Slenderman

Chapter 8

   “Mr. Harbord.”
I blinked and raised my head. My teacher was looking at me with a frown. “My class isn't here for naps--it's to learn.”
“Sorry ma'am,” I told her, my cheeks burning in embarrassment as I felt all the stares slide onto me. Beside me, Adam snickered. 
Shut up, I mouthed, smiling. 
As we walked to our next class, Adam shot me a concerned look. 
“What?” I asked.
“Are you doing good, bro? You've got rings around your eyes and you're always wearing your hood up--if something's wrong, you can talk to me. I won't laugh too hard anyways.”
“I'm fine,” I mumbled. I didn't know what to tell Adam–that some figment of my imagination was haunting my family? That we were all going through some Nightmare on Elm Street shit? I wouldn't blame him for laughing– I'd probably join him.
I sighed. Maybe I needed to do more research on this.

*******

I scrolled through some info at home on my computer. According to one site, nightmares about one specific person could mean that it was soneone I once knew, but they morphed into something dark for me. Of course, my mind immediately thought of my father. But that didn't feel right. He didn't remind me of my father at all.
I rubbed my eyes and groaned. I didn't know what to do. If my family was affected by him, that meant he had to real– to an extent. 
I paused and then looked up Tall man no face business suit.
This time I got exactly what I was looking for– which was weird since I tried this several times before but nothing useful popped up. After visiting some sites, I felt like I had at least an idea on who this guy was.
The Internet called him Slenderman. He was some quasi-entity that stole children who wandered into the woods. Two years ago, a pair of twelve year old girls stabbed their friend, pinning the blame on him. They were both sent to the psychiatric hospital and the girl who got stabbed survived miraculously. 
I felt the hairs on my neck prickle when I read about a college kid's experience told by his parents before he had disappeared two months ago– “No sleep for a week straight…he looked terrible. He kept saying to me that the man with no eyes was searching for him…” The mother had said. “He kept having these nightmares and we were told to give him pills to sleep…it didn't help.” 
I clicked on a photo of a young Asian man who had a thin sickly face, dull eyes and horrendous brown rings around his eyes. The caption read Last photo of Mark Yin.
I sat back, my mind overwhelmed at all of this. I knew now that this thing was real. Sort of. 
We had to be careful from now on, I realized with a shiver.

*******

On Saturday,  Hazel ran up to me while I was playing video games with Leo. 
“Cassie, can we go to the park? I wanna feed the duckies!”
“Hmmm…I don't know…” I said teasingly.
“Pleeeeeeaaaasssse?” she asked, blinking her eyes. 
I sighed. “Oh-kay, fiiiiine.”
“Yaaayy!”
“But you gotta come with us too, Leo,” I said.
“What? No, I don't want to!” he protested.
“Hey– James is coming too,” I told him. “Come on.”
He groaned as he stood up.
“Cassie, can you get the duckie food?” Hazel asked me as she started getting her shoes on.
I grabbed the small bag of duck feed from the closet. James helped Cassie with her coat. Leo put on his headphones and didn't say a word the entire walk to the park.
I kept glancing around for any signs of that man, but so far nothing was happening. At the park, we all headed to the pond, where the ducks had gathered, sleeping.
Hazel giggled as she ran right to the edge of the dock. “Wake up duckies!” she yelled, startling a couple ducks who quacked in complaint. “Wake up! We have food for you!”
James and I started laughing as I pulled out the duck food.
“Hazel, come here,” I told her. “Hold out your hand.” I poured some food into her palms. “Okay, now go toss it in the water by the ducks.”
She nodded eagerly before running back to the edge. 
As I watched, I heard Leo sigh. I turned. Leo was walking away.
“Hey, where are you going?” I asked.
“For a walk,” he called back angrily. 
I watched him go, torn. I didn't want to wreck Hazel's fun, but we needed to stay together. 
I growled. Why did Leo always have to do shit like this? Couldn't he think of others for once?
“Fine,” I said. “But don't go too far, okay?”
He had already put his headphones back on, so he didn't reply back.
I rolled my eyes before going back to Hazel and James. 
What was I gonna do with him?