The Shadow Spinner

I suppose the interesting thing about working at a bar is the people you meet. (I'm going to keep locations secret for now because I have no idea who may be reading.) To give you a general idea of how it's like, we keep a working blunderbuss under the bar. The boss man has been known to use it on people trying to buy us out. And it does feel a little comforting knowing that there's a fuck ton of scrap metal able to be projected out of the barrel at high speed toward someone trying to steal from us.

I don't pay too much attention about the whole being bought out thing, I just work there, serving drinks, making the occasional cocktail, from biker gangs to businessmen and as such you get all these funny stories.

Guys buying girls drinks is the funniest thing. Most of them act all cool, like they're not doing it at all because they want sexytime with such a women, just because they're flattering and sweet.

Or that time Batman walked in. (Yes, seriously. He was in a Batman outfit and growled at me for a beer. I think that classifies as (The Motherfucking) Batman.)

I was also propositioned twice for sex.

I declined. (Seriously, what the fuck is it with cougars and hitting on guys young enough to be their son? One of their responses to "I'm sorry I have a girlfriend." was "She can watch." I have never slapped a customer, but I was close at that point.)

You'd be surprised how much hard work it is, but they tip well enough to just about make rent and utilities whilst Summer's work as a councilor in the local high school gets us enough to eat and for the next show.

Occasionally I see a kid in a hoodie walk in with the hollow eyes and the stalked demeanor, asking for a glass of water. We offer food and shelter for a little while. It's not permanent, and it's not much, but I hear the stories. I've seen some of them happening as well. We know that we have it a little easier than most. So we do our part.

What we do...

It is kind of like that book, The Shadow Spinner.  I remembered it a while back, when we first began to see him. It is about a Sultan who asked each member of his harem he took to at night to tell him a story, if it bored him then he would kill her. Until he gets to Shahrazad. She survives for a thousand days, each night telling him a part of her story more exciting than the last.

We* do something so ridiculous and outlandish that maybe Slenderman believes we are on the same level as him, or maybe he sees us as court jesters and he keeps us alive because we're interesting.

Either way, it gives me a day longer with Summer, and for that, I would gladly die the next day.

Sometimes he vanishes like we scared him. Sometimes he comes closer, and sometimes he gets bored and wonders off.

One time I dressed up in a Slenderman costume, (It's pretty easy actually. Makes me wonder if some of those vlogs are fake...) mimicked his every move. He tilted his head, I tilted mine. He took a step forward, I took a step backward. The next thing I knew he was up close to me, and then he just vanished, like evaporated or something before my eyes.

I don't know if Slenderman spooks easily, but that time I couldn't sleep. It felt like I was mocking him... I suppose I kind of was but still...

For the record, screaming "In Brightest Day, in Blackest Night, no evil shall escape my sight. Let those who worship evil's might, beware my power. GREEN LANTERNS LIGHT!" did a good job. He vanished pretty quickly for some reason. I haven't seen him since then.

And with that I leave you. If you find yourself near Chicago, drop us an email. We'll see what we can do to help.


Autumn

*See: I (Summer does do things, but it's my job to put myself between him and her. He is dangerous afterall.)