"What are stars, Sammy?"

The two youngest children turned to her as she sat between them, an arm under their heads. She was their pillow as they cuddled close to her. She was smiling as she stared up at the bright lights that twinkled in the sky. It was completely dark except for the silvery moon and the stars.

"It depends on who you ask. To me, stars are lights guiding me down a path. I see their beauty, and then I look at you two. Even with their beauty, you two blind me even more than their bright lights ever will. Others, though, look at them and see giant balls of gas, much like Josh over here is."

"Hey!" But they all laughed. They smiled as the stared up at the stars. They loved these nights when Sammy held them tight on the roof, keeping them from sliding off just so they could look at the stars. The beautiful stars.

"I want to be like a star." Sally smiled her childish smile at Sammy.

"But you already are," Sammy kissed the young girl on the forehead. "Now come on inside, it's time for bed."

~Slenderman's POV~

"Are you sure?" I began rereading the file again, just to be sure. Funny how things like this always happens. As soon as everybody is healed up and ready to go, somebody new wants to kill us again. Not that we would have much trouble defending ourselves. Humans are weak...but, then again, it wasn't humans attacking this time.

"Yes sir." Masky stood there, his eyes darting around the room from behind his mask. He was antsy because he just found out we could all die.

"Go get Sandra, I want to talk to her."

"Yes sir."

~Sam's POV~

I stood across the desk from Slenderman as he finished telling me the latest problem.

"I see...and what is it you think I can do about it?"

"Think about it this way: Masky and Hoodie are famous from those blasted videos. EJ has no eyes. LJ and I are obviously not human. Toby is a wanted criminal, and so is Jeffery. Ben is a computer virus, he doesn't last long away from computer or his game."

"Yes, but isn't this dangerous? I mean, I'm not very well trained. If something goes wrong, there won't be anyone to care for Joshua when I'm gone."

"Sandra, I promise you we will care for the boy if you don't return."

"Fine. What do you want me to do? You want me to be a spy or assassin."

"Spying for now. We'll give you a small device you can hide on your cane so that Ben can track you and come to your aid if needed."

I let out a loud and over exaggerated sigh as he began shuffling around one of his cabinets. He came back empty handed then told me to go pack only what was absolutely necessary. We would have a meeting later to go over the exact plan.

As I entered the room, Joshua was coming out of the bathroom.

"Hi! What's going on?" He asked as I pulled my backpack out from under the bunk beds. I turned and smiled at him.

"Nothing bud, just packing for a short trip to help out the others."

"Will you be here for the tea party tomorrow? Sally will be sad if you aren't."

"You two will be fine."

"Tea parties aren't fun without you."

I smiled sadly as I slowly walked over and knelt to be face to face with him. "You're really short, you know that?"

He burst into a strange tearful laughter and wrapped his arms around me. I hugged him close then stood and spun around with him. "Don't forget to come back to me, sister."

"You'll never be alone, Josh. Even when I'm not around, Ben plays video games with you and Sally loves the tea parties. LJ treats you like a little brother and Hoodie treats you like a son. You'll never be alone, even if I don't return."

"Don't talk like that! I won't be happy if you leave me behind! I'll never forgive you if you leave, even if it was because you died and had no choice!"

"You'll never understand, Joshua. Everybody moves on one day. Everybody leaves, even if you beg them not to."

The door swung open then and Sally ran in, followed by LJ. Sally saw we were hugging and joined in. LJ followed suit, wrapping his long arms around all of us. Joshua left with them after only a moment's hesitation, leaving me alone to pack. I pulled my journal out from under my pillow and unlocked it with the key on my necklace.

I wrote my last entry on that page, then locked it up and hid it once again.