I woke up on the couch. The tall man sitting next to me. He seemed to be staring at me, but who could tell with his blurry face. I had to remember when these meds wore off never to take them again. I didn't want to move. My arms and legs were jittery and my heart thumping wildly like I was a rabbit staring at a fox. Something told me staying completely still was the right move.

He placed his hand on my leg. It was cool and held a vibration all its own. I could feel the tiny thrum running up my leg. He began squeezing. I imagined purple splotches growing under his hand. My eyes looked to my leg and I saw black veins appear and begin crawling upwards. Positive I was still suffering from drug hallucination I started to shake.

The urge to stay still left and I kicked my leg as hard as I could outward hitting him square in the jaw. Before I knew anything he was over my head, arms ablaze in furious movement, blank unfocused face above mine. I could feel anger coming off him in waves. I screamed. And he was gone.

I took the opportunity to get off the couch.  I wanted to do the one legged hop all the way to the next city but I knew I was being ridiculous. It was all a figment of my awesome imagination. I just needed to focus and get myself together. The doorbell rang and I groaned. Didn't people get that I was injured?!

By the time I limped to the door who we it was had long gone. But a package delivery of flowers stood on the porch!  My girls cared!!!  I picked it up carefully and put it on the kitchen cupboard. Ripping off the paper I found a case of roses. Wilted, dying, and it's leaves brown and crumpled. So sweet. But what a bummer they ordered from a cheapskate florist. I'd have to complain. There was no card and the water in the case was murky brown.

I replaced the water and sat the bouquet on the table. It's the thought that counts and whoever sent it meant well. When I found out who it was though, I'd make sure they told me which florist they used. How embarrassing to be responsible for giving half dead flowers to a lover or a new mom! 

My eyes wandered back to the couch. I was beat and it was calling my name. As I thought about making the long treck over there, my phone dinged. Mariah had sent me a text!!

How's your foot?  Ashley not here today. Jessie nowhere 2B found. How you holding up? 

I answered immediately. Thankful for the distraction.

I'm good. Had surgery. Lonely. No word here on anyone. Ugh.

As I wobbled back to the couch I decided to turn on the television. Soap operas were playing the same old stories from 1970. How many times can you find out your dad is your uncle and your sister is sleeping with your boyfriend but having your cousins baby. Geesh.

Something in my mind kept calling me back to Betty the nurse and her warnings of death. I searched up shadow man with arms. 11,246 sites popped up!  Everything from killer to romantic and drawings to boot. He was freaking famous!!!  I shared a vision with a huge following of people. This was insane!!!

As I read the crazy creepy articles I began to wonder just what these nutball's smoked before publishing. One article said that Slenderman ate their family dog and murdered the mother with its collar. Hahaha.  That's one way to get out of a murder wrap. Blame an imaginary character and end up in the padded room talking in the pillow circle!!!

I giggled as I thought about how far people go to be famous. Aliens and potatoes that look like Washington.  It's a sad world when people need attention that bad. At least I know when I'm being duped by my own brain. I tried to watch a rom com and ended up drifting back off.

When I woke up I heard clambering on the porch. At this point I didn't care if it was the mailman, ups man or a traveling band of gypsies, I was desperate for conversation. I opened the door to find Ashley and Mariah standing there holding a bag of chips. I screamed and ushered them in.

There was a slamming thud sound from the kitchen and I turned quickly to see what it was and tripped on my foot bandages. Mariah and Ashley helped me up and ushered me back into the kitchen and onto a chair. Laying in perfect alignment from largest to smallest was every knife from the butcher block. Center table, as if someone was about to make perfectly filet's roast beef carvings. 

"Creepy! Why do you have all the knives out? And with you walking like a drunk girl in heels!! Are you trying to get yourself killed?"

I started at Ashley blankly. What was there to say?  I didn't even remember getting the knives out.  I answered the best way I knew how, with a diversion.

"Grab the soda, open those chips and give me some gossip!  I'm dying of boredom here!!"

I wanted to hear about Jessie, school, And most of all, if everyone knew I had surgery and who was feeling sorry for me.

Mariah guzzled some Diet Coke and grabbed a handful of chips and proceeded to talk while chewing them. "You won't believe this, Jessie never showed up at home and the search of the park came up empty!!! She's on the lamb! Oh, and Ellington is missing too. It's like a movie of the week out there!  But the biggest news is that Ashley's mom went psycho!"

Ashely looked at the floor. Her face pink and tears in her eyes threatened to spill over. I grabbed her in a bear hug. "What happened?"

"She went to bed fine. This morning she started screaming about windmill arms and people in the closet. And.......you. She was screaming and carrying a bat around and my dad had to call 911. They had to tranquilizer her."

Ashley's tears ran down her cheeks in a cascade of glittery wetness. My tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth and the chips refused to make it to my stomach. Why was this happening?  Did our town drug the water supply?  We're we being experimented on?!?

I grabbed Ashley's hand and gave it a tight squeeze. "It will be alright Ash, she's a tough lady."

Somehow I wondered if it would. Maybe I needed to talk to my tree man after all. My leg still felt the burn of my vision and I knew what I needed to do.

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Can Lemon satisfy slendy enough to calm his jets? Or will there be a showdown?  Stay tuned and find out.  Thanks for hanging with me and Lemon and have a slendy day. Umm, super day. Yeah, super. Haha