Simon Elroy

**Simon Elroy** is one of Maddie's best friends.

## History

### Maddie's Disappearance

When his best friend, Maddie's mom, was sobering up, leaving Maddie alone in their home, Simon said they should throw a party. They invited Nicole to join them. However, before they could to that, Maddie suddenly disappeared. A few days after her disappearance, Simon and Nicole were still struggling to sleep. They attended a school assembly about Maddie's disappearance, but were upset that the cheerleaders did a routine during it.

When Ms. Fields said she'd put a jacket on Maddie's chair to hold a place for her until she came back, Simon called it out as an empty gesture. He then told Xavier, Maddie's boyfriend, that he was sure he had something to do with it. This led to Simon grabbed Xavier's backpack, spilling the contents on the floor. Among them were Maddie's phone. Xavier was sent to the principal's office and when he left, Simon confronted him again and tackled him when he said he didn't have to tell them anything.

Simon attended the vigil for Maddie, but when they went to go outside and light candles, he told Nicole to go without him because he had something he needed to do. He went to Ms. Fields' room, where he apologized to her and said he knew something bad had to have happened to Maddie because she was not the kind of person who would run. And if she did, she would tell him about it. Ms. Fields comforted him and told him he could stay in the room as long as he needed. He went over to the window to look out at the vigil and was surprised to see Maddie standing next to him and talking to him. Simon immediately asked Maddie if she was okay and what happened. Maddie told him she didn't know, but explained why Xavier had her phone. Their conversation was interrupted when Nicole came in and said the vigil was over and they were going to go search for Maddie in the woods. Maddie encouraged Simon to go with her, but as soon as they stepped out of the room, Simon could no longer see Maddie.

After the search, Simon went back to the school. He told Mr. South they didn't find anything. Mr. South wasn't surprised and said the more important stuff was usually under a desk. He also told Simon there were scars everywhere in the school.

At lunch the next day, Nicole asked Simon what he did when Maddie popped up out of nowhere. She showed him a memory on her phone of her and Maddie that had come up that day. She said she was sure Maddie would come back for HorrorCon and planned to buy them tickets. They noticed Ms. Chung watching them and Nicole told Simon she was the grief counselor. While they were talking, Maddie appeared and called Simon to her. She had him pull out his phone so no one would be suspicious about him talking to himself, then told him she thought Xavier might have something to do with her death after all. She wanted Simon's help to prove it. She told him what she remembered about the day she died and Simon told her her mom came to the school to talk to the police and said she'd never found Maddie. Thy concluded that she died between study hall and eighth period. Simon thought Xavier and Claire might have been working together and said they needed to find evidence.

Simon searched Xavier's locker, gym locker, and a drawer in one of his classrooms looking for evidence, but found nothing.

Maddie appeared to Simon again while he was in Ms. Fields' class and got him in trouble. Maddie told him to meet her in the auto shop. In the shop, Maddie defended her decision to date Xavier, saying he wasn't a bad person. Simon also found a guitar pick and a piece of frosted green plastic that appeared to be part of Maddie's phone.

In the cafeteria, Maddie said they could prove is the phone was hers or not with the serial number. When Mr. Anderson came in, Maddie told Simon to tell him what they knew, as he could help. Simon showed him the piece of plastic he'd found and said he thought it was part of Maddie's phone. Mr. Anderson asked where he'd found it.

Simon went to Mr. Anderson's class, where they were watching Frankenstein. He heard dogs barking, so he looked out the window to see the police with dogs. One of the dogs came into their classroom, but Mr. Anderson asked them to come back later. Simon was convinced that Xavier did it and that his father was covering for him.

That night, Simon sneaked around the school. In the auto shop, Simon found another piece of her phone. Mr. Anderson suddenly came up behind him and asked what he was doing there so late. He also suggested that Simon let the people in charge do their jobs and figure out what had happened. Mr. Anderson walked Simon back to his car and told him he was trying to keep Simon from getting in trouble. He told Simon not to tell anyone what had happened.

Simon talked to Maddie at the bus stop and said that he was convinced Mr. Anderson had killed her. They fought about it because Maddie insisted it couldn't have been him.

Simon went to Nicole and asked if it was weird that Mr. Anderson had given Maddie his number. When Nicole asked how Simon knew that, he said some kids were gossiping online about it. Nicole asked if Simon had seen Mr. Anderson's car, which looked like he lived in in. She helped distract Mr. Anderson so he could get the keys and check his car, where he found the piece of Maddie's phone in his glove box. This led to more arguments with Maddie, who was upset that Simon went behind her back to search the car after she told him it wasn't Mr. Anderson.

Simon went to Mr. Anderson to ask what the police said when he turned the piece of Maddie's phone in. Mr. Anderson admitted that he hadn't turned it in because he wasn't sure who to trust yet and wanted to keep Simon safe.

When Maddie learned that Mr. Anderon's and Ms. Fields' rooms used to be one large room that was the guidance office, she went to Simon and said that he could only see her in places where someone had died. She also apologized for pushing him away and admitted he might be right about Mr. Anderson. They searched Mr. Anderson's room. When Mr. Anderson came in, Simon hid in the closet and Maddie heard him tell someone on the phone he shouldn't have given Maddie money. Maddie didn't remember asking him for money. She also told Simon she'd called Mr. Anderson after the car accident instead of Simon because her mother was actually the one who crashed it and she didn't want Simon to see how awful her home life was. After Mr. Anderson left again, Maddie noticed a false wall on one of his shelves and pulled it back to reveal a large amount of money. Simon said he was sure it had something to do with why Maddie was dead.

### Being Questioned by the Police

When Simon was in Mr. Anderson's class, Maddie lingered there, trying to get Mr. Anderson to unlock his phone so she could check it. She wanted Simon to ask him to check his email, but Simon ignored her. When class ended, Simon quickly grabbed Mr. Anderson's phone while his back was turned and walked out with it. He took it to his locker, where he made several attempts to unlock it. Nicole interrupted and said the police had followed the boot print she found in the woods and found several more, which led to a service road. She believed Maddie was still alive and would come to Horror Con. Simon told her that Maddie was gone and wasn't coming back, though he couldn't tell her how he knew that.

Ms. Chung came to Simon and told her that it was okay to feel how he felt about Maddie, but not to take hope away from anyone else. Simon quickly left the conversation when he saw Mr. Anderson approaching with a laptop, attempting to find his phone. Simon went to Maddie and told her it was too risky to try to return Mr. Anderson's phone. Maddie told him to leave it for now and maybe they could find a way in later.

Simon went to Principal Hartman and told him about the money in Mr. Anderson's wall and the piece of Maddie's phone. Hartman thanked him and said he'd called the police and tell them what Simon had just told him. Simon watched as the police talked to Mr. Anderson in his room. Officers Hayes and Stewart then left the room and told Simon they needed to speak with him. They took him to Red Pine County Sheriff's Station, where they questioned him about Maddie's disappearance. Simon told them everything he knew about it and about Mr. Anderson. They told him that Mr. Anderson didn't have any money in his wall. They told him their theory was that Maddie wanted to leave Split River and didn't want to be found, so she faked her own death and Simon helped her cover her tracks.

Simon went back to Maddie and told him what she'd learned. She told him she'd found something that might get the cops off the back and presented the proof that Mr. Anderson had repurposed old band uniforms and changed the old mascot patches, then took the money that had been raised for them. Simon went to the faculty meeting and told Principal Hartman what Mr. Anderson had done. He showed him the invoice, which was for a company that didn't even exist, then showed him the evidence that a devil patch had previously been on a uniform that now had a bandit patch.

Simon and Maddie watched the cops take Mr. Anderson in. They figured he'd be questioned and arrested, but not for murder. Simon said he could give the police Mr. Anderson's phone, but they'd never find out who he called. After talking to another ghost who often used living people's phones, Maddie went to Simon and gave him the passcode for Mr. Anderson's phone. Then they called the number Mr. Anderson had called that night. When the voicemail picked up, they learned it was Claire's phone.

Simon and Maddie watched Claire and her friends and Simon wondered if her friends might be willing to kill for her. Maddie told Simon about how she and Claire used to be friends until Maddie was unable to let Claire in when she came over to escape her parents' fighting because her mother had been drinking. Simon wondered if Claire might still be holding onto that.

Simon then talked to Nicole, who told him that the police had found Maddie's backpack in an abandoned house. He was upset because she learned that from Xavier. And they fought over it because Simon still wasn't convinced Xavier wasn't involved. Nicole was upset that Simon was still pushing her away and said she didn't want to lose two friends.

Simon went to Mr. South to get a key to Mr. Anderson's room, claiming he left a notebook in there that belonged to Maddie. In the classroom, he found Claire's papers for the year. They were all the same paper, but she'd gotten As on all of them.

Simon then went to Maddie's house, where he found Xavier helping Sandra load boxes of flyers into his truck. They were going to hand them out at the game. Xavier also told Simon that he'd gone to the abandoned house and saw a person there, but he didn't know who it was and they ran away.

At the game, they were handing out flyers when Simon got a text message that contained a video of Claire blackmailing Mr. Anderson about the money he stole in exchange for getting As. Simon met up with Xavier and Nicole, who had also gotten the video. They wondered who recorded and why they sent it to them. Simon showed the video to Maddie and said if Claire knew about the video and thought Maddie took it, that was motive.

Simon then asked Xavier to meet him. With Maddie's help, he had Xavier compose a text message to Claire, apologizing and asking her to go to the Homecoming dance with him in the hopes of getting her to crack.

Simon believed Mr. South might have taken the video because he had previously hidden a video he was watching from Simon, but when he asked Mr. South about it, Mr. South said he was trying to protect Simon by not showing him the video because it was the graffiti on the boiler room walls. While they talked, Maddie found a door and had Simon ask Mr. South where it led. He told them it was a fallout shelter. They went into it and Simon realized he could still see Maddie, which meant someone had died there. They also found a passageway out and Simon said he believed it was how Claire got Maddie's body out of there.

### Homecoming Dance

Simon was horrified to learn that Maddie was going to the Homecoming Dance with a football player. She didn't want to discuss it, saying she preferred to talk about her murder and Claire, her maybe murderer. When Xavier told Simon and Nicole that Claire agreed to go to the dance with him, Simon said he needed to use the dance to crack her and get her to confess. Once he and Maddie were alone, Simon asked her if she was really okay with watching Xavier go to the dance with Claire.

Xavier later came to Simon and Nicole and told them he thought Claire was playing him. Despite this, Simon said he had to go through with it because he owed Maddie.

Simon went to Sandra, who showed him an essay Maddie had written for her college application. She didn't want Maddie to miss a deadline, but Simon told her Maddie had already turned it in. They both applied early decision. Sandra was still convinced that Maddie was coming home and asked if Simon would let her know if Maddie reached out to him. He promised her he would. While at Sandra's, he borrowed a picture of Maddie, which he set up at the dance to try to guilt Claire into confessing.

When Maddie arrived, Simon showed her that he'd copied Charley's letter for Mr. Figueroa as requested.She told him to pretend he found it in an old library book, which he did.

Xavier came back and told Simon that Claire didn't hurt Maddie. They paid Maddie off because they thought she took the video, but then they couldn't get into Maddie's phone, so they destroyed it.

As the dance wound down, Simon found Maddie and they overheard as Principal Hartman told Mr. Figueroa that the police had detained Mr. South in connection with a possible murder weapon they'd found.

### Suspecting Nicole

Simon told Nicole he didn't believe that Mr. South hurt Maddie because he couldn't even kill an ant. He also looked at Nicole's portfolio, which was heavily focused on Maddie. When he commented on it, she got defensive, but he told her to stop doubting herself and be proud of her work.

Claire joined their investigation and suggested they go to the sheriff's station to see what evidence, if any, the police had on Mr. South. Simon and Xavier agreed to go with her, while Nicole remained at school.

Simon had an interview with Zeva, a Northwestern alum, about his application, but he struggled to answer her questions because it was his dream to go to Northwestern with Maddie and that couldn't happen anymore. Zeva ended the interview early and Simon left.

Simon went outside, where Claire had broken her own car window as an excuse to file a police report to distract Sheriff Baxter while Xavier and Simon looked at the evidence. They got into the evidence locker, where they found a box of evidence in Maddie's case. Simon looked at the picture of the boot print Nicole had found in the woods and realized it wasn't Maddie's after all because it had a Doc Martin print and Maddie's were knock-offs.

They went back to school, where Maddie stopped Simon at the bus stop. She asked him why he left the interview and he explained that wasn't the same without her. He also told her about the boot print and how it made him suspect Nicole. He was worried that them teasing Nicole in the past might have bred resentment. This suspicious increased when Xavier and Claire found a calendar that showed that only the cheerleaders and the AV crew were at the school when the video of Claire and Mr. Anderson was shot and Claire was sure Nicole had been there.

After taking a quiz in Ms. Fields' class, Simon talked to her. She said she didn't believe that Mr. South had hurt Maddie and hoped they found out soon who had. Once Ms. Fields left her room, Simon talked to Maddie in there and told her he believed that Nicole had recorded the video and used it to blackmail Mr. Anderson, using his number from Maddie's phone. He also expressed sadness that solving her murder would probably lead to her crossing over.

Simon found Nicole in the AV lab deleting the video. He confronted her about blackmailing Mr. Anderson and she said she'd done it to have the money to go to Chicago with them, so they could stay together. Neither of the art schools she applied to would give her a scholarship and she couldn't afford to go without one. Simon then asked Nicole where the money was, as they could turn it into the police and they'd realize Mr. South didn't have it. This would lead them closer to figuring out what happened to Maddie.

Nicole led Simon out into the woods by the school, but when she dug the hole, the money was gone. He asked if someone had followed her out there when she buried it and she said she'd only buried it the night of the dance and she'd come straight from Sandra's. Simon asked if Sandra had followed her there and she questioned why Sandra would do that. They heard someone coming toward them in the woods, so Simon went to chase after them.

### Maddie's Award

Simon searched Maddie's house on Maddie's instruction, looking for the money, which she believed Sandra had taken. Instead, he found Maddie's necklace, which she was wearing the last time he saw her alive, but which wasn't with her when she died. Maddie told him to get her mother to the school, as she could always tell when her mother was lying. When Simon learned Maddie was receiving the fall English award, he suggested that Sandra accept it on Maddie's behalf to get her to the school. He brought her into a classroom where Maddie was waiting. He asked her about the necklace and why she lied about seeing Maddie the day she disappeared. Sandra admitted she lied because she was ashamed of what she'd done that day. Maddie suddenly remembered that she and her mom had fought about her mom using her college fund to buy a cabin from a guy she'd met in rehab. She threw the necklace at her mom and her mom took it and left.

Simon then went to the award ceremony with Sandra. After the ceremony, he got a text from Nicole with a video showing Maddie driving Xavier's truck. He took it to Maddie and showed it to her, saying he thought maybe she was something his brain concocted to put off the grief of losing her. She tried to stop him from leaving, but he ignored her and left the school grounds.

## Relationships

### Friendships

He and Maddie Nears are best friends. He says he's known her longer than almost everyone else. They share a love of horror movies.

## Notes and Trivia

* He read "Crime and Punishment" in a weekend.
* He once wrote a fan letter to Guillermo Del Toro and got a response.
* He has a podcast on which he interviewed the person who designed Freddy Krueger's face.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 My So-Called Death
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Ghoul Intentions
3. ↑ The Fault of Our Scars
4. ↑ Dead and Confused
5. ↑ The Twilight End Zone
6. ↑ Grave the Last Dance
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 Séance Anything
8. ↑ Madison's Body