Title- An Entity's Adoption
Author- OroKabuLover
Rating- M
Author's Note: Chapter 25! We will now be looking into Slenderman's past! Anything in italics is Slenderman's thoughts. Thoughts.
-Slenderman's Dream/Flashback-
"Be careful," His mother chided as the boy ran out of the door.
"I will!" He yelled back, running into the wooded area. His parents had agreed to let Him run off and play in the woods for a while each day, as long as He didn't go too far and that He would return home if the weather turned bad. His two younger siblings complained about why they weren't allowed to leave.
The boy wandered around, His black fleece hoodie was zipped up all the way to protect Him from the crisp breeze that threatened to slip underneath it or the dark blue polo that He wore.
His dark gray tennis shoes crunched twigs and leaves as He walked around aimlessly.
He stopped when He heard something, listening closely for another sound. Slowly, He walked closer in the direction that the sound came from, trying to be as silent as possible, carefully avoiding sticks.
He looked out from around a tree, watching as a young girl was sitting on the ground, mumbling and poking the dirt with a stick.
His father had taken Him out a few times to see a human or two, but never this close, they always made sure they were far away and hidden from sight. But he had never seen one so... small. Usually the humans He saw were taller, and sometimes accompanied by smaller humans, but never a small one by themself.
Curiosity told Him to get closer, but common sense told Him to stay put, that maybe she wouldn't notice Him. She continued to play in the dirt, the cool air blew against her bare arms, the fraying tee shirt hung on her, obviously too large.
He then noticed something new, patches of dark blue and purple were scattered across her arms. She shivered in the wind.
If she's cold, why does she stay out here then?
The cold was now starting to affect Him. His blood moving throughout His body slower as He stood. The boy shifted His weight from foot to foot, trying to warm up, not wanting to go home because He was cold, He wanted to stay here and watch her some more.
He froze and her head snapped up as a twig broke underneath His shoe. She leapt up quickly looking around, searching for the source of the sound, unable to see anything but trees.
"H-hello?" She asked, her voice small and weak, unsure of herself. "Is someone there?" She shivered once again in the cold, as silence answered her.
He relaxed once He heard her walking away, the colorful autumn leaves crunching beneath her small form.
Curiosity once again urged Him to follow her, as He might not get a chance like this again, but common sense won as He began to walk back towards the house.
A high-pitched scream filled the air, coming from the direction He had just come from, causing Him to turn around, and run back.
He found her backed against a tree, curled up into a tight ball, crying loudly. The boy recognized the scent immediately.
The Rake.
He was unsure of what to do, let her be and let the Rake kill her, or intervene.
He had seen the Rake a few times before while wandering around, usually finding the being just sitting around.
The Rake crawled out from behind a bush towards the weeping child, stopping dead in his tracks as the taller being stepped out from behind a tree, making His presence known.
"Sssslennnnder," The Rake growled, "Gooood to sssssee you," the being waved slightly at the taller being.
He hadn't exactly really started growing yet, He was about 4' 6", which was pretty tall for His age.
"Hello Rake," He waved back softly, knowing that the other would think of Him as disrespectful if He didn't wave back. He was no match for the Rake, not yet, He couldn't teleport, or change size, or use tendrils yet, as He was still young, but the Rake was fast and could cut anything with his sharp claws.
"Whaaat bringssss you herrrrre?" The Rake cocked his head to the side slightly.
"She does," The Rake looked over at the girl, then back up to the taller being.
"What'ssss sheeee to you?" The Rake asked, highly interested now.
"It doesn't matter, I saw her first."
"You lefffft her."
"I have changed my mind," the boy stated as the Rake drug a long claw against his chin, appearing deep in thought.
"I haaave a deeeal."
"What kind of deal?" He asked, not really sure what the Rake could possibly want.
"Therrrre issss an olllld mine shaaaaft. It'ssss sealed offff with a llllock."
"An electronic lock I assume," The Rake nodded.
"With annn alarrrm. You caaan shut it dooown forrrr me." The pale boy crossed His arms in front of His chest.
"Deal," The Rake held a hand up to the younger being, whom walked over to the Rake and got down on His knees, taking the Rake's hand into His own, both of them shaking on it.
"I'llllll let you knooow when I neeed your asssssisssstanccce," The Rake hissed, dragging his claws against the others pale hand gently, causing the boy to shudder as small trails of black appeared in the palm of His hand.
He stood back up and watched as the Rake crawled off into the bushes before He turned His attention to the child.
"Hey..." He said, His voice sounding smaller and weaker than He would have liked as He had never tried to converse with a human. She wiped her eyes and looked up at Him, trembling. "I'm not going to hurt you..." He assured her as He slowly approached her, getting down on His knees once again, His father having told Him that humans are frightened by things they know nothing about, and by things that are larger than them.
Perhaps by appearing to be generally the same size as her... I won't frighten her as much.
She nodded a little bit, still trembling. He reached out to offer her help. She looked at His hand and then back up at Him, nodding once again as she placed her hand into his food hand. He helped her sit up. "What's your name?"
"M-Mary..." she said, shivering. He pulled twigs and leaves off of her clothes before pulling a few small leaves from her dark brown hair. "And yours?"
"People call me 'Slender'," she nodded and looked off in the direction the Rake had left in.
"W-What was th-that?" She asked, fear radiating off of her. He looked down at her. He had never been around a human while they were frightened.
"That doesn't matter right now Mary," He said as He helped her stand up. "You shouldn't be out here all alone, you need to go home."
"Will you take me?" She asked, looking directly at Him, He was on His knees, making the two be at the same height.
"As long as it's not too far," He said as she smiled.
"It's not," she assured Him as He looked at her knees, which were scraped up and scratched, most likely from falling while running away from the Rake.
"Here," He said as He picked her up, holding her tightly in fear of dropping her. "Which way?" She pointed and He began walking.
Once the cabin was within view, He set her down on the ground. She hesitated, causing Him to gently nudge her upper back, pushing her forward slightly.
"Will I ever see you again?" She asked as she looked up at Him. He looked down at her.
"I'm not sure," He said, knowing He wasn't to be around humans in the first place, let alone talking and carrying them. "Probably so," she smiled happily and hugged His leg tightly.
"I hope so," she said as she ran back towards the house, waving good-bye as she closed the backdoor behind her.
He went back home quickly, standing in the living room as His parents scolded Him for being out for so long. He made up the excuse that the Rake had been out around humans, and that He wanted to sit down and listen to his story, which was a bit longer than he had anticipated.
Both of his parents believed the story, as it also covered the fact that He smelt like Human.
"If my parents ask, you were around humans yesterday and told me how it went," Slender told the Rake, whom was leading the boy to the locked entrance.
"You mussssn't lie tooooo your paaaaaarentsssss," the Rake replied.
"I know," He sighed, knowing that He shouldn't have lied to His parents.
"Heeeere," the Rake hissed as they came across an old mind shaft, an old tin garage door covering the entrance, a small black box at the base besides the handle. The two walked over to it. "It neeeeeeds a code," the Rake continued as the other looked at the numerical keypad, the LED screen flickering a few times before going dark, a loud click coming from the keypad.
Slender reached out and grabbed the handle, quickly pulling the door up, exposing the inside of the mine shaft to them. "Perrrrfect," the Rake chuckled before pointing to the boys' hand. "Dooooon't get infffffected," he laughed as Slender looked down into the palm of His hand, dark black lines of scabs still there, slightly raised now.
"I'll try not to," Slender said as the Rake nodded before taking off into the darkness. Slender slowly shut the door behind him before standing up and walking off, enjoying the fresh air immensely.
"Slender!" He heard a voice yell out, He turned around to find Mary running up to Him. She hugged His leg tightly. "I missed you," Mary smiled.
"It's good to see you again Mary," He said as He ran a hand through her brown hair.
"I wanted to give you something," she said as she let go of His leg, pulling something from a backpack and held it up to Him. "I drew us!" She smiled as He sat down on the ground, she sat beside Him and gave Him the drawing of the two of them as stick figures holding hands. "Do you like it?"
"I love it," He said, holding onto the paper tightly, as if someone would come up to Him and take it right out of His hands.
"You're my best friend Slender," she smiled up at Him.
"Really? I've never had a friend before..." He said, looking down at her.
"I can't wait to tell everyone about you."
"You can't."
"Can't what?" She asked.
"You can't tell anyone about me," He told her, "if you do, I'll have to move and you'll never see me again. And people will think you're sick or possessed." He said. "And you know what they do to people they think are possessed, right?" She nodded.
"They go to the church... and get hurt..." She frowned.
"Or killed," He added, "I don't want that to happen to you Mary, I don't want people to think you're a witch, or that you're possessed. So you can't tell anyone about me, okay?" He rubbed her back gently, hoping she wouldn't be mad.
"I won't tell anyone because my best friend says so, I promise I won't tell anyone," she smiled up at Him before hugging Him tightly. "I don't want you to leave, I want us to be friends forever," she smiled as she pressed her face against His chest.
"I won't go anywhere as long as you don't tell anyone of me," she nodded.
"I promise Slender," she smiled up at Him.
"Good," He said as He rubbed her back gently. Her eyes closed as she began to fall asleep. "Here, let me take you home," He said as He put the drawing in His sweater pocket before picking her up and carrying her until her house came into view.
He set her on the ground once again. "Go home and get some rest, we'll see each other again soon," He told her as she smiled and hugged Him good-bye. Slender watched as she walked into the house, vanishing from view.
Slender sat beside the river, watching Mary play from His place behind the trees, hidden amongst the shadows.
Mary giggled as she ran around in the ankle-deep water, her shoes and socks sitting on the rocks.
After a while of playing, she got out of the water and sat with Him, telling Him about school. She eventually was leaning against Him, watching the clouds.
"Mary?" A voice asked, pulling the two from their thoughts to see another young girl.
"Suzy?" Mary asked as she jumped up, surprised. Suzy stared, wide-eyed at the two of them.
"Witch!" She yelled, pointing her finger accusingly.
"No! Suzy! You don't understand!" Mary cried.
"Witches need to be burned!" Suzy shouted before running off. Mary gasped and ran after her, only to be pulled back.
"I'll go talk to her," Slender said as He sat Mary down before chasing after Suzy through the woods, quickly catching up to her and grabbing her arm.
She immediately began screaming out for help, only to have Him cover her mouth. "Ssshhh, you can't tell anyone," He begged. She shook her head, trying to get free from His grasp, crying loudly. "Please don't tell anyone," He pleaded. She wiggled and squirmed, eventually slipping out of His grasp, making it only about twenty feet before a long black tendril snapped out and wrapped itself around Suzy's neck, lifting her off the ground. "Then I'll make sure you don't tell anyone," He said, a mild static sound coming out with His words, His voice deeper and louder than usual.
Her feet kicked beneath her as if the ground was still there. Her fingers clawed at the tendril, trying desperately to be released, her lungs crying out loudly for air, her vision slowly blacking out from the outside, her peripheral vision fading away as her brain began to shut down and panic. Her blood pounded loudly in her ears, adrenaline flowing through the veins in her small body.
A sickening crack filled the air as the tendril tightened its grip on her frail neck. He watched as her body went limp in His grip. He let go of her, her body fell to the ground, blood oozing out of her mouth and dripping into the dirt below. He retracted the tendril slowly, looking down at the now-dead girl that lied in front of Him, her eyes frozen open, a look of terror plastered across the face.
He turned around to go find Mary, to find her standing behind him, tears running down her face. She looked up at Him, then over to Suzy.
"H-How could you?" She cried, "she's my sister!" She yelled at Him.
"I did what I had to do Mary, she was going to tell. You would be killed," he explained, trying to make it seem better than it actually was, but there was no way to sugar-coat this. He had killed her sister.
"You monster!" She cried out as she took off running, but He was right behind her. A long black tendril shot out, grabbing her by the waist, plucking her off of the ground to His height. She screamed and thrashed around, trying to get away.
He placed a pale hand over mouth, silencing her. Tears ran down her face, only to be wiped away by His other hand.
"I see. This is how it's going to be then," He said, a low humming sound echoed in her head. He watched as she began to couch loudly into her elbow. The tendril loosened its grip, allowing her to slip down to the ground as she continued to cough loudly. She looked up at Him, blood dripped out of both nostrils and down her lower lip before it reached her chin and dripped onto the dirt. The hum got louder and her vision began to fade in and out as nausea hit her. She was thrown into yet another coughing fit, her hand lashing out and grabbing onto his pant leg, gripping the fabric rightly, as if it would convince Him to stop.
"W-Why?" She asked, static coming from her own voice. "My own friend..." Tears ran down her face quickly, dampening the soil beneath her. He remained silent as the tendril wrapped itself around her neck, loosely at first before tightening. She gasped out for air, one hand still clutching onto His pant leg, the other scratching at the tendril, trying to loosen its grip, even for just a moment. Her lungs burnt and her brain went into overdrive, her non-essential organs shutting down to reserve the small amount of oxygen-rich blood that remained in her body, saving it for her brain, which was sending signals left and right, mainly to her arms and legs, telling them to move, to punch, to kick, to scratch, anything, but she did nothing.
Another sickening crack filled the air around them, the hand that had been scratching at the tendril fell, her grip on His pant leg loosened, hear head hung limp and lifeless. He released her from His grip, allowing her small body to slump face-first into the ground.
"Mary..." He said, the static no longer present in His voice as He started to realize what He had done. He stared down in disbelief at Mary's lifeless body, her once outstretched arm lied motionless besides His shoe. He fell to His knees, a horrible burning sensation forming in His chest as His breathing picked up. "W-What is this?" He asked, scratching at His chest through His clothes.
"Emotions," a voice said behind Him. He quickly turned around to see His father standing a few yards away. "You are still young and haven't felt certain emotions, you have felt sadness before," His father said as he walked over to his son, "but you have never experienced emotions such as grief, remorse, or despair, as you have never had to deal with death," His father explained.
"I... I don't like it. Make it go away," He pleaded as He looked up to His father, whom towered over Him. "It hurts... yet I can't rub it to make it feel better."
"I cannot make it go away son, something like this takes time to heal."
"How do you do it? How can you kill without feeling it?" Slender asked as His father got down onto his knees, rubbing the boys' back gently.
"I felt it at first, it was agonizingly painful, I went out and did it again to forget about the first time."
"Didn't you feel even worse then?"
"No, it was a way for me to release my emotions," he told Slender. "If we keep our emotions trapped inside for too long, it's never a good thing." Slender nodded, still rubbing His chest, knowing that it wouldn't make the pain go away, but it put His mind at ease a little bit. "I did exactly what you did... his name was Tommy." Slender looked up at His father. "I didn't mean to kill him, his parents saw me as I was bringing him home, I had to kill them. It was better to end Tommy's life than to make him live with the pain," Slender nodded.
"I didn't want to... I just... I just did it. My body moved before I could even think about what I was doing."
"It's a natural instinct," His father told Him. "Come, I'll help you forget about Mary," His father stood back up. The boy nodded and stood up as well.
"Okay," He said before they both vanished.
Slender sighed as His father and Him reappeared outside the house several hours later. The sound of the dozens of cracking bones and screams echoed in His mind, He didn't mind it though, He almost found it soothing. Blood clung to their clothes and skin, the red standing out bright against their pale skin.
"Your brothers are already in bed, so try to keep quiet," Slender nodded as His father slowly opened the back door, allowing the boy to slip in first.
He quickly grabbed a new pair of clothes and took a shower before throwing away the now blood-stained clothes.
Before He dropped His sweater into the trash can, He pulled the drawing out of His pocket, blood stained the paper in a few areas from where the red liquid had soaked in through His clothes.
He quickly ripped it in half before overlapping the two pieces and ripped it again, continuing until He held dozens of small scraps.
His father watched from the shadows of the house as his son dropped the pieces into the trash and walked down the hall, vanishing in to His bedroom.
Slender knew His father was there, but He was too tired to acknowledge him. He crawled into His bed and fell asleep instantly, His mind cleared of all thoughts of Mary and her sister Suzy.
But the marks on the palm of His hand would pull all the memories back into His head the following morning, saving Mary, carrying her home, giving Him the drawing, her calling Him her best friend, her smiles and giggles from when she was playing in the water, then the image of her lifeless body laying on the ground in front of Him.
His father sat on the bed besides the boy, placing a hand on His shoulder, letting his son know he was there.
"It's back," He muttered, the burning sensation returning to His chest.
"I'll help you forget," His father reminded Him. "Give me your hand," Slender stuck out His hand to His role model, the black scabs were starting to fall off, threatening to rip the pale skin open once again and spill more blood.
Slender shuddered as His father ran his fingertips over the scars, both of them watching as the scabs vanished. "Would you like to come with me today?" He asked as the boy ran His own fingertips over the palm of His hand, obviously intrigued by His father's healing abilities.
"But..." Slender looked over at the window, sunshine tried to get into the room through the dark blue curtains. "It's daytime," He said, knowing humans would be out and about, increasing the chances of them being seen.
"We'll go somewhere dark," His father assured Him. The boy looked up to him, nodding quickly. "Good," he said before they vanished.
"Humans are worthless... never get attached to one," His father ordered that evening as Slender climbed into His bed after His shower.
"I won't," Slender said before pulling the covers over Him. His father turned to leave down the hallway. "Dad?" He asked, His voice quiet, almost inaudible. His father stopped and turned to face the boy.
"Yes?"
"Can I go with you again tomorrow?" The man looked over at His son, remaining silent for a few moments before nodding.
"Of course."
"Thanks Dad," Slender said before lying down and falling asleep, the memories of the day's activities with His father filling His mind.
He couldn't wait to kill again.
A/N: Please review! This chapter took a long time to write, hence why it is so incredibly long! I love reviews, and have been working to reply to them, as I have never replied to reviews before, I never knew that you could do that!