AN: Aaaaaaand welcome back! Another poem from the poetry corner :)

Thank you to those who read,

This story with slow update speed.

I don't own you-know-who,

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And now, you may finally proceed.

Chapter 13

Turns out Heather never told me. After she smirked, we stayed silent, watching the flame of the candle waver. It was me who first noticed the continuing drops in temperature until the point we were both shivering of the cold. We both don't have sweaters, and our breaths appear as puffs in the air, so it's not very comfortable to say the least. When I peeked out a little crack, I could tell it was night already, and I see a glimmering star. Heather shifted, yawned, and then stretched. She then faced towards me.

"I guess we have to go, right?" Heather asks, "It's already dark out."

"I guess. I know the way back."

"Are you sure? We better not get lost."

"Not really."

"C'mon, Andrea! I thought you knew this place well enough."

"You were the one who led me here in the first place, you know."

"That was a few years ago. But sure, I'll just follow my instincts! You can trust me."

"Let's hope I can."

We wriggle out the small opening, Heather first. When we finally climb out, I stretch my limbs and hear some bones crack. It's not exactly spacious in there. When I breathe in, there's the smell of pine with the bite of chilly air. Goosebumps line exposed skin on my arms. At least, I'm wearing jeans here. Heather on the other hand, she's wearing a dress. She runs her hands together to generate heat, and rubs it on her arms. She walks up to me and grasps my arm, seeking any kind of warmth to comfort her. She starts making her way to who knows where. I let her drag me, and now we're trudging along. Sleepiness makes my eyelids hang halfway, making me look like I'm in a trance. I focus on Heather's breaths, the ones that come out in little puffs in the frigid atmosphere. The sound of our steps falls in the background, until there's a small change. I glance down to see pavement, and when I look back up, I see the elementary school. She was right all along.

When we get home, I silently thank the fates or whatever it was that the door was unlocked. We sigh at the same time when a current of balmy air reached us. The carpet muffles any sound that might have been made as we ascend to my room on the second floor. Finally there, I plop down on my bed, reveling in the cushiony mattress. When Heather sits on the floor, that's when the thought comes to me that she needs something to sleep on. Like a good hostess, I offer her to sleep on maybes, and I could gather pillows or whatever and sleep on the floor. I'm confident that she would have politely refused, but the truth is, we're too tired to argue right now. She drowsily nods her head and curls up on my bed in a fetal positron, trying to get cozy. I find an old sleeping bag in my closet, stuffed in the back to be forgotten, until now. Seeing that Heather has more pillows than she needs, I snag a few and accommodate them. Ready, I crawl into the sleeping bag. I allow my eyelids to close all the way, and almost right away, I fall into a blissful sleep.

"Beep. Beep. Beep."

I extend my arm to shut off that stupid alarm clock, but I feel like something's directly above me. I open my eyes to see, whoop-de-doo, Heather's wide smile. Her face is staring down at my own, and it takes me a moment to react. When I do, my body responds as if it was shocked by a taser. I jolt awake, letting out a small scream of "shock". That was such a corny pun. Anyways, why did she have to do that?

"Heather, that's not a really nice way of waking someone up. You freaking beeped like an alarm clock!"

"Go to sleep, then."

She has a tiny smile at whatever she said. I don't even know.

"How can I if you just woke me up?"

"Then don't sleep. Today is a new day!"

Heather lifts her chin up and gets in a pose that displays pure determination. I dig handshake my head before getting out of my makeshift bed. When I look at her again, I'm now fully awake to observe that she has my nightgown on. And here I am, still in my clothes from yesterday. I open my closet to look at what I have to put on. Heather peers over my shoulder, scrutinizing the clothes. It must be awfully different from her clothes, because I have a lot of tees, not to mention my jeans that are folded up in my drawers. She probably is looking for a dress, because I can feel her exhaling of disappointment.

"Don't you have any dresses at all?"

"Nope. I don't have any reason to."

"But Andrea, you would look nice in one!"

"That doesn't mean I want to put one on, you know."

"Are there any dresses at all in this style depraved home?"

"Actually, my mom is the one with all of the dresses."

"Oh! Will they fit? God forbid they would be too big."

"What?! Are you calling my mom fat?"

"No, I'm saying she's tall. She could be a model if she wanted to be one."

"She's got all kinds of dresses. But if we're going to get one, we have to sneak past my mom."

"Cue the Mission Impossible theme."

"How can people read my mind so easily? First Slenderman, then you."

"I just know you like that. Besides, Mr. Grumpy Pants has superpowers, so that doesn't count."

"He's not that grumpy."

Heather narrows her eyes as if to say, "C'mon, you're not being serious."

"Fine. Whatever. Let's just get you that dress."

"Lead the way."

I slowly venture out my room to check if my mother isn't in sight. I double check, then gesture for Heather to come closer. Her eyes dart around, being cautious as well. My mother's room is just a few paces away. I jump a bit when I hear the TV downstairs turn on. My shoulders relax when I conclude that my mother is watching it. I turn to Heather to tell her it's alright, and we stride right into the room. When we get there, I go to my mother's much larger wardrobe, and open it. Heather gasps of surprise and what I guess is admiration. Before us stands an impressive collection of dresses. From long to sort, patterned to plain, elegant to casual, she's got them all. Heather gingerly touches a dress, indulging in its smooth texture. She moves to the next, and the one after that, until she starts laughing.

"This is so awesome! Your mom is the best! I mean, look at this! It's all so gorgeous!"

"Not to burst your bubble, but you need to choose one before you get caught."

"But Andrea! Do you even understand the beauty that is demonstrated right here? This is a work of art. You see…"

"I see that we have to hurry up. Just pick one, Heather!"

"You're killing my vibe. Didn't you say that was against the universal rules or something?"

"The Rules Of The Universe. This is an exception, now choose one or I'll get one for you."

"Take a chill pill. Fine, I'll rush myself to make a difficult decision."

Heather looks like she's mulling things over before she settles on a turquoise drop waist dress. I guess she doesn't mind if I look because she changes right in front of me. I still look away to give her privacy. When she's done, she smoothes it down. She searches for something around my mother's room until her eyes land on an object. It's the full-length mirror my mother put in the corner of the room. She marches up to it, and stares at her reflection. A silly smile splits her face before she starts taking poses. She changes her posture for her fake photographers, until her imagination takes the best of her and she starts waving and smiling. I bet she can hear the squeals and the screams of the crowd, cheering her on. I roll my eyes when Heather bows down, receiving the applause from her made up fans. I'm going to be such a hypocrite, since I'm going to wake her up from her daydream. I walk up to her and tap her shoulder. She most likely ignored me because she's still saluting the crowd. I shake her until she looks back at me.

"Andrea! You vibe murderer! Hypocrite."

"Sorry I'm such a party pooper, but let's go to the woods so there will be less chances of my mom finding you."

"I'm hungry."

"Just eat one of your granola bars."

"But I ate them all."

"Are you serious?!"

"My hunger is ferocious and it needs to be fed often."

"I'll just go see if we have any."

"You're a life saver, Andrea!"

"Yeah, yeah."

Heather stays at the top of the staircase while I casually walk down the steps. My mother glances at me, and then returns to whatever she's watching. Is that… the food network? Who knows, maybe she'll take up cooking again. But in the meantime, I'll have to get some food for my secret guest and myself. I open the cupboards and inspect the interior. Lucky for me, or rather Heather, there's a few granola bars piled up in the back. I grab those and after contemplating in my mind, I choose a bag of pretzels to take with me. Satisfied with my selections, I tell my mother that I'm going to spend some time in the woods. She slightly nods without turning away from the screen. I go upstairs and hand the bars to Heather. She thanks me while be both go back to my room. She opens up one of the wrappers right away and chews on the granola bar. I open the bag of pretzels and crunch on those too. I glimpse at my window to see Slenderman hiding in the shadows. He raises his arm slowly and puts a finger over where his mouth would be, gesturing for me to be quiet. Is he trying to scare Heather? He should've known he isn't going to succeed. He teleports directly behind her. He takes out his tentacles, inching closer and closer to her. He's about to attempt to scare her…

"I know you're there. Plus Andrea, you need to work on your poker face."

Thanks a lot Andrea.

"I didn't even do anything!"

"You gave Slendy away."

Slendy?

"Yeah, Slendy. I can call you whatever I want. What does Andrea call you?"

By my actual name.

"But that's boring! Why don't you like it?"

"Well, Heather, it sounds stupid. Why don't you like the name Slenderman?"

"I already told you two, it's boring. How about we settle this with something we can both settle on!"

What about me?

"Hush. Now Andrea, you don't like the name Slendy, so what about Slender?"

"Um, I don't know. It's just, I'm used to calling him Slenderman."

"Whatever. I'm gonna call you Slendy."

I'd rather not. You may call me Slender, but not that.

"You can't stop me, SLENDY."

Oh yes I can-

"You know what, you two? How about we take this to the woods, in the usual place. If there is one. We're in high risk of getting caught by my mom, right?"

"Dang, I get your point. So how about you teleport us, Slendy."

…You're not going to stop with that, aren't you?

"Nope! Now what are ya waiting for, Slendyyyyy?"

Are the fates against me?

With the help of Mr. Sunshine, we magically appeared in the woodland. I hear trickling water nearby, somewhere behind me. Could we be near the river? The one with the Koi? I take Heather's arm and I yank her to the source of the sound, ignoring her objections. I rush to the place I had in mind, now in sight. I tell Heather that we're almost there. Almost where? You see, Heather, we're almost to the location Slenderman took me to when I was broken hearted that one day. And there, in its well-preserved state, is the pristine river with the majestic fish. The Koi still have their bold shade of orange with some scarlet in the mix. Heather softly gasps and extends her arm, like if she wanted to touch the fish herself to fully experience this. They swim away, of course, but her hazel eyes are still gazing at the beauty of this site.

"Do you like it, Heather?"

"Liking it would be an understatement, I really, um, give me a word."

"Love it?"

"No, too overused. C'mon, another one!"

"Admire it?"

"You can say that, but give me a better word. I know that you have a dictionary in that head of yours."

"Maybe, you're enchanted by it."

"YES! Bingo! That's the perfect word! How do you do that, Andrea?"

"Do what?"

"You just pull up words like how I pull up a wedgie!"

"That's a weird comparison."

"Duh, what else would you expect?"

"Heather, you're the exact opposite from the word 'expected' itself."

"And I plan to keep it that way."

Sorry to interrupt, but-

"No you're not," Heather abruptly says.

Excuse me?

"You're excused."

…Whatever, human. Andrea, your mother is looking for you now. I suggest you go to her.

"You suggest her to go to her mom, huh?" Heather scoffs, "Who do you think you are now, her dad?"

And just like that, the atmosphere freezes over, with a chilly silence in the air. Most of it is probably coming from me, though, because Heather was awfully close to crossing the line. She would have if I didn't know her so well. Just the mention of my father makes my muscles tense and my jaw clench. It's not that I hate my father, it's just, well, I'm not really sure. But with what has even going on, the whole situation seems so nerve-wracking. I tilt my head and stare at the ground, with my hands balled up into fists. My fingernails are digging into my palm, but I don't pay attention to that. From the corner of my eye, I can see Heather's face etched up with worry and guilt. Slenderman is also looking at me, but with no telltale features to show me anything. I take a deep breath before I say anything.

"Can you take me to her?"

Yes.

Slenderman teleports me to my backyard, and disappears immediately without a word. Heather is still in the woods, so I guess he went to talk to her. I hear my mother call my name out once, then twice. I see her on the sidewalk down the street, so I speed walk my way there. She sees, and then rushes towards me. One thing jumps out at me. There is mascara running down her cheeks. In the first place, why was she even wearing mascara? Second of all, why is she crying? When she reaches me, she wraps her arms around me for a right hug. I stiffen, not expecting that, but then I loosen up, wanting to feel the feeling of my mother's embrace again. She sobs in my shoulder, sniffling here and there. She lifts her head to look at me.

"Andrea, I'm so sorry. So sorry."

"But mom, what happened?"

"I-I canceled it."

"Canceled what?"

"The appointment."

"You mean…"

"Yes, that one."

"Mom!"

I hug her again, crying myself now.

"Andrea," She says, tilting my head, "Look at me."

I look at her.

"We can do this together, right Andrea?"

"Yeah, mom, we can. We can."

We can do this together.