Welcome Home, Serial Killer

Chapter 6 - The Curse

The progress was slow and almost like a bouncy ball. Unpredictable once Smile Dog started Sans onto the road for recovery from his obvious PTSD. Sometimes he'd take a step forward, then immediately bounce back.

Mostly what Smile Dog focused on was the main problem. His lack of food. He managed to get Sans to drink one cup of water per day, and eat at least one bite of something every day. Once he managed that, he convinced a few more bites. And a few more after that. Until, after some coaxing, Sans was eating one meal a day. Still not enough, but they were working on it. Now that Smile Dog was here, the skeleton should be able to start improving more better now.

He really hoped that Slenderman wouldn't return. It's a good thing he hasn't yet, or else... well, Smile Dog's presence wouldn't matter.

"Don't you want to get better?" Smile Dog asked him one morning.

"I do, I just... can't..." Sans stared down at the small bowl of soup.

"Just one more bite," Smile Dog said, "Then we can go and lay down."

Sans stared, for a moment, before shakingly bringing up his spoon for one more bite.

Sometimes his friends visited. Barely. They never tried to get inside, they always came just to check in on him. Make sure Sans wasn't dead or anything. Smile Dog didn't interact with them much, sitting just out of view and listening to their short conversations. They seemed like they were trying to fix him, in a weird way. Smile Dog couldn't describe it. Like they just wanted to reset him back to how he was before the incident. Either way, Sans would pull away.

That's what Slenderman's powers did. It made you withdraw from people around you and become isolated. Enhanced your mental illnesses until you weren't able to fight back. Lured in curiosity until you were trapped within his web. Good for finding victims, especially children.

It was sad to think about. Sans probably would have recovered much quicker if it had been any other killer. He probably would still have PTSD, but he wouldn't need Smile Dog to be here. He just got unlucky. Especially since he was just subbing for a day. That kind of thing stayed on your mind for a long time.

It was a good thing Smile Dog was the one adopted. Sans needed a CreepyPasta. To deal with Slenderman's powers. He just had to try and figure out how long he needed to be around before those powers lessened.

The easiest obstacle that they overcame was Sans' desperate need for a blanket everywhere he went. That was settled by physical contact. As long as Smile Dog was within petting and holding range, Sans wouldn't feel the need for the blanket.

Then, there was the most difficult aspect of his troubles.

Going outside.

Boy was that difficult indeed. Slenderman was affiliated with the forest, simply looking at it could send anyone under his power spiraling. Sans obviously was under that influence.

That was the thing about CreepyPasta. They knew how to overpower each other. Their souls were... he'd rather not think about it. He still wasn't sure if he wanted to tell Sans about the true extent of Slendermans powers, and why the skeleton was finding it so difficult to recover without Smile Dog specifically. 

As long as Slenderman didn't stalk Sans, of course. It'd become way more harder if he did pick Sans as a victim, but thankfully he didn't seem interested in the skeleton for now. He'd likely come back. Slenderman never just left people behind. Sans must not be interesting to him, because he hasn't come back yet.

That's exactly what Smile Dog told Sans, too. Just cutting out the detail about the possible return. Not right now.

"You don't have to be afraid," He spoke one night, lightly nudging him. "He has no interest in you."