"Girls come on. Dinner's ready!" Eliza's mother called. My stomach growled, reminding me of my hunger. Eliza and Ray didn't seem to feel the same because they still sat in front of the TV while I had stood up. "Hey, let's eat something", I suggested. At the same time a game over screen flashed over the screen. Both my friends groaned in annoyance. "This is so hard", Ray complained. Yeah, of course it was. They played on the highest difficulty after all. I wanted to say it but thought it would be for the best if I didn't provoke them.

But Eliza's mother didn't care about that. "Maybe you should go on easy mode." "Mum, I'm not a child", she replied. I chuckled. Before I was able to reply, Ray said what was on my mind. "But you certainly behave like one from time to time." For a moment, everything was silent. It was broken when Eliza responded with "Touché".

After Eliza's mother repeated that dinner was ready, my friends stood up. Together we went into the kitchen and sat on the table. "It's your favorite. Grilled chicken salad with sesame seeds." Without further hesitation, Eliza filled up her plate with food. I wondered where all the food even went. No one would expect some stick like Eliza to eat so much. But hey, her mother was happy with it. At the thought, I frowned.

Neither of my friends paid attention to that. They already knew what was on my mind, but they didn't care.

Like expected, Eliza was done in a matter of minutes and took another portion. "Be careful or your stomach will burst", Ray said. This awoke a memory in my head. "You mean like the thing burst out of the guy's stomach in Alien?" I rolled my eyes. Only my friends would talk about disgusting stuff like that while eating. "Girls, talk about it after dinner." It wasn't that I would throw up while thinking about this, it was just the fact that my father taught me to not mention such things at lunch, dinner or breakfast.

Before long, dinner was over. I helped Eliza's mom with the dishes even though I didn't need to. "Sascha? We're in the living room. It's your turn to play." Before I had the chance to answer, Eliza's mother took the dishes out of my hands and told me to go play with them. It always surprised me how lenient she was. Not that my father was strict or anything. He just wanted me to take responsibility so I would be ready for my life. I mean, I'd graduate next year and when I was at college, I had to do things on my own.

I walked to the living room. Ray threw the controller in my direction. "Your turn." "Yeah, okay. Lemme sit down though." I plopped on the couch and started the game. It was some old horror game from Eliza's older sister, so the graphic wasn't really all that great. But hey, we weren't at Mr. Fancygraphics. What counted, was the atmosphere of the game.

Ray and Eliza watched me go through a long hallway. My in-game character turned around to see something behind them. It came closer. I didn't hesitate and moved the joystick. The character ran away from whatever chased after them. Seeing the wall in front of me I realized, there was no way out. The only way to escape was through the window. It was either jump and probably injure me or die a horrible death. I pressed the right buttons and crashed through the window. The sound design made me cringe when I hit the ground. But there was no time to waste, so I continued to run. Suddenly, everything went black. Not just in-game. The whole house was dark.

"Seems like there is a power outage. I'll look", Eliza's mom yelled from the kitchen.

Ray took out her phone and turned on the flashlight. "Oh, you were so close", she said. Instead of raging like those Youtubers did, I just let the controller fall. A sigh made its way past my lips. "It's not bad. I can always try again." Eliza chuckled. I looked at her. The light from the room illuminated her face. Her dark eyes shone with some emotion I wasn't able to identify. "This reminds me of the first time we played THIS game." "I thought the same thing", Ray exclaimed. Indeed, this awoke memories. It had been a year ago.

"If I remember correctly, I was the only one who got through." This didn't mean I hadn't been on edge the whole time I played it. The static noise still appeared in my dreams. "Yeah. I still don't get how you were able to find all the pages." "Doesn't matter. I still died at the end." We talked about an indie game that had much static at the screen when they died. I had to say, it was a nice concept. Even if you found all the pages, you died.

A short moment of silence passed before Ray asked a question, I had heard quite often from her. "Do you think he and those other urban legends exist?" Instead of an answer, Eliza laughed. She said that they weren't true. Those stories had just been posted to creep out people. "But did you know that there are many myths that talk about a faceless man?" This made me think. It seemed unlikely that so many different peoples had legends about such a creature. But I thought it was because humans had a fear of people without a face.

Eliza said the same thing. "If you want proof we can go outside right now and try to summon him." The incredulous look on Ray's face made me laugh. "That is a stupid idea. When we see him, we're dead." I asked her why she talked about this creature as if they really existed. If they really did, then why weren't there more articles and deaths because of him.

The lights went on again and so did the TV. "Maybe because he's discreet about it. I mean, have you forgotten the incident last month?" Both Eliza and I knew what she meant. Eliza tried to reason with Ray that those girls were mentally unstable and crazy. I recalled a news report where it was stated that those children wholeheartedly believed in this cryptid. "They are indeed crazy. Even if he was real, who would want to be a mindless puppet of him?" This was the best thing my mind could produce at the moment. Hopefully, it would calm Ray down.

She had always been the type to believe in this stuff.

While Ray and Eliza argued, I took out my phone. My father still hadn't texted me back. Even though I had sent him my message two days ago. Maybe he was just really busy. After all, he worked full-time in a hospital. I couldn't help but worry though. Should I call him? A try couldn't hurt.

But no one picked up. I decided to at least leave a message for him to call me back. He had seemed rather uneasy when I told him I wanted to spend the summer over at Eliza's family summer house. Maybe I should have stayed home. Immediately I shook my head. My father was an adult. There was nothing he couldn't handle. He had worked through so many hardships. It couldn't be that bad.

"Sascha?" I jerked up which nearly caused my phone to fly across the room. Looking at my friends I realized they had finished their argument. "You've spaced out. Is something wrong?" For a moment I thought about how I should tell them. In the end I decided to be straightforward. "It's just my father. I'm worried." "You mean he still hasn't answered your text?" Again, I shook my head. Ray and Eliza looked at each other before turning their attention back to me. "If you want to, I can ask mum to drive you home tomorrow." "No. That is a five-hour drive, and I don't want your mother to drive me home and then back."

Eliza's mother entered the room. "So, the power's on again." Eliza stared at me. It took me a minute to realize what she wanted from me. I shook my head. She sighed. "Is something wrong?" "Nah, we just talked about Ray's fear of the Slenderman", Eliza replied. Indignation clearly showed on Ray's face. "Excuse me? I'm not scared. Just wary." This turned out to be another argument. Since I didn't want to listen to their ramblings, I interrupted them. "Everyone has something they are afraid of. Some have more irrational fears than others. Don't judge her."

As soon as I finished, a yawn escaped my lips. Just now I realized how tired I was. Both Eliza and her mother suggested, I should go to bed. Yeah, I probably should. After all, I had been awake for quite a while.

So, I stood up and made my way upstairs. "Good night Sascha." "Night."

When I entered the room, I had called my own for the past three weeks, I walked straight to my bed. I let myself fall. The mattress creaked under the sudden impact. I pulled the blanket over my head and closed my eyes. Soon enough I felt how my consciousness faded.