Is—this real?

The kids walk into the lobby of the apartment building and walk past the concierge who seems to be asleep. 

Loud snoring can be heard throughout the entire lobby. The kids look at him in pure amusement as they notice a huge snot bubble springing from his right nostril. 

“No worries; that’s Mr. Peña, he’s pretty chill and usually only troubles you if you aren’t with any current tenants.” says Chounie. 

Navên peers around at his desk and notices that the keys are right behind the desk hanging from silver hook. 

Navên thinks “Well; it seems like he’s definitely not astute leaving the keys out in the open like that.” 

Macin  walks over to the desk and begins to pat the man on the his head. 

Peña hops out of his seat and falls on his bottom as he is startled. 

The kids laugh at the clumsy man and begin to walk towards the desk.

“Who the hell woke me up!” uttered Peña; standing up.

The kids stop laughing noticing the towering beam of a man standing before them. 

The man had to be about 6’8” in height but was still rather skinny as his long limbs resembled tree branches jutting out his sides. 

Navên slowly leans close to Chounie and whispers “You didn’t tell the guy was Slender Man.”

Chounie leans closer to Navên saying “How the hell was I supposed to know? Every time I’ve seen him since we’ve lived here he’s been sitting down.”

Macin proceeds to say “Hello! Mr. Peña, I wanted to introduce you to Navên. He walked us home today!”

The boy points to Navên in appreciation like he was showing off a little league trophy. 

“Oh well hey there!”, says Peña as he waves to Navên. 

“Glad to know that these kids have some friends. They’ve had a hard time since their parents been away.” says Peña with a smile. 

Navên begins to blush from all this unwarranted praise, especially since it wasn’t his idea to begin with. 

“No need for praise! I assure you this is a one time thing.” said Navên with an awkward smirk. 

He then looks down and sees Macin with a look of disappointment. 

He then looks at Chounie and she seems to be going to crouch down to comfort Macin. 

He suddenly follows with, “However, since we aren’t that busy at the Deli; maybe you guys could stop by some time.” 

Macin begins to perk up and says “Really! You mean that!”; gleefully. 

“Sure you guys are always welcome! I mean you are one of our only customers.” says Navên with a nervous laugh. 

Chounie begins to stand back up; giving Navên a look of appreciation. 

“Well! We should get going we have homework to do!” said Chounie reaching out her hand to Macin. 

“Aww! Can Navên come in for a minute? I wanted to show him my games.”

“Uhm. I mean I’m sure Navên has better things to do than—“ says Chounie before she was interrupted by Navên.

“Oh no! I can stay for a little bit but not for long.” said an eager Navên.

“I was so invested in even making it here and diverting those kids. That I totally forgot what Mr. Anthony sent me here to do. Even though I totally rather be somewhere else. I think I owe it Mrs. Morgan to at least find out if her dog is okay. 

“Yay! I finally get to have a friend over!” shouted Macin. 

In the midst of Macin’s loud cheering; Chounie says with a sigh; “Ok. He can come up but he has to leave when it gets dark. So that’s about an hour and a half.” 

“Yay!” repeats Macin jumping up and down. He turns to Navên and grabs his hand pulling him into the elevator.

The two rush into the elevator as if they were running from a swarm of bees. Chounie picking up the boy’s back pack and soon follows them on as well. 

The elevator had a panel was filled with many different buttons and a speaker system right above them. 

Chounie reaches over to the panel and presses the number “4” in the line of six numbered buttons. 

She walk back over towards the boys and turns towards Navên. She turn putting her back towards the wall. She looks a bit sad but turns to Navên as if to assure him she’s alright. 

The trio make it to their floor as the elevator’s ascent is sounded off with a loud *ding*.

The elevator doors open to reveal a long hallway with a red carpet with an ornate design. 

The trio saunter off the elevator; Chounie looking back to see if they left any of their belongings.

The walk to the end of the hallway, passing doors vis a vis until they reach the of the hallway. 

Chounie begins reaching into her book bag pulling out a keychsin holding many little trinkets; one being a fuzzy pink ball. 

She flips and turns the keychain until she finds the key. Having it in hand she places it in the door knob and jostles in gently within. She begins to turn it to left and there is a small click to signify the door is opened. 

She opens the door and walks into the apartment leaving the door ajar for the two of us to walk in after her. 

There are lights flashing on and she suddenly pops her head out and gingerly says “Well come on in.”

Having been welcomed formally Navên reaches for the handle and slightly pushes open the door. 

He is surprised to see how spacious and open the floor plan looks. 

He walks in to the room and sees a plush black sofa cascaded with the light from bay windows. 

A huge flat screen television spans half of the living room area and is vis a vis to a huge teak coffee table. 

Navên turns and sees a huge island counter with a gray and white granite counter top. He notices a huge refrigerator surrounded by a wall of white cabinets. 

The floor was hardwood with a unique grey tint the made the entire apartment look of a grey postcard. The ones you see in a postcard at a gift shop. 

Macin walks up to Navên and asks “Do you want something to drink?”

Navên shakes his head and Macin says “Great! So now we can play some games.”

Navên answers “Sure. However, I can’t be long; I have to go before it gets dark.”

The boy nodded in agreeance and walked down the hall way to a room on the left. 

Chounie comes of the room right before that one carrying a book.

She seems to be read intently a making marks in it with a green highlighter. 

Chounie notices Navên standing awkwardly in the kitchen area and gestures at him with the book. 

“Hey! Don’t be shy take a seat on the couch or at the island. Macon’s changing out of his school clothes. He’ll be out in a second.” she says as she sits the book down on the counter. 

Chounie makes her way to the refrigerator; opening the left side to reveal a bunch of water as well as veggies. 

She sticks her head as to browse for ingredients she’s looking for in the back of the fridge. She gasps before saying “Aha there you are!” and pulling out a pan of pre-made meat balls. 

“Great now all I have to do is make the sauce and boil the noodles.” Chounie said relieved. 

“Need any help?” asked Navên. 

“Oh thanks for asking. I got dinner; you just worry about beating Macin at that game. I never seem to.” she says with a look a self-assurance. 

Macin soon comes out his dressed in pajamas pants and a blue t-shirt with a robot on it. 

“Hey! Ready to play?” asked Macin with an eager tone. 

“Sure! Is that a Karakami Nautilus shirt?  I haven’t seen one years.” asked Navên with a look of Nostalgia. 

“Yeah it is! I’m glad someone knows who he is.” said Macin turning in Chounie’s direction with a smug face. 

Chounie catching a glimpse of Macin’s expression laments with “Ok. Someone else knows who the dumb cartoon character is. I’ll give you that! However, once dinner is ready Navên has to go; so you might want to start playing the game.” 

Macin sighs in response “Huhhh. Ok let’s get started Navên we’ll play my favorite racing game. It’s easy to learn and a race is only 3 laps around the track.” 

“Ok, take it easy on me. I really don’t play video games like that.” 

“Wow! I thought you would have loads of games. I mean you don’t look THAT old?”

“Wait— what do you mean by THAT-“ Navên began to ask before Macin pulled his hands and ran to the couch. 

The two play games for about an hour before Chounie finally finishes dinner. 

“Hey guys! Dinner is ready!” shouted Chounie to get the boy’s attention. 

“Awww! Can we play one more round?” whined Macin. 

“No Macin! Alright we have to let Mavên be on his way home. We don’t know how far he lives and it can get dangerous outside after dark.” lectures Chounie with a wooden spoon in her hand. 

“It’s OK. I’ll make sure to come over every once in a while.” said Navên in optimistic tone; handing the controller over to Macin. 

Navên gets up from the sofa, slips on his shoes and heads for the counter. 

However, he motions to Chounie with hand covering his mouth so Macin won’t see his lips. 

He mouths “ CAN-WE-TALK-OUTSIDE?”

Chounie looks with a suspicion and nods before Macin gets up from the sofa looking for his food. 

“Macin I’m going to go talk to Navên for a second. Can you dish up you own food?” asked Chounie. 

Macin nods and grabs a plate from off the counter and goes towards the pot of food. 

The two walk outside the door and Chounie gently closes the door behind them.

Chounie starts off by thanking Navên for his help with Macin and all. 

However, Navên interrupts her to say “I need your help with something.” 

Chounie looks in suspicion and retorts with a quick “With what?”

Navên than pauses for a second before mustering up the courage to say “You know Mrs. Morgan? She’s been kidnapped!”