Buggre all this for a Larke

"We all try to be somebody,
But the world around us makes it so cloudy
When we don't trust when we're supposed to.
But the blood on our hands says we're not close to
The answer yet."



Been a few days. So much sadness around this week. Hylo really cheered me up with the story of her bizarre dream, but, as per usual for times like these, a good mood simply does not last... until this happened, and I got some of my mojo back. It was unexpected and slightly alarming, but I got a very nice vent out of it. Being halfway across the country from him/her didn't hurt either.

Like I said before - sometimes we need to go up against something in order to define ourselves.


But anyway. With a few suggestions from Jean, I've been doing a bit of research in my spare time, trying to figure out what's so different about Michelle. Because she had known about Slenderman for, like, a scant month before she started getting stalked. And not just the background viewings, I mean full-forced haunted. If research from people like Maduin and Jay are anything to go by, that's pretty unusual, especially considering she only showed a moderate level of interest to begin with. She was never paranoid, she never had delusions. She just thought it was an interesting story and then BAM. Everything happening at once.

So, for starters, here is the "devil" picture I found:

Cheery, eh?

It was crumpled up in a ball and shoved under Michelle's bed, way far to the back. From that, it doesn't take a shrink to gather that she didn't like this image, even moreso than the other drawings I found, but I also get the feeling that she didn't want to throw it out either. Why keep it so close, otherwise? Why not just throw it out entirely?

Normally I'd take the take the text at the top of the picture out of hand. After all, "devil"? What? I'm an open-minded person when it comes to most other things, but unless I meet the guy myself, I view Satan as nothing more than a construct perpetuated by those who wanted to spread fear as a means of gaining power.

However, since it was this picture that got a reaction from Christian (I suddenly see why he hates his name), I figure it must have something to do with something. I don't know why some book I've never heard of would mean anything to a proxy, or to Slender for that matter, but it's the only lead I've got right now.

But alas, no matter where you search, the words "devil" and "book" put together in the same sentence will (somehow) always land you with a bible of some kind. So... bibles are what I looked at.

First up, we have the standard "Wicked Bible", or Bible Errata. However, this is nothing but a misprinted copy of the regular Bible from from the 15th century. It lacked a negative adverb in the 7th Commandment.

Hardy har.

 Amusing, but I doubt this is what I'm looking for.


Somewhat more likely an option is the infamous Codex Gigas, the largest book in the world. According to legend, a monk was faced with some horrible punishment, so to avoid that punishment, he promised to write the world's largest book in one night. Around midnight he realized that this was impossible, so he bargained with the devil to get the job done.

It's got a picture of the horned dude right up front as a tribute, or so they say.

This is actually pretty interesting. It's more or less the unabridged encyclopedia of its time. It has a complete copy of both Old and New Testaments, numerous medical recipes (some genuine, others cracked), and advice on common problems like catching a thief. And it's divided into 11 sections, so from a purely genre-aware standpoint, I wouldn't be surprised if this was it.

But.

First off, as far as I'm able to tell, there aren't any print copies of this book in production, and the original is at a museum somewhere. So I doubt Michelle ever had it in her possession, let alone had it disposed of when she was young. Secondly, although the book is interesting, I still fail to see what it has to do with anything Slender-related. There was a download of the translated text available, and I've been skimming through the non-bible parts, but I haven't found anything worth mentioning.


So, failing those two avenues, I started researching Satanism. I felt ridiculous while doing so too, though it's worth mentioning that the belief system is, surprisingly, just as sound as that of any other religion (aka, moderate). But that was just far too broad for me to even make a dent in finding any sort of "devil book". Too many denominations, too many opinions, and next to zero actual printed text books. I'm still looking, but... damn, I hope I come up with another lead soon. O_o

This picture is kind of hilarious, and the illogic does not detract from the bizarre truthfulness. XD

Fact is, I may be heading down the wrong road altogether. Michelle had this book in her house when she was, like, five. It gave her horrific nightmares for years until her parents finally got rid of the thing. Whatever was in it has to be long gone by now, so if it was at all important, I don't see how it could be put to further use at all, not even by knowing the topic. Besides, I may enjoy reading, but I'm hardly what you'd call a bibliophile. I'm not equipped to do this kind of searching. I'll keep trying, mind. Don't get me wrong. And any input you guys might have is exceedingly welcome. But at this point I'm not expecting to find much, at least much that would be actually useful.

Bah. I just don't know what to do other than... keep looking around, I guess. She's out there somewhere. She has to be.

I can't let myself think otherwise.




Oh, and Kay, I'll probably stop over sometime later this week. Just fyi.