Continuation of Slender from my other story ''Click". Enjoy and thanks to EZB for Proofreading, editing, and helping me out with all the tough parts!
he has no reason
for what he does
leaving trails of bone and blood
without eyes he'll watch and wait
he feels no love he feels no hate
taller than the trees he hides behind
he'll never live he never died
he became in the shadows
he stalks the light
but they never saw him
even if it is bright
they think im insane
tHey ThINk im NoT RiGHt
and now im in the darkness
AlOne
without LiGHt.
/
Candy Chu was the first to disappear.
It was days before her mother was calm enough to tell the investigators any details of all the events leading up to her daughter's vanishing. She wasn't able to recall any strange people hanging around or any strange behavior from the little girl. There seemed to be only one clue; a nightmare that Candy had dreamed three days before her disappearance.
The horrible nightmare had caused the normally quiet girl to awaken screaming at the top of her lungs. Once her mother had calmed her, the crying child had spoken of an impossibly skinny man who seemed to have no face on his stark white head. She'd talked about how he'd seemed to be gesturing towards the Gravity Falls Forest... and how he'd reached for her with tentacles that stretched from his black coat.
One week later, Grenda's parents were in hysterics; Grenda had received the same dream. The authorities scoffed and said that it was a simple case of the child dreaming things she'd heard the adults discussing. They assured the parents, and Gravity Falls as a whole, that there was no link and no danger.
Grenda disappeared three days later.
One of Daniel Corduroys' boy was the next to have the nightmare, and Dipper Pines had spearheaded the investigation himself, know that the cops of the small town would never get the job done properly. He analyzed the boy's recollection for clues, but it soon became clear that there were no clues to be found. His dream was the same as Candy's, the same as Grenda's; the tall, long man with no face and a dark suit. Special security was posted at the young mans home and everyone in town breathed a sigh of relief when the sun rose after the third night.
Daniel's screams let everyone know that they had failed once again.
A week passed and he was gone, vanishing into the void.
The populace of Gravity Falls began to lose it's collective mind. School was cancelled until further notice and the children were barred from leaving their houses unless accompanied by an adult. Suspicious glances were cast this way and that as neighbor suspected neighbor of the heinous kidnappings.
The fear and unrest grew, and as it grew an almost tangible shade of darkness began to cast itself across the quaint town. The shade grew and grew and grew, far past the borders of the town proper...
…all the way to the borders of the small shack that lay on the town outskirts.
/
"Dipper?" Stanford Pines pushed his way into his nephew's room without knocking, trusting that he would be decent. There he was, piling supplies into her backpack. "Now what in the heck are you…?"
"I'm going after her, Grunkle Stan."
The tone in his voice made Stan pause. "Like hell you are!" He crossed the room and pushed the backpack off the bed and onto the floor. The contents spilled; bottles of water, fresh apples, various snacks, plenty of rope, oil, a flash light, some batteries, an old lantern…
He was going into the woods.
He was going after Mabel.
"Dipper, stop. This is crazy."
"What's crazy is that you've already given up on her. She's your niece for God's sake…"
"And it tears me apart that she's gone. But she's gone Dipper. Gone. She's not coming back. The sooner we accept that…"
Dipper sniffed and pushed his supplies back into the backpack. "Yeah, you do that. Meanwhile I'm going to get her back."
"Dipper…"
He left him there, still protesting his departure, but he paused. "I'll bring her back, Grunkle Stan. I swear." He took a deep breath and started down the stairs leading out to the Mystery Shack.
"This isn't the first time this has happened."
Grunkle Stan stalled him. He turned slowly and found the old man looking towards the woods. "What…?"
"Way back when I was a kid, about four or five, I remember my Mom and Dad talking about children having bad dreams. Dreams about a man with no face. A few days after the dream, the children vanished. That's why my family kept moving kept moving until we decided to settle here. We were trying to get away from that . . . . Thing. We came here, bought this land, and we thought we'd be safe." He sighed sadly. "I guess it found us in the end, though."
"Grunkle Stan… what is it?"
"Don't know. Whatever it is, it's old. Older than the God. Older than the Earth itself maybe. It has no conscience, no emotions, only an insatiable hunger; a never-ending urge to feed."
Dipper gulped. "What… what does it eat?"
"Fear. It feeds on fear. And children."
Dipper shuddered and faced the woods. "Anything else I need to know?"
"Don't be afraid. Your fear will only make it bolder. And if you see it… run. Run as fast as you can. And most important of all; never, ever look back."
Dipper nodded and started walking. "I'll be back, Grunkle Stan. Just you wait. I'll be back and I'll have her with me. I swear."
His brisk pace had carried him so far so fast that he never heard Grunkle Stan's reply. "Good-bye Dipper."
/
Stanford Pines stared at the border of the Gravity Falls Forest. His niece, and soon his nephew, had been taken there, never to return. Soos was gone, albeit reluctantly. He'd done his best to persuade Stan to accompany him, but he'd refused. Gravity Falls was abandoned.
Now there was but to wait. He was done running.
He blinked and it was there, standing just beyond the forest boundary.
He blinked, and it was out of the forest.
He blinked, and it was in the south field.
He blinked, and it was in the garden.
He blinked, and it was at the porch steps.
He blinked.
/
It watched from the woods, stoic and silent, as they left. No matter. It would find them again. That was it's way.
It would stay here a while longer, shaded in the tall trees. The last few chosen could easily be taken, even from here. It's reach was longer than anyone could possibly imagine.
Here, though, was unfinished business. Someone who had escaped it long ago...
/
Before him was the wilderness. Dark. Ominous. He and his sister had championed these woods so many times before this, it startled Dipper to think something like this had existed all this time. Assuming it had at all.
Visitors can come at any time.
Dipper rested his steps along the forest edge. What else could be seen past the vague din of green vegetation was a mystery. There was something out there. A predator of sorts. It stalked these woods as an apex to this food chain that was the town of Gravity Falls. All things- humans especially, were subject to its gaze.
It was so quiet.
Dipper felt the air pass him in a mild breeze, yet no sound caressed his ears. Was the elements of nature itself scared of what lurked within? Birds had vanished. Not died, or been found half-devoured, but truly vanished. Gone without a trace. Nests were the only remaining evidence that avian had even presided in the region.
Whatever was going on, it was huge. It wasn't
It wasn't good.
Deep breath. The air felt cold. Odd. His lungs expanded until he could do little more than tremble, and then he exhaled. Time to go.
HONK HONK.
"Gah!" Dipper leapt around, and approaching him from the path that lead to the main road was a dirty green van, worn and well-used. Dipper would have asked who on earth would still be around here, when the town was entirely empty, but he knew that van. He had ridden in it before.
"Dipper!"
Wendy and her gang. The redhead slammed open the side-ways sliding door, which Thompson still in the driver seat whined about briefly. Following her was the inseparable Nate and Lee, then villainous and annoyed looking Robbie, and a surprisingly freaked out looking Tambry, fidgeting with her phone in her fingers, held beside herself.
"Guys," Dipper managed to say.
"Dipper, what the heck are you doing out here alone man?" Wendy demanded, a panic in her eyes the likes Dipper had seen rarely. "We spotted you from the road, just hiking up the hill- it's crazy to be out here alone."
"I know."
"Dude, like, hardcore is one thing," Nate told him, standing next to Wendy, "but this? This is actual crazy crazy."
"So I've been told," Dipper shrugged, unsurprised with their concern. It didn't bother him. He expected anyone he knew running into him having a word or two to stop him. Like it would change a thing.
"Look man," Robbie piped up as well, "fine, you want to play hero? Look cool?"
"Robbie, chill," Wendy nudged him in the gut, but he shrugged her off.
"I've been around stupid long enough to know that's what's going on in your head just by looking at you," Robbie pointed to Dipper, "you got some stupid plan that's inside that stupid mind."
"Nothing's stupid about it," Dipper retorted, pulling around his backpack, and unveiling a scrolled up map, "I have everything in the area, on the map or from my own... sources, "Dipper avoided using the term 'journal', "labeled here. Nothing is slipping by."
"Dude-"
"What are you guys doing here?" Dipper turned the question to them, cutting his red-headed friend short.
"We're... well, we're sticking around," Wendy stated firmly, "and going to..."
She looked around the three of them. Maybe that had been part of a yet-to-be-discussed plan, as she seemed to be begging for an answer as the rest of them. Nothing said, yet all to much was communicated. They had no idea what they were doing. None at all.
"So you want to tell me not to do something just because you don't know what to do?" Dipper lashed out, not feeling for a bunch of scared older kids ordering him around. "Typical."
"Dipper," Wendy looked to him, not taken offense with his aggression, "if we don't know what to do, all of us don't, what do you expect you can do, dude? You're just one guy."
"I'm going to get Mabel back. And then anyone else I can find too."
"See? We tried," Robbie told them quickly, "now, can we go back to the safety of the house? I being close to woods is already bad eno-"
"Robbie!"
The hooded man grumbled as Wendy put a stopper to his words. Stepping away and looking back longingly to the van, Robbie allowed the redhead to give her two cents.
"Dipper... I get you, okay?"
"Really?" He asked incredulously. "I lost Mabel. Okay, I don't really see how you..." Dipper trailed off. He was angry, but not blinded by his loss. Wendy looked to him, sadness in her eyes, the same sadness. They had both lost someone to them.
"I- ugh, look," Dipper retrained his thoughts, desperate to keep his mind set, "I'm doing this. I'm going to find them and get them back. If you're going to try changing that, you'd better just-"
"Come with us for a bit."
Tambry had piped in. All eyes focused on her. "What?" Everyone said, excepting the purple haired girl.
"We're all losing something from this, right? A friend, a family, our entire family, home... maybe what we need is to head somewhere and get a... a plan."
Dipper shook his head, but slowly, as he wanted to shake off the desire to agree. Yes, it made sense. They could hear out what he had been thinking, what he had been plotting and researching and readying himself for all this time. But if he waited, even a bit longer, what if he lost someone else. Each minute could cost a life, a soul.
He didn't even know if they were dead or not.
Time was precious.
But so were allies.
"Okay. Okay, okay," Dipper nodded finally and relieved his friend and crush before him. Not that feelings like that could help right now. They just reminded him of a better time. "You guys have a place to go?"
"Yeah we do," Thompson nodded, "my place. If we're going to hang out, it's the best bet."
"Your car, you house," Nate patted Thompson on the shoulder, "your lead, bud."
Filing into the car was a quick, quiet process. The day was bleak, but not dark. Not yet. A few minutes later, passing by like time had doubled in length, they were walking hurriedly into the darkened, and abandoned home that belonged to Thompsons family. By will of his friends, he had chosen to remain, forsaking the chance to quickly exit the town with his parents. The garage door slowly closed behind the van, and they entered the large garage.
"So dude," Lee said as they clamored back out, "you do have a plan, right?"
"Wouldn't have wandered near the woods without one," Dipper told him, and the others as they gazed towards him while he pulled open his backpack, and began to pile papers on the ground around them, and finally his own journal from his vest. "I'm good with plans."
"Yeah he is," Wendy nodded, "you guys wouldn't believe the stuff he's gotten me out of. Like monsters and stuff. We're talking about the kid who got us out of Dusk Two Dawn, remember?"
"Ugh... I'd rather not use that as a 'plan', Wendy," Dipper trailed off in mid-sentence as he revisited the unpleasant memory. He returned his gaze to Wendy's. "Eh, anyway, as you can see here..."
The collected people looked at what appeared to be a multitude of newspaper clippings from all across Oregon.
"I managed to snag a census from the library before they burned it down. Using it, I was able to keep track of people who disappeared and where they'd come from."
The clippings were all essentially headlines;
FAMOUS CHILD PSYCHIC TAKEN IN THE NIGHT
WEALTHY FAMILY ABSCONDS AFTER DAUGHTER VANISHES
SEARCH FOR YOUNG GIRL CALLED OFF AFTER PARENTS DISAPPEAR
And on they went.
"Going by census information, it' become quite clear that every single resident of Gravity Falls has been taken in the past year."
Tambry's hands shook. "They all ran... and it didn't do them any good at all..."
"It's not just Gravity Falls." Dipper continued. "Portland, Eugene, Salem, Bend, Medford... completely dead. Every resident taken no matter how far they ran. Pendleton, Prineville, Shaniko, The Dalles, Tillamook, Troutdale, West Linn..."
"Jesus, what the fuck is this thing?" Wendy asked, her heart breaking at all the loss and devastation.
Dipper sighed and retracted the page of clippings. He turned the journal's pages to the middle and pulled out a new sleeve. "What do you know about it?"
"Just what my dad told me." Lee took in the scrawled images, mostly done by boys and girls, of the mysterious menace that was killing Oregon. "He said it was old and that it fed on children."
"And fear." Robbie broke in. "Don't forget about fear."
Dipper nodded. "From what I understand, this... this thing has been wandering the earth for at least thousands of years. It's stayed in the shadows, only feeding enough to keep it alive. To us, it was always a boogeyman. A lotta names, one creature."
"Mr. Thin." Wendy muttered.
"Slenderman." Robbie spat.
"The Thin Person." Tambry shuddered.
"The Tall One." Nate added.
"I've taken to calling it the Slender One, myself. Seems appropriate." Dipper chuckled. "Whatever you call it, it was content with it's quiet life... but something changed."
"What?"
Dipper shook his head. "Not sure... but I have a few theories..."
Robbie sighed. "Look, forget why it's doing all this. I wanna know where it is."
"Why?" Thompson asked.
Robbie snorted. "Isn't it obvious? We're taking the fight to it."
Thompson gaped. "But... that's suicide!"
"Nobody's ever gone looking for it." Robbie smiled madly. "Maybe we can throw it off, catch it by surprise."
"To be fair, there was at least one person who went looking for it." Nate said into his cup.
Wendy silenced him with a warning glare. "My brother went alone. We're going together. Now do you know where it is or not?"
Dipper looked up with knowing eyes. "Where it's always been; the Gravity Falls Forest."
The only sound in the silence that followed was Lee's continuing sips.
"But... but why?" Lee resolve faded for a moment.
"Think about it. This thing has wandered to and from all the dark corners of the world because it didn't know any better. What if it found a place that inspired so much fear from people all over? Do you really think it would leave that special place?"
"But that doesn't make any sense!" Tambry caught her cup just before it tipped over.
"Yeah." Nate added. "If it's still in that forest, how is it taking people from all over Oregon?"
"It's stronger now. Stronger than it's ever been." He retracted the page and closed the journal. "It's reach is beyond any of our comprehension."
A mysterious wind seemed to blow through the room and dimmed the candles.
"I'm...I'm going to get some more to drink." Wendy announced. She stood and hurried from the room.
"I'll join you." Tambry hurriedly followed the red headed girl.
Once they were gone, Lee looked to Dipper. "I take it you're still going after it?"
Dipper could only nod.
"Could you do me a favor then?"
Another nod.
"When you find it... if you beat it..."
"When we beat it." Nate interrupted.
Lee ignored her. "Send word that it's over."
Dipper nodded a third and final time. He extended his hand across the table.
With a smile, Lee shook hand with the young detective. "As much as I hope you succeed, Dipper... I hope you don't find it. I'd rather you survive."
/
Tambry peered into the darkness of Wendy's room. She watched as the red head lit a candle and illuminated the walls; they were papered with sketches on the Slender One. "Did you do all these?"
Wendy nodded as she poured another cup of water. "Drawing makes me feel better. Safer, somehow."
Tambry crossed the room and said to the girl, "We're going to stop it."
Wendy smiled sadly. "You don't really believe that, do you?"
The question caught the girl off guard. She headed for the exit, but looked back at Wendy and sighed. "No, I don't. But I'd believe anything... for my mother.
She left Wendy surrounded by the scrawled images. They waved slightly in the ambient air. The sound seemed familiar to Wendy's ears.
It sounded like laughter.
/
When the car and it's travelers crossed Gravity Falls' later, the sun was just beginning it's descent on the horizon. The fading light gave the town a mystic, otherworldly life. The windows and doors remained as tightly boarded and barred as they had been left six months ago. No movement came from the town save the occasional leaf borne on the wind.
At Nate's urging, Robbie ditched the car they were using and left it at the town limits.
Something told him they wouldn't be needing it anymore.
They soon passed the town proper and soon came to a trail. Dipper's good mood faded instantly as he came to a stop just at the entrance. "The Mystery Shack." He muttered. The places was in shambles. The house was a wreck, pieces of wood hanging off in every which way. The trees, the ones still standing, were covered in choking vines and surrounded by weeds.
"Oh Dipper... I'm so sorry." Wendy said as she came up next to him.
He shook his head sadly. "I always hoped that someone would still be here. Stan didn't want to leave and I..."
A flash of movement from the back of the shack caught his eye.
Dipper was off like a shot, bursting through what was left of the trees and barreling at top speed toward the house he'd spent many of his summers in. The others hurried behind him. He skidded to a stop around the corner of the house and looked up to see...
...an old sofa on the porch, empty.
Grunkle Stan's sofa.
Dipper looked down in sadness... and saw. "Look." He told the others when they'd caught up.
They looked to find a series of foot-prints leading away from the house and out towards the forest.
"Looks like they go all the way into the forest." Lee stated.
"It's... it's never left foot-prints before..." Tambry whispered.
"What do you s'pose it means?" Robbie asked, trying to ignore the chill that suddenly filled his bones.
"It's an invitation." Lee growled.
Dipper looked from the empty couch over to the distant tree-line. "It's be rude to ignore it." He stamped his foot onto one of the dusty prints and felt a grim satisfaction as it vanished beneath his weight.
The sun continued to set behind the Gravity Falls Forest casting long shadows that reached the posse and encircled them like tentacles of darkness.
/
It watched them as they entered the house.
It was ready for them.
It waited.