When she heard the tv turn on, Hope went to look at Sarah's drawing again. She found her mother doing the same.

"He's so…"

"Thin? Tall? Skinny? Slender?"

"Slender. A slender man."

"Better than No-name." Her mom shrugged and set the dirty dishes in the dishwasher.

"Sarah, who's this next to your new friend in the picture?"

"Me." Her tone implied that this should have been obvious.

"Would it be ok if we gave him a nickname?"

"Sure."

"We're gonna call him Slender man."

The night went normally, with Sarah begging to stay up late to be with Hope. Being the older sister got really annoying sometimes. She went to bed, though. Hope watched a few game shows with her mom before heading to bed herself.

Hope woke the next day and got ready blearily. She was fully dressed and eating cereal when Sarah skipped down the stairs in her nightie. "I get to go to Ashley's house." She sang.

"Have fun." Hope looked forward to her sister's playdates, it meant plenty of alone time. She usually spent it napping, to catch up the sleep she lost from waking early- even during vacations. Her mom was running errands all day, so once they left, she had the house to herself. Basking in the rare quiet, Hope turned on the radio softly and lay on the couch.

She jumped up when she heard a child's giggle. "Sarah?" Had they gotten back from her playdate already? She had barely slept. She peeked out the window. No car in the driveway. Just as she was pulling the shade closed, she saw something. Quickly reopening it to check, there was nothing there. She chuckled to herself. "I really do need sleep, I'm seeing things." But she had seen something. Something that scared her too much to sleep. She knew Sarah's Slender man was just pretend, but she swore she had seen a tall thin man in a business suit lurking in the forest across the street. Hope rubbed her arms. The radio was playing static, so she turned it off. Unable to continue her nap, she checked her email, but it took forever to load and the mouse wasn't doing what she told it to. Frustrated, she gave up. She would tell her mom about it later.