When Wendy had first hidden in the mall, at the very beginning of Weirdmageddon, there'd been a few other people there.

A little kid with curly hair who she'd taken a moment to tell everything was going to be alright. After around fifteen minutes, when she was on the second floor, she'd heard a high-pitched scream and had kicked herself for not doing more.

She'd figured it was an Eye-Bat.

A man who looked like he was in his late fifties who'd triggered the burglar alarm in a jewelry store, likely hoping it would keep him safe. It hadn't, based on the muffled shouts for help.

She'd-she'd just figured it was an Eye-Bat.

A young woman she'd seen hiding inside a clothing rack. She had been crying, if the black streaks down her face and puffy eyes were anything to go by. From her own designated hiding spot in the food court, she'd heard the sharp clicks of someone running in high-heels, and then the feminine shrieks as the'd echoed in the halls.

That was the first hint she'd gotten that it wasn't an Eye-Bat, because the clicks of heels were acompinied by a the wet sound of something inhuman dragging itself across the floor.

Then there were others, the ones that she hadn't seen, the ones who made her feel increasingly nauseous because the noises they made kept getting closer.

She wasn't sure what would've happened if she had gone out there. Maybe she would have died. She probably would've died, she told herself.

Because what had been out there was not an Eye-Bat.

After several hours, the time between screams and shouts and the crying had increased, and as it had been a while without any sound at all (but that strange dragging, which she'd forgotten about after constantly hearing it for so long), she'd left her position in the food court.

She'd turned the corner.

She'd seen it.

It resembled a maggot, with its slimy white rings dragging across the ground. One end of it stuck up into the air, and at the end of that...

There was a head. A head whose shape was human, with a neck that came out of the end in a way that was almost funny, and Wendy wanted to laugh at it, because it was funny, wasn't it funny, wasn't it funny how she was about to die?

It didn't have a face. Just a big black hole that crooked teeth stuck out of, countless teeth. The number seemed to get bigger with every millisecond that passed.

It smelled, she noticed, as long green tongues wrapped around her arms and began to draw her closer to it. She walked foreward in a daze, and as she got close she heard a voice, a voice that sounded like everyone she'd ever met all at once say something she would never ever forget.

"You are happy."

In the end, it was that that had snapped her out of her trance, that had made her realize what was happening. She had fought the tongue around her right arm and reached down to her waist and grabbed the axe she'd kept there since the day she'd turned thirteen.

She'd hit the creature's side, and it had dissolved, leaving nothing, like it had never been there in the first place.

But it had, and sometimes when she was alone she could've sworn she heard that same voice say that same thing to her.

"You are happy."

Sometimes she'd be talking to someone, and instead of saying something normal, it'd sound like they would say it, the line that haunted her dreams.

"You are happy."

She'd been speaking with Stan when it happened for what felt like the millionth time, and even though she knew that wasn't really what he'd said (Stan was the last person she'd think would tell people what to feel) she'd shouted at him.

"I'm not happy!"

The old man had looked taken aback by her suddenness. His eyes, wich had been sparkling mischievously, amused by their playful banter and clearly ready with quite a few retorts, were now filled with concern.

"Never said you were. You don't have to be happy to be a bean pole. You okay kid? Wait, that's a stupid question, you just said you weren't happy. How are things...with your dad?"

Wendy couldn't breathe. She'd just said she wasn't happy and Stan didn't seem to be mad. Wasn't she supposed to be happy? Wasn't everyone supposed to be happy all the time?

A voice in the back of her head said that wasn't the way the world worked, that it wasn't true, but the rest of her brain didn't believe it.

"They're fine." She assured him, not meeting his gaze.

"You sure? You're not just saying that 'cause that's what you're supposed to say?"

"Yeah."

"Alright, then...what about other kids? They picking on you?"

"No? What is it, then? Whatever it is, I'll understand. Or I won't, in wich case you're gonna want to talk to ether Ford or Mabel, depending on what it is."

"None of you can understand!"

"You won't even let me try, though. I could understand. I been through some weird stuff."

"You weren't there! Why aren't you mad?"

"So you're doing this thing Ford does sometimes, when he's trying to expain something, but failing because he's leaving holes where the explaination part should be."

"It was during-," Wendy choked. Was she crying? "Weirdmageddon -,"

"Crap."

"What?"

"I-uh, triangle man was full of crap, you hear me?"

"It's not about him, it's-it's about something else. A thing, a big thing, a big...thing...,"

She really was crying, wasn't she?

"Hey, hey, kid, Wendy, listen. It's okay. It's okay."

"Why aren't-why aren't you mad at me? Aren't I supposed to be happy?"

"About some stupid thing you saw during the literal apocalypse? No, not unless you're some kinda crazy person. Are you a crazy person?"

"It-it said I should be happy. It said I was-was...happy."

"Well, you know, I'm gonna let you in on a little secret everyone but you seems to know. Those things are liars. You want to talk about it? Fine. You don't? Also fine. Dipper's been talking our ears off 'bout his days in the woods, bet you can confide in him. Mabel's good at hugs. Ford's seen plenty of horrifying stuff that messes with your head. As for me, I got some good old fashioned jokes for you. Just, you know, remember, you feel what you feel, and that's fine."

Wendy nodded and rubbed at her eyes, and she really was happy.