A/N: This Slender Short is dedicated to mothers everywhere, whether here on earth or watching over from beyond. You are all appreciated and loved.
Lily's phone buzzes, but she makes no effort to reach over and grab it off the night stand. Hugging the pillow to her chest and picking at the corner of it, she stares at the ceiling. Part of her feels bad not answering her friends...but in all honesty, she just wants to be left alone. She knows she shouldn't feel that way, that her friends are always there for her - but how could they possibly know what she's going through? They're too busy getting ready for Mother's Day to even bother with her problems.
When her phone buzzes for the hundredth time this past hour, she sets aside her pillow, rises from her bed, and steps into a pair of Bearclaws. They're not the best shoes for taking a walk through the forest, but they're warm and comfy and she really doesn't want to search for her tennis shoes and make the effort of putting them on and lacing them up. Grabbing her sweater off the bedframe, she shuffles out of her bedroom and down the stairs. Hearing dim shouting and cheering coming from the other room, she figures her dad fell asleep watching sports.
She heads for the back door as silently as she can, feeling guilty for not telling her dad what she's doing or where she's going, but at the same time not caring. Shutting the door softly behind her, she wraps her sweater tighter around her as the wind picks up and makes her way across the backyard to the forest beyond. Hopefully, a walk through the woods will help clear her mind, get things off her chest, like how she and her mom used to walk around the park and talk -
No. She shakes her head. Don't think about Mom. But her lip trembles and she blinks rapidly. Keeping her gaze down, she focuses on the tree roots, rocks, and occasional fallen limb to make sure she doesn't trip and hurt herself. No one would be around to help her if she did get hurt - she sniffs and hugs herself tighter, pressing on into the woods. Involuntarily, she remembers how her mom always had a cure for something, whether a common cold or a broken heart. But how can she heal her aching heart now?
Lily continues this cycle of thinking about her mother, yet wanting not to think about her. She is so caught up in this cycle that it takes her a few minutes to feel the damp chill in the air. Stirred from her thoughts, she glances up to see a fog blurring the trees. "Huh?" She slows to a snail's pace, staring around her and wondering how it could have gotten so foggy. She rounds a tree and sees a bouquet of flowers on the ground. What -
She gasps when someone taps her shoulder and turns around - she gasps again when she looks straight up at the Slender's face (or lack thereof). "God, James, don't scare me like that!" she says.
"Sorry to startle you," the famous Slender Man says, "but I was just wondering what you're doing out here all alone. Usually I see you with friends."
"Oh." She hangs her head and mumbles, "I just wanted to go for a walk." She bites her lip and lets her honey-blonde curls fall in her face.
But James knows when someone is upset. "Lily, I'm really sorry I scared you." He wraps his long, thin arms around her. "Believe me, I never want any of you to think I'm out to get you."
"It's not that," Lily says, her voice muffled as she talks into his jacket. She returns the hug, but soon lets her arms drop, her head still down.
"Then what's wrong?"
No matter how hard she tries, tears escape and trail down her cheeks. Sliding down a tree trunk until she is curled up at the base, she buries her face in her arms and sobs. Her heart thumps when she feels a cold hand on her shoulder as James joins next to her. She sniffs, expecting him to ask why she is crying and if there is anything he can do. But after sitting in silence for a few minutes, she realizes he is not going to talk. Sniffing a couple more times and swallowing a lump in her throat, she glances up at him through strands of hair in her face. "Why are you here?" she asks, her voice heavy.
His black face turns upon her, his hand still on her shoulder. "Why am I here in the forest, or why am I here with you?"
"I dunno. Both?" Lily turns her gaze back to the ground.
"Well," James says, patting her shoulder once before removing his hand, "I figured something big must be on your mind, and I didn't want you to feel alone." She squeezes her eyes shut as more tears threaten to fall. "But I originally came here to honor my mother."
"Your mom?" she says, her voice cracking, lifting her gaze to stare at the bush across the way.
"Yes." He stretches his legs out as he leans against the tree. "My mother was killed many years ago by humans."
"Oh, yeah," Lily says, frowning. "Your dad mentioned something about that a couple months ago."
"Yes," James repeats. They sit in silence for a moment before he says, "I actually found out through another clan that she was killed. After that, I would come back to this spot of this forest and just stand in silence, remembering her."
"Why this forest?" Lily is not crying anymore, but her throat still feels thick.
"This was her favorite forest out of all the ones we traveled to." She looks up at James, who seems to be staring off into space. "This was the forest we were in the night I met Charlie. When I first met you four." He turns to her. "My mother might not have trusted the humans, but nothing kept her away from this forest. She said she could put up with some cocky, meddling humans if she could still live here."
Lily does not move or make a sound when James stretches an arm out and brings the bouquet back to them. "She used to have flowers around our dwelling. I remember she used to give my father a different flower for every anniversary, told him to keep it in his breast pocket so she would always be close to his heart."
"Awww." Lily bites her lip again, determined not to become an emotional heap of tears.
"If you want to cry," James says, "you can. I won't judge."
Just hearing that makes her want to cry, and she leans against him as all her sorrows pour out of her. She feels him rubbing and patting her head as he hugs her. "I miss my mom," she moans.
His hand stops. "That's right," he says, dropping his hands. She sniffs and wipes her eyes before looking up at him. "I remember that night. Your father attacked the killer, said that the Mender clan couldn't heal your mother."
Sniff. "This is m-my first Mother's Day w-without my mom."
"What's Mother's Day?" Lily explains the human holiday without looking up at him. "Hmm, it sounds like something Slenders have."
"What's that?"
"It's called Parents' Day. Everyone comes together and honors their mothers and fathers through gifts or words." Pause. "I feel like you're doing that now, remembering and honoring your mother."
"Mmm." Lily glances up at him. "But every year, we used to go out and do something special. Karie would make something cool to give to our mom, and Dad would tease about how he could never draw anything as good." Her gaze falls back down. "It's just gonna be so different now."
They sit there in silence for a while. "Well, if you ever want to talk about it," James says, "I'll listen. I know what it's like losing a mother."
She curls up next to him. "Thanks, James."
"And don't be afraid to cry. It took me a few years before I stopped crying over my mother, but I still miss her every day."
Lily hesitates before saying, "You know, my mom's buried at the cemetery on Aspen Street. I'll probably visit her grave on Mother's Day if you, um, wanted to come pay respects to your mom, too. For Parents' Day?"
"...Sure, I think I'd like that." They sit there, sharing memories of their moms and discussing their plans for the upcoming Sunday, until it gets dark. He offers to teleport her back home.
When they are in her backyard, before heading inside, Lily turns and gives James a big hug. "Thanks for listening," she says, a small, gentle smile on her face.
He returns the gesture. "You're welcome."
Mother's Day came and went. People visited with their families or called them. Others went to the cemetery to leave flowers or flags at the graves of their loved ones. If you visit the cemetery the day after, there is a tombstone near the center of the right fence with twice as many gifts as the other graves. Pages and flowers lie atop the stone. One of the pages is a crude drawing of stick figures depicting two angels watching over a grieving family. Another is a poem about flowers in a forest.
A bouquet of white lilies and amaranths lies atop the third page. If you gently pick up the flowers, you would see a note signed by three people. The note reads, "To Angela Sarah Fitzgerald and Maria Louise Slenderman. Forever in our hearts."
A/N: Wow, I just realized how depressing I made this story. I got so teary-eyed writing this, too. But I wanted to write something for Mother's Day and what it means to those who have lost mothers. I hope you enjoyed reading this.
Happy Mother's Day!
