me twice."

The Removal Doctor:

It appears that previous versions of the New Kid sought out the Removal Doctor to remove a part of their personality so they "weren't as perfect" and would stand out from the rest. The Removal Doctor, upon seeing this enhanced human being, decided to take "what made her perfect" and instill that quality into his ultimate creation: the Perfect Being. It's not known exactly how this process works, but Stephanie's parents are able to achieve similar results to the Removal Doctor, using the more "impure" method of replicating and modifying genetics. The Doctor is able to take an attribute from one person and transplant it to someone else, without the need for cloning or genetic tampering of any kind.