A/N: okay next chapter is where things will start to pick up a bit. any ideas or input are welcome. also i love your name, FishCustard. :)

"let me be robbed of my faith in private."

-unknown

…

This would not be the first time she would try and explain the Slenderman to anybody. Her Aunt Sharon was only the beginning. The look on her aunt's face when she described him made her question a few things though. Was he scary? She didn't think so. Not really at least. He had looked strange at first but when the tentacles disappeared and he lowered his height by a few feet and had started to look like he was going to help her, Amelia knew right away that she was not afraid of him. The only thing that terrified her right now was the crack in her wall.

But should it terrify her as well that her strange new friend had left her alone to deal with the possible monster behind the crack in her wall? Maybe he didn't mean to. He had said he was going to travel across the world to find out what could be behind the crack. That would take more than five minutes. But why had he promised her five minutes?

She was still going to hold out hope that he might return today. Perhaps he had gotten stuck somewhere or lost his way to her house or an emergency came up for him. However, these were the exact same statements she had told herself when her parents never came back in five minutes.

Amelia gave up on trying to convince her Aunt Sharon on the existence of Slenderman for today. Maybe if she drew a picture of him and showed it to her... She was about to go back upstairs to start drawing when she heard a knock on the door. Amelia couldn't help the smile on her face and the brief burst of excitement that made her rush to the door to open it.

Where she had hoped to see a tall dark man with a pale blank face stood a short dorky looking friend named Rory. She used the word 'friend' lightly in this case. She only ever hung out with Rory when her other friend, Mels, insisted on him joining them.

"Oh. Hey Rory." Amelia's excitement deflated at the appearance of Mels' friend instead of her new one.

"Hi Amelia. Mels wants to go to park today. Do you want to come?" She was about to say no just in case Slenderman might show today still but decided against it. She could show them a quick drawing of Slenderman and even start telling them about him.

"Sure. Give me a moment." Amelia raced upstairs to her bedroom and took out a piece of paper with a black marker. She didn't bother too much with details, just a general sketch with some trees off to the side as the background. After she finished the drawing, Amelia put on her coat and rain boots that were lying on a nearby chair...almost like someone put them there for her. She dismissed the thought and went back to Rory where he patiently stood waiting for her.

After Rory and Amelia got to the park where Mels was waiting, Amelia wasted no time telling her friends about Slenderman. Their reactions were more promising than her Aunt Sharon's but the small hint that she got that they didn't quite believe her disheartened her.

They asked her lots of questions, some she didn't have answers to for she never got the chance to ask Slenderman them. Why did he have tentacles, how can he teleport, why does he wear a suit, how can he change his height, why did he eat the fish fingers and custard, was he an alien or a demon, why doesn't he have a face, and the biggest question of them all...why didn't he come back in five minutes...

When Mels and Rory noticed her reaction to the last one, they stopped asking questions and tried to lead her to the swing set to help get her mind off of the Slenderman. But this experience she had with the mysterious tall man wasn't something she was going to forget so easily.

Amelia followed her friends to the swings when she thought she saw something out of the corner of her eye. As she did a double take, she saw the figure more clearly. Tall, dark, with colourful spots decorating its suit. When she was about to draw her friends attention to the sight, it disappeared as suddenly as it appeared. She knew it wasn't Slenderman but it bared a strong resemblance to him. Amelia made a note to draw him too later on when she would get home.

After a long day of hanging out with her friends at the park, Amelia finally started on her drawings and pictures. There were a few of Slenderman standing alone in her garden but they mostly depicted the two of them together.

Amelia decided to keep the suitcase packed and ready and set it in the corner for when...or if Slenderman would return. She started to hang up a few of the pictures she drew, hoping to show them to him if he came back. If. No, when he came back.

Over the years Amelia would begin to say more 'ifs' and less 'whens' as she began to count how many times five minutes have passed every hour until one day that number became too high for her to remember.