An unsettling encounter

It was 5:45 pm when Shane finally finished cleaning and tidying up the mess the two of them had made in the kitchen. He hid the freshly baked cookies inside a few random jars and put them on a high shelf, hoping that their parents wouldn't notice them.

But, as he had learned several years prior, luck was never something he had on his side. 

The second he finished hiding the last jar, he heard the sound of the front door open.

"I'm home" his father announced, walking in the kitchen, stopping upon finding his son there "What are you doing here?"

"What? Can't I grab a snack in my own house?" he tried to act casual and come up with a believable excuse.

"Not if you're supposed to be in school right now" he cringed "You know I hate repeating myself, give me an answer Shane" 

Shane stayed quiet, pondering his answer carefully.

"Shane" that was his warning tone, he was starting to get angry. 

"I accompanied Angela back home, that's all"

"And why did you skip your class-"

"There weren't classes in the afternoon today" he lied smoothly, it's not like he would bother in actually checking his class schedule, he makes it look like he cares, but in reality, he doesn't. He's just mad that his son's home, because now he can't lock Angela in her room and get drunk.

"Whatever" he mumbled angrily, heading towards the living room, undoing his tie and flopping on the couch "Just hand me a beer" Shane rolled his eyes, knowing that his father would just get angrier if he said no, so he walked towards the fridge, opening it and grabbing a can, hanging it out to him. He left right after, he didn't want to spend one more second in the same room as his father's.

Shane couldn't care less about assignments or surfing the internet right now, so he just collapsed on his bed, wanting nothing more than just fall asleep and forget everything that happened today. He had almost achieved his goal, closing his eyes and slowly starting to doze off.

That is, until his phone begun buzzing with messages.

He groaned, rolling over and angrily grabbing it from the nightstand, getting blinded by the strong light.

"Fuck! Why do I keep setting it that high?" he mumbled annoyed, turning it down to minimal before checking who was bothering him.

"Alex, of course" he looked at the absolute flood of messages he had sent.

Crazy fuck: Oi!

Crazy fuck: You alive dude?

Crazy fuck: Answer me ya fuk!

Crazy fuck: You better not have gone on an adventure without me.

Crazy fuck: Or gotten eaten and/or kidnapped by aliens.

He smiled "Classic Alex"

Shane: Stop spouting nonsense you idiot.

Shane: I'm alive and well.

Crazy fuck: Oh yeah? Tell me something only the real Shane knows.

He sighed.

Shane: You gained rather greenish skin color after tasting my father's cooking today.

Crazy fuck: Ok it's you.

Shane just rolled his eyes.

Shane: So why did you have bother me? If it's not important then move it to tomorrow, I need some shut eye.

Crazy fuck: The fuck dude? It's 5 pm!

Shane: I am tired.

Crazy fuck: You know I write to you only when I got important and super secret stuff to talk about.

Shane: Like that time you thought the cat of the lady next door was a mutant?

Crazy fuck: Hey! We talked about this! I fucking saw that thing turn and smile at me! And it had a creepy ass smile!!

Shane: Whatever, what do you want?

Crazy fuck: Remember that old creepypasta from a while back?

Shane: Which one?

Crazy fuck: Slenderman.

He groaned.

Shane: Alex I'm tired and need to sleep.

Crazy fuck: But I got this hot news!!

Shane: Yeah well, the news can wait until tomorrow, I'm going to bed.

Crazy fuck: Dude! It's fucking 5 pm!

Shane: Byeeeee.

After that he turned off his phone and threw it across the room, not caring where it landed, or if it survived at all. As soon as his head hit the pillow, Shane dozed off into a dreamless slumber.

He woke up several hours later, it was the middle of the night still, he could tell by the lack of sunlight filtering through the curtains of his window.

What woke him up was the sound of someone hitting something. Something hard, like a wall.

"What the?" he grumbled, blinking a few times to clear his vision, reaching for his watch, which had a button so it would lit up just enough to read the time "It's fucking 3 am! Who's making this noise?" he sat up, yawning before reaching for the light switch, flinching once it turned on.

"I swear to God, if it's another raccoon I'll-" he was cut off by another yawn escaping his mouth "-fuck, I'm too tired for this"

He looked around the room for a moment before finding where his phone landed. He grabbed it, turned it back on and headed downstairs, checking the living room first, finding his father passed out on the couch with a few empty bottles of beer near him.

"Nothing unusual here" he then went in the kitchen, seeing that everything was in place. Next he checked Angela's room.

He gently opened the door, seeing her fast asleep in her bed, hugging a teddy bear. He smiled, quietly shutting the door, being careful not to make too much noise. 

"Everything alright here as well" he whispered.

And yet he kept hearing that sound, it was rhythmic, too rhythmic for it to be caused by an animal.

'Could it be a branch hitting the window? But the sound isn't quite right and it's not that windy outside...'

After he checked the whole house from the inside and found nothing wrong, he decided to check the outside as well. 

He grabbed his father's coat, since it was the closest one on the coat hanger, as well as the warmest, threw it on and walked out, being mindful to grab a set of keys so he wouldn't end up locking himself out by accident, like he did last time.

There was nothing wrong with the front yard, the backyard though...

"Oh for fuck's sake" he groaned upon seeing that the trash cans had been knocked over "Fucking raccoons" he sighed, pulling up his sleeves and starting to clean up the mess they've made. Shane tried to be as quiet as possible but it was still pretty loud. Nonetheless, he managed to finish in about ten minutes.

"Now my hands are gonna stink for the rest of the day, thanks raccoons" he grumbled annoyed, walking back to the front door so to go back inside. He was about to open the door when he heard some branches snap behind him. He turned around and froze on the spot a the sight.

A man.

An Incredibly tall and slender man, dressed in an elegant black suit with a red tie stood a few meters away from the entrance of their yard. Shane couldn't see his face very well, probably due to the low level of light. 

'What the-where did he come from?! I didn't even hear him walk up to the fence!' that clearly freaked him out.

He tried to remain calm, freaking out wasn't the solution right now and beside, he might not even have bad intentions.

'Yeah right, as if anyone sane of mind will be out walking at this hour in a suit staring at people's yard' he thought sarcastically, slowly backing away until his back hit the door. The man just stood there, staring at him, which allowed Shane to slowly maneuver the keys in his hand and unlock the door, darting inside and locking it back up at lightning speed.

He immediately checked from the window frame to see if the man had moved, but he was gone.

He let out a breath he didn't know he was holding, panting heavily, his heart beating a thousand miles per hour.

"Ok, note to self, don't venture outside at 3 am in the morning ever again" he said with a nervous laugh.

"Shane?" a voice behind him called, making him yelp in both surprise and fear.

"A-angela" he breathed out upon seeing hi little sister walk up to him, dragging her teddy bear from one arm "You scared me... what are you doing up at this hour?"

"Can't sleep..." she mumbled sleepily.

"Nightmare?" she nodded "Can I sleep with you?" Shane raised a brow "Aren't you a bit too old for this?" he lightly teased.

"Shut up you have nightmares too!"

"Yeah but I don't wine about it, I'm a big boy after all" she rolled her eyes "Just let me sleep with you this once" he smiled "Alright, just this once" Shane looked back outside one more time before heading towards his room, Angela following close behind.

'Maybe I just imagined it?'