Jack's Back

“How are you feeling?”

“Okay.”

“Do you still see him?”

“Only in my nightmares.”

My name is Laura Miller. When I was a kid I had an imaginary friend named Hoppy The Clown. He wore a big rainbow wig, poke-a-dot clothes, and always walked around barefoot. Oh, I forgot to mention that he was a also a bunny rabbit who hopped everywhere he went (the reason I called him Hoppy). We did everything together. We ate. We went to school. He was always there to comfort me when the evil doctor stabbed me in the arm and injected me with poison. He was my best friend. After a year he left saying that it was time for me to tackle the world as the big girl he knew I was and to know that he would always be in my heart.

When I was sixteen he returned. Or, so I thought. I had just come home from school and was heading to my room when I heard giggling coming from within it. My parents were at work and I was an only child so you can imagine how afraid I was. I slowly cracked open my door to see a tall figure, about five-foot-eight, standing in the middle of my room with his back turned to me.

“Hello?” I said.

The tall man turned around and smiled at me. He had long, black hair, piercing white eyes, and sharp teeth that looked made him look like he was part. His nose was shaped like a sharpened candy cane with black and white stripes, and he wore a patchy, striped clown outfit that matched his nose.

“Laura!” he shouted. “It’s been so long.”

He hopped over to me and wrapped his arms around me.

“It’s me, Hoppy!”

I was shocked. I haven’t seen Hoppy in years, but I remember exactly what he looked like and this wasn’t it. However, I had never mentioned Hoppy to anyone. Not even my parents. They were psychcologists that had no imagination and would have thought I was mentally insane if I had mentioned an imaginary bunny-clown that only I could see. I didn’t know who this psycho was or what he wnated, but for my safety I decided to play along.

“Hoppy? Oh my gosh it’s been so long. What are you doing here and why don’t you look the same?” I asked him.

“I wanted to see how you have been since I left which I see you’re doing fantasic for yourself since you’re taking an honor’s math class.”

I looked down and let out a sigh of relief when I saw the honor’s math class book I was carrying in my arms.

“And as for my new look: well I got the king of imagination to give me a magical makeover. What do you think?”

Honestly, he looked creepy, but I’m a nice person I said, “You look wonderful.”

He smiled and let out a light giggle. Suddenly, I heard the front door shut.

“Honey, I’m home.” My mom shouted from downstairs.

“Oh gosh. Okay, Hoppy you need to--” he was gone. I thought that maybe I had imagined the whole thing. I had been reading a lot lately so maybe my mind was playing tricks on me. I went downstairs and helped my mom cook dinner. She had gotten off of work early so she decided to make spaghetti and meatballs (my favorite).

That night I was studying for an important midterm I had the next day when I heard my mom screaming from the bedroom down the hall. The sound pierced my ears and made my heart nearly stop. I ran to my parent’s room as fast as I could. I opened the door, but my parents were gone. Where could they have gone? The lamp on my father’s nightstand was still on. That’s was the only way I could see into the room. I took a couple of steps into the room when I felt something wet drop on to my shoulder. I looked up and placed my hands over my mouth for what I saw made my speechless. My parents were nailed butt naked to the ceiling. All of the skin on their front side had been removed. Their entestines were tied together like a Christmas bow. I had never been so petrified. Suddenly, I heard giggling behind me.

I did a quick 180 degree turn and saw Hoppy smiling at me. “Do you like it?” he asked. “I made it just for you.”

I looked him up and down in shock. “My-my parents. They’re dead.

“So you don’t like it. That’s okay. I was going to kill you too anyway.”

Hoppy shoved me on to my parent’s bed and raised a knife to stab me with.

“Freeze!” one of two cops who entered through the bedroom door shouted. Jack quickly turned around and threw the knife at one of the officers, and through his throat. The other officer fired his gun, but before the bullet could hit Jack he vanished into thin air causing the bullet to go straight into my shoulder. I fainted.

I woke up about six hours later in a hospital room. It took them three hours to get the bullet out of my body and make sure I would live. My grandmother was by my side. She told me everything the cop who, accidently, shot me told her. I burst into tears. My parents were dead and there was no way to find Hoppy or whoever he really was. The officer who shot me stepped into the hospital room and apologized for my loss. He said they were called from a neighbor was walking their dog and heard screaming coming from the house. He and his partner were in the neighborhood so they responded to the call.

Two years had passed since that night and for every day of those two years I saw a therapist named Dr. Hillard. Thanks to a witness who saw “Hoppy” disappear I was not deemed mentally insane.

Dr. Hillard: “Congratulations on being accepted into Mississippi State. I’m sure your parents would be proud.”

Me: “Thank you. I wish they could see me off to college.”

Dr. Hillard: “They are from above.”

I smiled. In two weeks I would be leaving my hometown of Boston and heading to Mississippi to study criminal justice. Too many murders were going unsolved; including my parents’ murders. Just that week nine people had been murdered and two had gone missing. No leads. The three of the nine bodies found were mutilated. Their eyes had been gouged out, their throats had been slashed, and deep scratches were found all over their body. The other six had been stabbed to death. This was all in the Boston area. That made me so happy that I was happy to be moving to Mississippi. I just felt bad for my aunt. Her husband passed away when I was nine and they had no kids so she lived alone until I moved in after my parents were killed. She treated me so well for two years and now I’m leaving. But I promised I would do my best to visit her at least once every other month.

One night, my aunt went to bed early. She said her head was pounding. Probably from the three margaritas she had from the party she threw to celebrate me getting into college. I checked on her periodically, as I had for two years, to make sure she was alive and well. In between checking on her I researched killer clowns with supernatural powers. I found many articles about killers dressed as clowns claiming the devil told them too and of course pages about the 1980′s movie “Killer Clowns From Outerspace came up.” But, the strangest article I read was about murderers who claimed they didn’t kill their victims; that some kind of demon clown named “Laughing Jack” killed them. One lady who stabbed her son in the heart after his torso had been cut open causing his entestines to fall out. She told the police that Laughing Jack forced her to kill him. Her description of him was the same as Hoppy’s.

Suddenly, I heard a loud noise come from my aunt’s room. I ran to check on her. I opened her door and she was laying asleep in her bed. I let out a sigh of relief and slowly closed the door. I turned around and was slammed against the door. It was Jack. He grabbed me by the throat so I couldn’t scream. He smiled at me exposing his razor sharp teeth and peered deeply into my eyes. It’s time for Jack to finish what he started. He pulled me forward and slammed my head against my aunt’s door making me unconscious.

I awoke when I heard a loud scraping noise. I sat up and looked around. I was in my old room inside of my old house. The room was empty. No one had lived there since that night. Of course, who would want to live inside of a house where three people were murdered?

“How did I get here?” I asked myself.

And that’s when I remembered Laughing Jack knocking me unconscious. He must have used his powers to teleport me there. I heard the scraping sound again. I looked around, but saw no one there. I needed to escape that house. I threw my legs off of the bed and stood up, but fell to my face when my ankle was grabbed. I looked behind me and saw a pale, hairless creature crawling from under the bed. His hands were large and had sharp claws that reminded me of the metal prongs of a rake. The creature crawled on top of me held my right arm down with one hand while it raised it’s other hand to stab me with. I looked to my left and saw a freshly sharpened pencil laying on the ground. I found it strange, but I would question it later. I grabbed the pencil and stabbed the creature in the side of the head.

The creature let out a high pitch screech and ran to the other side of the room. I saw that as my chance to escape. I quickly got up and ran out of the room. I was heading to the staircase when I looked behind me and saw the creature running along the walls. It had pulled the pencil out of it’s head before chasing after me. When I finally reached the staircase the creature jumped off of the wall and landed on top of me, kneeling on my back. I began gasping for air. The creature took one of it’s claws and slowly made a small incision just below my neck. It was clear that this creature now wanted to take it’s time killing me in order to make my death more painful.

The creature began making another small incision just below the other when he was suddenly yanked off of me. I got to my knees coughing and looked back behind me. All I saw was complete darkness, but what I heard was the creature making the loudest screeches I had ever heard. The sounds went on for just a few seconds and then, all at once, silence. I didn’t have the time nor the want to see who or what had rescued me. I stood up and hurried down the stairs. I ran down the stairs and out the door, but stopped and looked around with fright in my eyes.

What used to be the front yard to my parent’s house was now a snowy graveyard. I didn’t know what was more strange: the fact that it was snowing in July or the fact that I was standing in a graveyard outside of my parent’s house. I walked around shivering from the cold. It was freezing. But how? I looked around as I walked and noticed that most of the tombstones were covered in snow. I crossed my arms to try to stay warm and to keep myself calm. It was much too silent. Suddenly, that silence was broken when I heard light giggling coming from behind me. I slowly turned around and saw someone squatting by three graves. It was a man who’s skin was as white as the snow on the ground and long hair as black as night. He wasn’t there just a second ago I thought to myself. I proceeded toward him with caution. I knew this was all crazy, but I thought that maybe he could at least tell me where I was.

“Are you okay?” I asked him. “I’m not sure where I am? Can you help me?”

The man stood up straight, his back turned to her. His long, black hair blew against the wind, his white shirt stained with blood; some fresh. He slowly turned around with his head hung low. I noticed a disturbing grimace on his face and a bloody knife in his hand.

“Close your eyes, little one, and don’t make a peep. Jeff The Killer is going to help you sleep.”

He lifted his head and all I could see in his eyes was darkness. He lunged at me and tackled me to the ground. Normally the snow would have made my body freezing cold, but the adreniline flowing through my veins warmed me up. Jeff raised his knife and thrusted it toward my face, but I dodged and the knife went into the ground. I then kneed him in the groin and he fell over holding himself. I stood up and took off running into the woods across from the graveyard. The snow on the ground slowed me down, but my motivation to stay alive kept me going.

I glanced behind me to see Jeff on my tail. He reached his arm out to grab my long hair and pull me backwards, but he was grabbed himself by the ankle and yanked backwards causing him to face-plant the ground. I turned around and gasped at the horrific sight I saw. Jeff turned around and saw that what grabbed him was none other than his tall and nicely dressed nemesis, Slender Man. He had Jeff’s ankle wrapped tightly by one of his tentacles. He lifted Jeff off of the ground and began banging him on it. Jeff was bleeding from his head, but continued to smile.

“We’ve done this before Slendy and yet I’m still here,” Jeff said. “This time I’m not walking away until I taste your blood.”

Jeff grasped his knife tightly in his hand and cut off Slender Man’s tentacle. Slender man made no sound at all. He just stood there as a new tentacle grew in the old one’s place. Jeff stood and start slashing at Slender Man, but he dodged each attack. I stood in the background astonished at how fast Slender Man moved, but at the same time I was still terrified at the sight. What were these creatures and how did they know each other? Jeff made one attack and slashed Slender Man’s arm. It started bleeding, but Slender Man continued to stay silent. Suddenly, he disappeared. Jeff looked around, histarically.

“Where’d you go?” Jeff shouted. “You wanna run and hide because I cut your arm?” He turned to me and said “That doesn’t compare to what I’m going to do to you.”

He started walking toward me, but stopped when he heard a horrible screeching. Jeff dropped to his knees and clutched his ears tight to try to block out the noise. I stood there wondering what was going on. All I could feel was strong vibrations; no noise. Suddenly I heard a groggy voice saying “Grab the knife.” I looked down at Jeff who was still on his knees almost in tears from the pain the terrible screeching was causing his ears, and noticed his knife was laying on the ground. I ran toward him and grabbed the knife, then started to run away, but fell on to my face when Jeff grabbed my ankle.

“You stupid bitch,” he said through his gritted teeth. “If you really think you can escape me then you’ve got another thing coming.”

Jeff climbed on top of me, placed his hands around my neck, and started strangling me. His thumbs pressed tightly against my esophagus taking my breath completely away. This is it. I thought to myself. Suddenly, Jeff gasped for air. He slowly peered down and saw a large, gaping hole where his heart had been. He looked me in the eyes, then fell over dead.

I slowly rose while coughing my lungs out. I looked ahead to see Slender Man holding Jeff’s heart in his hand. A moment of silence was between us. He moved his face down and i looked down to see the knife. i squatted down and grabbed it. Afterwards, I looked at Slender Man who had his arm stretched out, pointing behind me. I turned around to see what he was pointing at. All I saw was an open stretch of trees and snow, but I knew he was telling me to keep going. I turned to him and said, “Thank you.” He said nothing back. Just pointed.

I took off in the opposite direction and suddenly began feeling warmer which was strange considering it has just been snowing. Through some bare trees that appeared to have been burnt were blinding lights. After my eyes adjusted I saw what looked like a circus/carnival. There were all kinds of attractions: roller coasters, food stands, carnival games like the one where you toss a ping pong ball into a fish bowl and get to take the fish home as a prize. It looked like so much fun, but where were the people? There was laughter and chatter all around as well as the sound of carnival music bursting in my ears, but no one was around save for me. I walked around cautiously as I knew this must have been Laughing Jack’s playground. What demon clown wouldn’t live in a circus/carnival? I continued walking and that’s when I saw it: the huge big top in the middle of the carnival grounds. I began walking toward it, but got three steps in when the music stopped and a PA system sounded.

“Welcome everyone to Laughing Jack’s Carnival: the only place you can pick and choose from the food cart menus and maybe become part of the menu yourself.” This guy was disgusting. “Everyone turn your attention to the tall blonde with a terrified look on her face. Her name is Laura and I want everyone to give her a proper greeting.”

I looked around and noticed strange creatures dressed like clowns coming out from the stands, the rides, and some out of the portable toilets. Their skin was scaly like reptiles, their assorted-color-polkadot suits were worn and torn. The strangest thing, however, was their eyes. They were there, but were glossy white. Their pupils, cornias, everything a normal eye should have were gone. This made me realize that these creatures were, at one time, people. Normal humans beings with jobs and families. I wanted so bad to help them, but first I needed to help myself. I took off toward the big top with the creatures close behind me. Suddenly, more came out from behind the big top. I was covered in the front and back, but I refused to let them stop me. As soon as I got close to the creatures coming from the big top I ran off to my right causing the two hordes to crash into each other. I looked back and watched the creatures as they tumbled on top of each other and desperately tried to climb to their feet, but it was no use. I was now free to face Laughing Jack.

I slowly opened the front flap to the big top, and saw nothing but darkness. I walked around cautiously trying not to trip over anything. Suddenly, a spotlight appeared over the center of the big top. In the center was a 30 foot ladder with a diving board attached to it, a small pool with no water sitting underneath it, and a round platform in the middle decorated red, white, and blue with white stars circling the blue portion. Surrounding it all was a circular barrier painted blue. The paint looked new while everything else looked worn down. Maybe Jack was trying to restore this place. Suddenly, the lights went out and a spotlight focused on the platform. Standing on top of the platform was the man of the night, himself: Laughing Jack.

He started slowly walking toward all while saying “How? You’ve defeated The Rake. You’ve defeated Jeff The Killer. And you’ve even found a way to get past my minions.” He stopped and pushed me down. I sat up on my hands and smiled.

“You can’t really give me all of the credit,” I said. “I had a little help. Beside me walked up Slender Man.

“Ahh” Laughing Jack said with a look of displease. It was obvious that he was trying to hide that look, but his weary smile gave it away. “If it isn’t Slender Man, himself. You’ve already got what you wanted: you took out Jeff The Killer. So why don’t you leave this little bitch to me and go back into your burnt-up forest of nightmares.”

Slender Man just stood there unmoving. Emotionless. I stood up and said “It’s over Jack.”

“You’re right,” he said laughing. “It is the end...for both of you.” He raised his arms in front of him with his fists clenched tight. He quickly unclenched his fists and sharp candy canes started flying out. They weren’t directed towards me, though. They were all directed towards Slender Man and they all hit their target. Slender Man flinched with every hit, but still made no noise. After the candy canes stopped flying Slender Man stood still as the candy canes that had implied his slender body began falling to the ground. Blood began pouring from the holes in his body, but the bloodshed didn’t last long. Wrinkled, brown skin began growing over the holes and then pieces of thread began growing over the skin to replace the tears in his suit. It looked like it had never even been torn. I stared at him in astonishment while Jack just laughed.

“It looks like all of those souls you ate are finally helping you out,” he said.

“What?” I said.

“Oh, you don’t know do you? Slender Man is a male succubus. Instead of using sexual intercourse to steal the souls of his victims he just gets face to face with them and literally sucks the life right out of them.”

I looked at Slender Man with fear in my eyes. “Is that true?” He just stood there.

“It’s very true, Laughing Jack continued. It’s also true that he didn’t help you because he wanted to. He killed Jeff and The Rake to eliminate the competition. Right now I rule the underworld. But, if he kills the six most dangerous beings from the underworld then he will become ruler. Even though Jeff’s body wasn’t born in the underworld, his soul was. The Rake: cousin of the boogeyman, himself. And then there’s me: the devil’s offspring. But even if you were to defeat me Slendy you have still have to go through Eyeless Jack, Smile Dog, and Ol’ Little Ben who drowned as a kid. He doesn’t care about you Laura. He just helped you get here so he could end me and then end you.”

“Well I’m ending both of you” I said.

Laughing Jack’s smile turned into a menacing grin. “We’ll see about that,” he said.

Laughing Jack pulled from his pants pocket a large hammer that would normally be used for a high striker. He raised it above his head using both hands and Slender Man grabbed it with his tentacles. He tried yanking it away, but Jack’s grip was too strong. They tugged back and forth for a minute until Jack shot a knife out of his shoe and swung it at Slender Man’s tentacles slicing them off. Slender Man drew back and Laughing Jack swung his hammer upward hitting Slender Man in the chin. He flew into the air and then fell down to the ground. Behind him was something white and looked like cloth. Oh my gosh I thought to myself. It was Slender Man’s mask.

Slender Man sat up and looked up at me and Laughing Jack. His skin was burnt and wrinkled, and patches of skin were missing. His eyes were dark black and the top of his head was bald. He was using the mask to cover his face. I almost felt bad for him, but after thinking about his countless victims I couldn’t find time for remorse. Slender Man grabbed Laughing Jack by the neck using his tentacles and slung him across to the other side of the room. Slender Man lifted his arm in front of him and faced the palm of his hand toward me. Suddenly the whole room started vibrating and I heard a groggy voice say, “Find his heart. Bring it back.” I didn’t know whether to trust Slender Man or not.

Laughing Jack tackled Slender Man to the ground and punched him repeatedly in the face. I knew then that whether I could trust him or not was to be decided later on. What I needed to do first was stop Jack. Slender Man grabbed Jack by the neck then tossed him into the air. As Jack fell Slender Man raised his legs above him and kicked Laughing Jack a few feet. I looked around the room trying to figure out where his heart could be. I glanced up at the top of the tent and saw something attached to the center of the tent. It was Jack’s heart.

“Slender Man!” I shouted. “I need you to throw me!” I pointed to the heart and he looked up to see it. He then grabbed me with his tentacles and threw me as hard as he could toward the heart.

“No!” Laughing Jack shouted. He grabbed his hammer and swung it at Slender Man hitting him in the face. He was knocked back a few feet, but caught himself before falling over. I grabbed the heart with one hand and one of the rods holding the tent up with my other hand. I dangled there for about two minutes while Slender Man and Laughing Jack fought. Jack swung at Slender Man with his mallet, but he dodged every attack as quick as lightning. Jack raised his arm and thrusted his palm forward shooting out sharpened candy canes that impaled Slender Man. But that didn’t stop him. He grabbed Laughing Jack by the ankle and tossed him into the air. He then jumped and punched him in the face as hard as he could forcing him to fall quickly to the ground.

Speaking of fall: I was starting to. The grip I had on the tent rod slipped and I began to fall. I screamed as loud as I could and Slender Man looked up. He teleported into the air and caught me in his arms. He then teleported back to the ground and sat me down. I held the heart in my hands, but it didn’t beat. That’s when I realized what “bring it back” meant. I needed to revive the heart.

“Step. Away. From that heart.” Slender Man and I turned around to see Laughing Jack standing there with anger in his eyes and voice. He slouched over a little panting and held his mallet in his right hand.

“I thought you were the devil’s offspring,” I said.

“Oh I am,” he responded. “But I never mentioned my human mother. That bitch thought I could live a normal life. She tried to hide me from my life in the underworld. But one trip to the circus brought out my true darkness. Seeing people sticking their heads in lions and seeing the elephants getting beat behind the show. It all pleased me so much. At night my mother would hear me laughing and she would come to check on me. One night she checked on me and saw me dissecting a kid from my high school I was supposed to be studying with. I slit his throat before the dissection so no one could hear him scream. My mother ran for the phone so she could call the police, but I got to her first. I tackled her to the ground and banged her head into it. After that my father appeared and told me what I really was; explained why the doctors could never find my heart beat. Because I was never truly a human.”

“You were the true prince of Hell.”

“Not was. Am. And you’re about to see what my home is like.” He shot sharpened candy canes from his hand at Slender Man. Every one of them hit him. Three of them in his head. Slender man fell to the ground and began bleeding a black liquid. Laughing Jack then walked over to me and raised his mallet above his head. This was it. This was the end of my life. He swung it down, but before it could hit me Slender Man grabbed it with his tentacles and yanked it away. Jack stared at him with confusion. “No. I---I killed you.” Slender man grabbed Jack tightly by the neck with his hand and slammed him to the ground.

“You can’t kill what doesn’t have a heart” Slender Man said; this time without vibrations. “Now!”

I began compressions on Laughing Jack’s heart. Jack tried to get to me, but Slender Man held him back. At first the compressions didn’t work, but finally I could hear a heart beat. Jack was throwing punches at Slendeman, but he dodged every one of them. Suddenly, Jack stopped and gasped. His chest began rising up and down as he started breathing for the first time in his life. Jack was alive.

“Hey Slendy,” I said turning to him. “It’s feeding time.” Slender Man grinned and turned to Laughing Jack. He started backing away Slender Man walked toward him.

“No,” Laughing Jack said with fear in his voice while firing candy canes at Slender Man. Each one missed. When Slender Man got close enough he punched Laughing Jack in the face as hard as could. Jack fell to the ground and Slender Man bent over picking him up by he neck. At first Laughing Jack was afraid, but now he was giggling. “You think this over, huh?” He said to Slender Man. “I’ll see you soon.” Slender Man put his face a few inches from Laughing Jack’s face and began sucking in air. Suddenly, in front of my eyes, Laughing Jack’s spirit started leaving his body and going into Slender Man’s mouth. I was both amazed and horrified.

After it was over Laughing Jack’s body was nothing, but a crippled corpse who’s skin had been sunk in. Slender Man dropped his body and turned to me. Uh-oh. My turn. “Slender Man, you don’t have to do this,” I said. He stared at me with a blank expression on his face and then squatted down and picked up his mask. He placed it back on his head. Sirens could be heard outside. Slender Man waited until police entered the tent and then teleported away.

“Freeze!”an officer shouted. “On the ground!” I laid on my front and placed my hands above my head. Two officers stood me up and grabbed the knife from my back pocket.

Me: “It’s Jeff The Killer’s.”

Officer: “Did you kill him or did your friend that was just here do it?”

Me: “Slender Man is his name and he did.”

Officer: “We know his name. We’ve had reported sightings of him everywhere, but we thought he was just another story. Now we know he’s real so we can close down the forest. What about the bodies outside?”

“They were his” I said referring to Laughing Jack. The officer turned to his body and his eyes widened.

“Is that...Laughing Jack,” the officer said. “That’s the bastard that killed my partner two years ago.” I knew the officer looked familiar.

“And my parents” I added.

The officer turned to me, then peered at the ground and frowned. I could tell he was sorry. He grabbed the walkie attached to his shirt and called for an ambulance and a body removal vechile. The bodies of Jeff The Killer, Laughing Jack, and all of his minions were transported to the morgue. The officer explained to me that my aunt notified the police that I missing. They investigated my old house, but found nothing but claw marks on the wall and blood on the floor from where I had stabbed The Rake.

No one could explain how I ended up at the graveyard and Slender Man’s forest for they found me in Boston about ten miles from my aunt’s house. They were looking for me when they noticed brights lights coming from carnival grounds that wasn’t there hours before. My guess is that Laughing Jack somehow teleported me to the graveyard which was right across from the forest. He then teleported me back to the carnival grounds which he most likely teleported from another city that left it abandoned. The police noticed the department where Jeff The Killer lived about his body and the forest. They picked up Jeff’s body and transported it to the morgue. Two days later they investigated Slender Man’s forest and found no sign of life. In order to keep anyone from entering the forest they sent in specialists to burn it completely to the ground.

It’s been six months now since all of this went down. I am halfway done with my first year of college and I haven’t seen any sight of Slender Man. I hoped that was a good thing.

“Selfie time!” my friend Bethany said as were walking through campus.

After the photo was taken we looked at it to admire how cute we looked.

“Woah. Look at that photo bomber,” Bethany said.

I looked closely at the photo and was shocked to see who was standing behind us in it. I turned around and there he was.

“Slender Man?”