Slenderman

Chapter 3

I spent my free track in the library, trying to figure out if I was hallucinating or what. I tried looking up that faceless tall man, but there wasn't much to help me with. Just a bunch of Polish and Nordic references to monsters, but none of them looked like him. So I looked up repeating hallucinations about the same people and what it could mean. Nothing much--just some subconscious shit about me possibly knowing him from somewhere else before. But that didn't make any sense because I'm positive I've never seen him before.
When school ended, I grabbed my bag and headed out. I sent Leo a text, reminding him to pick up James at his school before I slipped in my earbuds, listening to The Smashing Pumpkins as I walked to Hazel's school.
She ran out to hug me. "Cassie!" She cried, always so happy to see her big brother.
"Hey, Hazelnut," I said, hugging her back. I waved to her teacher before I started walking away with her. "How was your day?"
"It was awesome!" She told me. "We made Halloween cards and we used buttons and orange and black and purple glitter on them. I drew a biiiiigg pumpkin!"
"Oh wowzers--that sounds crazy!" I said, smiling.
"What're we having for supper tonight?"
"Oh I don't know. What do you want?" I asked.
"Can we have spaghetti, Cassie? With your special tomato sauce? Pleeeeeaaaasssee?" She asked me, jumping up and down.
I ran a mental list through my head, trying to remember what ingredients we had. I'm pretty sure we had everything we needed though. "Okay, fiiiiine," I said, rolling my eyes playfully.
"Yayyyy! Thank you, Cassie!"
When we got home, Leo was in his while James was in the living room, doing his homework.
I dumped my bag and Hazel ran over to sit beside James. She and him talked while I headed to the bathroom for a shower.
I got supper started shortly after. I put a pot of water on for the noodles, while I started frying onions for the sauce.
Leo came out of his room and turned on the TV. Hazel went outside to play with the neighbor's kid and James offered to go with her.
Mom came home about an hour later, just when supper finished. Pepper barked and ran to greet her when she stepped in the door.
"Hey guys!" she called to us. "Something smells good!"
Leo and I both went to greet her. She kissed our cheeks as she set her keys and purse on the hooks by the door.
"Hey boys," she said. "Where's Hazel?" She asked me.
"She went to play with Anna--James is with her," I said as I walked to the kitchen and started dishing out food.
She nodded as she walked in the kitchen. "Ooh, pasta!"
"Hazel requested it," I told her.
"Mommy's home!" Hazel came running in. "Hi Mommy!"
"Hey, Mom," James said as he followed her.
"Hey James! Hazelnut, how was your day?" Mom asked.
"It was awesome! We made Halloween cards today in school and I used buttons for the eyes of the pumpkin I drew!" She told her excitedly. "And Cassie's making spaghetti! I love spaghetti!"
Mom laughed. Hazel's excitement was just too contagious. "Wow! I know--I'm excited for supper too. How about we wash up then?"
"Yeah!" Hazel ran off to the bathroom.
James and Leo sat at the table and I set their plates in front of them as Mom and Hazel came back.
Supper went pretty well--there wasn't usually a whole lot of chatter except for Mom telling us about her job. She was an ER doctor, so she worked long hours and her shifts were always changing. James wanted to be a doctor, so he was the one who listened best to her.
"Hazel, you need to keep your food on your plate, honey," our mom said. "You're making a mess."
"Sorry," Hazel said. Noodles slipped off her fork and fell to the floor where Pepper ate them. Our mother sighed.
After supper, I found myself in my room, listening to more classic rock blaring from my speaker as I struggled through my math assignment. I just wasn't getting it. I groaned in frustration--how was I supposed to graduate this spring if I couldn't figure this out?
I finally gave up and just decided to play Black Ops on my computer.
I got interrupted by a knock on the door. I spun around. "Yeah?" I called out.
James opened the door and walked in. "Hey James," I smiled. "What's up?"
"I need help with my math--we're doing pre-algebra and I don't get it."
"Uhhh..." I paused. Pre-algebra was horrible for me back in eighth grade. How was I supposed to help him if I barely understood it back then? "Did you talk to Leo? He's a bit at this than me."
"He said to talk to you," James said in a flat tone.
Of course. I sighed internally. "Okay, fine. What's stumping you?"