i have prion disease

Shaun Andersen is the secondary main character of one of my favorite things ever made, MLAndersen0. It's a slenderverse series made by Dylan Sindelar back in 2011, and is set to get an ending at... some point. But anyways-

We only initially hear about Shaun through her older brother Michael, and when we first get to see her, she doesn't make the most fantastic first impression ever. Her and her friend, Eric, post a video onto Michael's Youtube channel, with Eric (basically) claiming that Michael is nuts and can't be trusted. By this point in the series it's become obvious to viewers that Slenderman is, in fact, A Real Dude and something that has been following Michael around his whole life, but Eric is obviously unconvinced (this bites him in the ass later because he was a massive dickhead.) While Shaun does push back against Eric a little at first, she quickly folds and agrees to the "intervention" (posting the video to Michael's channel.)

An interesting part comes when we watch a little further in, and it becomes clear that Shaun has also seen Slenderman, alongside Michael, but is in denial that it exists, choosing instead to side with someone who doesn't see it at all (Eric.) The two siblings grew up separately, with Michael being institutionalized at a young age over claims that he broke Shaun's arm and leg. We don't entirely know what really happened, but it can be safely assumed that 1. Shaun, on some level, knows Slenderman is real, but is afraid to admit it, and 2. was either attacked by Slenderman itself, or by Michael / Patrick (we'll get to him) potentially in a warped state of mind because of Slenderman. The strained relationship between the two only becomes more obvious.

As the two siblings butt heads more, Michael ends up drugging Shaun and bringing her to their attic. Michael tries to explain to Shaun how awful being locked away was, how Shaun knows Slenderman is real because they both saw it as children, and how he needs her on his side because it won't go away by just trying to forget. Shaun, despite this, keeps pleading to Michael to forget, and putting the blame onto him, referring to him as a "Virus." Despite Michael's best efforts, Shaun seems convinced the only way to "survive" dealing with Slenderman is to live in denial, as she does. This is despite the fact that numerous times throughout the series to this point, Slenderman directly affects her and the video footage, showing that Shaun's method doesn't really work... even for her. The Video ends with Michael pushing Shaun to the floor, shaking her shoulders as Slenderman stands behind them both, saying "I need you to tell me that you see it too."

This confrontation prompts Shaun into running away entirely, from both Michael and Eric. She does not disclose where she is or leave a note, only continuing to prompt Michael to "forget" in yet another video: "It's not going to stop until you forget about it, and you need to forget about it, to save us all." Eventually, Michael does find out where Shaun is, being tipped off by someone in town. When Shaun is found and confronted, Michael tells Shaun that he had been contemplating ending it all because nobody is there for him when he needs them. Shaun replies that she does love Michael, and she cares about him, but that she does not want to be involved with Slenderman, because it could kill her. Michael tells Shaun that she's "just like mom and dad," and Shaun is rendered speechless, reacting with silent horror. Michael seems to realize he took a step too far (?) and tells Shaun that nothing will go wrong, he just needs Shaun to be there with him, and they will support each other. Shaun, finally, agrees, under the stipulation that nothing goes wrong... which things immediately do. Despite this, Shaun doesn't back out of being "involved" past this point. While Michael does manage to convince Shaun to return, the moment she agrees, she falls into a state of extreme, incapacitated pain, begging for Michael to help or kill her. Shortly after, there is a video of "Michael" (almost certainly Patrick) standing over Shaun's bed with a knife, seemingly considering killing her in her sleep. Michael quickly becomes lucid again and backs away horrified, and Shaun wakes up at the very end of the video. Because of this, Shaun and Eric make Michael go into a 72-hour watch at the institution.

As a result, we get to properly meet Patrick for the first time, who attacks Eric and threatens to kill him, and subsequently proceeds to tie Shaun up in their basement, locking her in the dark with a knife to free herself.

(Note: I will retroactively be using they/them for Stormy, as their actor is nonbinary and uses those pronouns as well.)

After this point, Shaun discovers that Michael had a friend in the same mental institution at one point, who ended up in Denver alongside them: Stormy. Shaun goes to meet them and ask questions about Michael and Patrick, but Stormy is generally unhelpful and short with her. We later learn the reason why: Patrick, while in control, forced Stormy into telling a series of specific, misleading information to Shaun. Shaun encounters Patrick not long after this, where Patrick seems much more forlorn and quiet. He apologizes for what he did to Stormy, and he apologizes for Jersey- something Shaun doesn't understand, because neither of them live in Jersey, or have been there any time recently.

Shaun then returns to Stormy's dorm room, where Stormy snaps and chews her out, telling Shaun the truth of how terrible it had been for them, and blaming her for not being there when Michael needed her.

"No! You couldn't have done anything! He'd hit me, too. And it only got worse when he ran away. As soon as he didn't have you, everything was on me. The blame... He would have told you everything he knew, then and there. But then you had to run the fuck away! And then he forces me to contact you. Jesus Christ, wasn't he forceful about it!

Do you even know why he had me do that? It was, word for word, to scare you. I tried to help a friend, I tried to help Michael. And it leads to me being haunted, beaten, verbally abused, and scared for my fucking life. I don't sleep much anymore, nah, I can't. And this is all because you didn't have the patience to wait at home and help your fucking brother!"

Shaun responds by saying that Stormy should have told her, and that she would have protected them, despite not knowing them personally. She says that "maybe together, we can fix this." After a break in the confrontation, Stormy leaves the room because of a phone call from their uncle in Jersey, prompting Shaun's curiosity due to what Patrick had said before. When they don't respond, Shaun roams the room, finding a USB drive left by (presumably) Patrick. When Stormy returns, Shaun presses Stormy and suspects them of lying further.

This is cut short when both are attacked by Slenderman. First, Stormy is badly hurt, bleeding from the mouth, and when Shaun tries to locate Patrick, who she assumes is there, Slenderman appears behind her, throwing her into a wall. We later find out from the video description that Shaun ended up staying at Stormy's dorm for a few days because she was badly injured.

After this point, Shaun and Stormy begin to live together, and at some point begin a romantic relationship. For a long time neither Michael nor Patrick return, with the two living alone in Shaun's house. However, this tense peace doesn't last forever. First, Stormy begins having dreams of Michael appearing, telling them that they're going to die. Later, a bloodied Patrick appears in Shaun's car, further warning Shaun that "Stormy is going to die." Patrick is freezing, and when Shaun goes to get him a blanket, Patrick disappears without a trace. Stormy ends up locking themself in the house and refusing to leave, as both wait for Michael / Patrick to return.

Months later, after Shaun and Stormy have settled into something somewhat stable, things seem almost okay. But someone is still missing. One night, as Shaun is wandering through a residental area at night, Patrick appears to her, and tells her to stay under the streetlights, that the dark isn't safe. Shaun is confused, asking Patrick many questions that go mostly unanswered. He tells Shaun that he's seen Shaun and Stormy both die many times before, and prompts them both to lock their doors and stay safe. He then says that they'll probably see Slenderman again, before seemingly vanishing into the night.

Shaun and Stormy spend time together, with Stormy jokingly saying that they're going to cut Shaun's hair off, much to her protest. Shaun also shows Stormy how to solve a Rubix cube, and plays a prank on them near the crawlspace by popping out wearing a dog head. Stormy finds a music box- one that belonged to Shaun and Michael's mother, and enjoys it. They also find a plush bear that says "I love my mom" that Shaun seems protective of, and Shaun gives them a replacement camera since they'd been fiddling with hers. This may be the point in which the "virus" affects Stormy, as Michael says in another video that "you pick up a camera and that's how it starts."

Several more months seem to pass, and Michael suddenly returns to the home, saying he's "better." He elaborates that he had been in another institution for a while, and it had been helping him, before suddenly waking up a few months ago outside of the institution and having no idea where he is. Despite the strange circumstances, all three of them (Shaun, Stormy, and Michael) begin to live together. For all three, things seem to be getting better.

Things don't last, though. One day, as Shaun is grocery shopping, she gets a call from Michael saying that Slenderman attacked him and Stormy. She rushes home, finding a bloodied Michael who tells her that it took them away to the crawlspace. Shaun runs down the stairs calling their name, going into the dark crawlspace as the music box plays from somewhere deeper inside. She encounters Slenderman, as well as Stormy's body, and both her and Michael drag her from the space in a frenzy.

Stormy is dead. Where Michael reacts with deep sadness and seclusion, Shaun seems to close up entirely, demanding Michael for the location of the clockhands. They end up driving out to the North East, to New Jersey as Patrick once mentioned, to find them. During this, Michael says that him and Shaun have "grown closer as [siblings]" but that they still cannot talk about Stormy. Shaun doesn't even seem to be able to say their name. Despite Michael claiming that most things are well despite both "having their moments," there is a later shot with Michael in the dark, pleading to a closet to please come out and stop crying, and that it's "just the dark, Shaun." Whether Shaun is actually in the closet or it's a memory of childhood is unclear. Shaun evidently spirals harder as time goes on, tearfully yelling at Michael when he gently pushes resistance, though she doesn't seem fully closed off just yet. Later, when they get to their crummy motel room, both clear the air mocking it and its total shittiness. It's very funny.

Things only get worse from here. One day as they are searching for the hands, they return to the car, only for Shaun to find out the hard way that Stormy's corpse has somehow been stuffed into the trunk of their car. When Michael tries to prod, Shaun murmurs to him "please. not now."

Shortly after, they manage to locate one of the hands, with Michael passing out nearby because of its effects. Shaun manages to locate it and rebury it off-camera. When Michael is back in the motel, he touches Stormy's necklace, and seems to have a vision of something unknown, violently convulsing and bleeding from the nose. Shaun runs to him, cleaning up his face and getting the necklace away from him. Michael tries to explain what he saw, mentioning having a sister for a moment before going quiet in confusion.

Shaun suggests that Michael hold the hand they'd found in order for him to potentially be able to locate the other. When Michael rejects this, saying it could kill him, Shaun snaps completely. She yells at him up close, telling him that he'd ruined her life, and "everything good." She decides to go and try to find the hand on her own, telling Michael that she doesn't need him.

This leads her into the hands of HABIT, who is from another Slenderverse series. Vinny, another person being tormented by Slenderman, tells Shaun that he may have information that could help her, and Shaun goes to his house. While she's reluctant to come inside, she does eventually oblige, with Vinny making them both Sleepytime Tea. The name is literal in this case, considering Vinny drugged it. After making sure she drinks the tea, both end up passing out, despite Shaun's best efforts to escape while fighting the effects of the medicine. When she wakes up, she is in the attic of Vinny's house, face-to-face with HABIT.

HABIT pries Shaun for information- on the location of the clockhands, and of Michael's location. He claims that Michael is not really human, does not care about her, claiming that Michael uses a "meat shield" of people around him to protect himself.

"He doesn’t care about you, Shaun. He never has. I’d say he’s a sociopath, but only humans can really be those and I don’t really think he applies.The things he’s done to survive, oh they’re unspeakable, awful, heartless things! ‘Let me keep my [sister] close’ you wanna know why? ‘So I can push [her] in front of the gnashing wall that comes crashing down around me.’"

"Ooh. Best friends, now they’re an issue. They like to talk sense! Sensical! Mm, that’s scary! You wouldn’t be as trusting of your brother when there’s someone pointing out every awful thing that he fucking does! Every insane fucking plot! So what does he do? What does he do, Shaun? Knocks [Eric] out with an axe and almost lights him on fire!"

"Do you want to know what your loving brother did, Shaun? He fed [Stormy] to it. Oh yes. It was coming for him, the clock was ticking down, it was his time. But he’s smart! He’s learned! He thinks! So what does he do? He grabs [them] when you’re not looking and he throws [them] to it. And it accepts gladly! It knows his game! And it loves it! So it tore [them] apart, Shaun. Oh, not in ways that you could see. Not in ways of the flesh and bone."

Despite HABIT's attempts, Shaun doesn't budge or give up any information. She does become visibly distressed, yelling at HABIT that "it's not true" and "you don't know him." After the many minutes of torment, HABIT tells Shaun that he already knew where Michael was, and how to get the hands. That Shaun's purpose here was to be bait, and to have her mind broken.

It's not shown on camera, but it's revealed in the next EverymanHYBRID video that Shaun had been cut into pieces with a chainsaw. The conclusion to MLAndersen0 has not been made yet, but Patrick has appeared in numerous other series, commenting on Shaun's death with sadness, and regarding HABIT with both hatred and fear.