Speaker 1: Hello and welcome. Sit back and settle in, and let's
get into her It's wait right whatever, might as well
check it out. Haven't seen a horror movie that's actually
scared me in a while. That was the last tax
Lizzie sent me before she went missing. I know it's irrational,
but I I hate myself for not doing something and
for not stopping her. But how was I supposed to know?
You know, how could I have anticipated anything that was
going to happen? After the film or whatever the hell?
It has made its way into us more Town like
a plague. Only a few days ago, twelve people bought
tickets for it. Twelve people are now missing. Among them
was Lacey, my girlfriend for over two years. At the
risk of sounding like that guy, our future was looking
nothing but promising. We had plans, I mean we did
until mister fucking blank showed up. This is nowhere near
a conventional missing person's case. Of course, the rabbit hole
goes deeper here, and honestly, the details simply don't make
any sense From what I managed to dig up. This
is a general time nine of what had happened. An
option to buy tickets for the film shows up at
one of the three theaters in our tam, which is
about a twenty minute walk from the house, only that one,
and it wasn't available online, only at the front counter
of the theater itself. It wasn't supposed to be in
the regular rotation. Also, none of the employees of the
theater were informed about any special screenings. They simply came
in and saw that it replaced a five thirty p
and slot for a prexisting film. They didn't question it because,
I mean, why would they. The first and only screening
is at five thirty p m. On that day. I mean,
the theater was the busiest, but it wasn't empty either.
Of course, those people ought to skip it given the
lack of any information regarding the film, But that being said,
the only people who bought tickets were younger, likely curious
about the odd title. The film lasted about nine and
ten minutes, with all the previous and credits, considered pretty
short for a feature. Right at six forty p m.
An employee entered the theater for clean up duty, but
he found were rose and rows of empty seats, drink
up still in the holders, pop qunlittered all over the floors,
no blood no signs of a struggle. Nobody had left
or entered the theater after the film had begun. Its
confirmation from security cameras, the theater itself had no camera inside,
so that part remains a mystery. The screen allegedly consisted
of nothing but a dog static I mean, that's what
we were told. At least. I have a feeling that
some details were left out from there, considering the fact
that the employees in question, her now missing as well,
also rumored to have gone into a catatonic state after
being questioned. The manager of the theater, who never greeted
the employees that morning as he usually did, was found
dead in his office with severe wounds around his neck
left from a postic by clock that was likely used
to strangle him. And a new employee was hired about
three weeks prior. The other employees described him as quite
but a nice guy. He was working the day of
the incident. You guessed it. He's missing as well, also
suspect number one in the investigation. However, they're really grasping
for straws at that one. I wouldn't doubt that this
employee had something to do with it, but the logistics
behind the whole situation just incohesive enough to make the
cull for sure some additional details. No copy of the
film has been frowned, No progress has been made in
the search for the missing people. I mean, it hardly
seem like they're even trying. The local cops have been
strangely hushed about the whole thing, almost like they don't
want people asking about it. They illeterally threatened to arrest
me and I kept pressing them for details. There's been
a lot of vehicles with tinted windows park nearer the theater,
surrounding areas, some even in my own community. And well,
that's the whole situation. I can't focus on anything right now,
my brains scattered and my anxiety is going through the roof.
Sue me, what the hell do you expect? At least
he has to be out there somewhere, right, And how
the hell is somebody just supposed to disappear to thin air?
What the hell kind of film is mister blank Pright?
Getting a headache just thinking about it. My initial grief
has been replaced more so by confusion and anger. I
might just start searching for Antos myself. I won't be alone, though, Rose,
Lacey's best friend, and like her brother, just as bent
on figuring this out as I am. I'm not going
in blind though. In fact, I have two leads. Once
more of a shot in the dark, what the other
the other should lead us somewhat concrete. I'll start off
with the former. A few weeks ago, I remember my
little brother telling me about a strange man he so
carved into a tree. It was allegedly accompanied by messy
and frantic repetitions of the words stop around it and
think anything about it at the time, But I mean
it might be relevant now, maybe not. We'll see. The
other came up while I was searching for answers online.
After feverishly posting about the film on what I consider
to be relevant forms and yielding no answers, somebody finally
messaged me about it, claiming that they had information that
I might like to know. Luckily, there were only a
three hour drive from here, and they are willing to
meet me half way. Is this a bad idea? Probably
I am. I going to look what I find. Probably not,
But the thought of Lacey being out there and god
knows what kind of fucked up situation I just can't
take it. I'm not letting at end like this and
we're off. The person who'd messaged me online name screen
grabber twenty two told me to call him Jay, and
he's agreed to meet up at a diner in town
about an hour away from us to away from him.
He seemed genuine enough thought I was talking to him online,
but intentions can be hard to ascertain over text. Was
short still worth a shot. I guess I'll do anything
to figure this out. Mike was all in from the
get go. I suppose I felt safer with him around,
given the fact that he stood about six foot two
and two hundred plus pounds boost in a six hundred
fifty pound dead lift. Obviously, he didn't like the idea
that something had happened to his sister. I mean, hell,
I had to stay on my toes just to stop
him from knocking me out when he found out that
Lacey and I were first eating. He was also pissed
as hell had both of his parents for being so
complaisant about the situation and that the cops were not
yielding any results. On the other hand, Rose was worried
about the situation at first. I can blame really if
she was weird, but at the end of the day,
we all really wanted to find Lacy enough so to
venture off into what was about sensibly a dangerous and
known The drive was an eventful, which I suppose was
a good thing. Had the feeling that the humdrum nature
of our little trip wasn't going to last. Though. What's
he d place, Mike stated as he stepped out of
the vehicle, And I couldn't disagree. Flickering fluorescent lights, peeling
paint in a nearly empty parking lot, a place that
truly hadn't caught up with the times. Fod is probably
bullshitting about knowing anything, Mike continued. If he got us
out here to try something, I'll blow off some steam
by stomping the shit in. I expected nothing less from him,
anything to finally see. But don't do anything stupid. I
know you're ginna, Ross said, before taking the lead and
heading towards the entrance. Hey wait up, Mike called out,
running after me. I took a deep breath for following suit.
This was happening. We were taking matters into our own hands.
The place was sparsely populated, inside, about six other people
in total. Green Hoodie black hat, I muttered to myself.
Jay's outvir choice apparently didn't take long to spot him.
I was relatively relieved upon realizing that he was on
the younger side. He looked slightly older than us, probably
early twenty's, lateeens. Nothing terribly noteworthy about his appearance. A
skinny guye with medium, lank, dirty blonde hair, Jaye, I
asked approaching his table. When he looked up, I realized
that there was something off about him his eyes. He
looked a little unhinged. Lucky, though that's a strong way
of describing it. I guess that there's a reason why.
That was the first word that popped into my head.
When Mike People's mates, he gave me a slight smile
before awkwardly gesturing for us to sit so, he said,
taking a sip of his coffee, His movements were rather jittery.
You want to know about the movie, we all nodded
at once. He let out a weird noise, like something
halfway between a sneer and a cough. But why, how
do you even know about it? To begin one? Does
it matter why Mike spoke up? We just want to know.
Don't tell me you're just about to waste our time.
He tended to get quite dramatic. Sometimes I'll tell you
what you need to know, Jay said, after a few
moments of silence. All right, get on with it. You
guys need to drop it. Stop thinking about it. Christ
Mike said, what the hell did I just say? I'm
not wasting your time? She responded, saving your lives. This
is Mike seemed to be reaching his wits end, which
wasn't hard to get to, mind you. Rose chimed in,
what do you mean? She said, Look, our friend went missing.
We're not leaving without something. Please. Her tone was a
lot softer, which seemed to calm Jay down. Sorry to happen,
he said, But I don't think you're going to find
son of a bitch, Mike said, slamming the table. Jay
flinched at the action. Look, I've given you the best advice.
I can leave it alone. If thus the case, you
wouldn't have agreed to meet up. There's clearly something that
you feel we should know. I said, no. She shook
his head. If I left it like that, you would
have kept digging deeper. I called you here to convince
you to let it go. Not going to happen. Mike said, so,
either you tell us something or you say good bye
to your teeth. I ignore him. I chimed in, but
you got to tell us something ogah, like, what the
hell mister blank is supposed to be? I was getting desperate.
My hopes had been spiked, perhaps to an unreasonably high degree,
but I still wasn't prepared to just leave it at that.
I needed something like a tea. Jay's bottom lit quivered
just slightly. Upon hearing a question. He's he muttered. It
looked as if he could hardly muster up an answer.
He looked terrified, which in turn terrified me. At one point,
it seemed as if he were about to cry, but
he took a deep breath, seemingly calming himself down. So
you guys aren't going to let this go? I shook
my head. How are we supposed to you? He cut
his tongue a frustrated tone. His previous face of distress
moult into something more comparable to anger, as if the
whole situation was beginning to bother him. Something great, okay, ok,
I guess he forced my hand. He whispered something under
his breath sounded relatively aggressive. Truth be told. Day's reservation
towards the situation was only spiking my interest even more,
mostly so afraid of he gestured towards the exit. Follow me,
I'll show you something. It was nearly a mutter follow you,
I thought, all right, then, I'm not a total idiot.
O K. The red flags were sticking out like a
sore thumb's. But the end of the day, I suppose
this is exactly what we were asking for. In my pocket,
I gret this the letter, and I from it. Lad
At Lacey had gotten me a few months back, just
in case, you know. With all of us on high alert,
we walked out of the diner and began following Jay's
beat up cheap. The subsequent drive wasn't long, probably only
three or four minutes, an inherent symptom of small towns,
I guess. He led us to a small motel. Looked
kind of dingy, but not terribly so. Nevertheless, it was
another cause for concern. He only leaved two hours away.
I stayed the night, he sighed as he exited his vehicle,
gesturing us up the stairs. He ascended three floors and
walked past a few doors before arriving in his room.
Mike and Rose walked in first, and I followed the mistake,
So what do you want to do? Before I could
even finish my sentence, my vision went black. I'm not
sure how long I was not there for, but when
I came to, I was lying on the couch, no
saying splitting edick, you always wake Mike's booming voice from
like a hammer to my brain. I looked up and
saw he was holding Jaye in a headlock. There was
a baseball bout lying a few feet away from them.
Brose was standing at the foot of the couch, looking
relieved that I wasn't dead. I thank god, She said,
you won't be thanking anybody once he shows up trying
to save you. Fucking hid it, Jay rasped up, struggling
for air. What happened wasn't exactly a mystery. Jay had
tried taking my head off with the dam bat. It's
my brain still reeling. I pulled myself off the couch
and approached him, all while he struggled against Mike's Pythonike arms.
So I said, still wincing, what the fuck was that?
She's face was starting to go beat red, so I
gestured for Mike to loosen his grip. He started panting
like hell upon being released. Who the hell is mister blank?
I asked, I'll ask you one more time, but you
won't explain to the copse what the hell you just
focking assaulted me. His expression had changed drastically, not so
angry any more. He looked more defeated. I tried, he said,
in a hoarse voice. Try to do what save you? People?
Save me? What the hell was your plan? Knock us out?
And then what? I don't know, he said, nearly in hysterics.
I panicked, didn't know what to do, but I had
to get you guys to stop. Somehow you force me
to I get it now, Mike said, you're a crazy guy.
We've been talking of a psycho. Good job, guys, Was
that it? I thought to myself. We just wasting our
time talking to the guy who clearly got off the
deep end. I wasn't so sure. I had encounters with
criminally in seeing people before. My father had worked security
in psych Ward and I had visited there a few
times before. This guy, he just didn't fit the bill.
I suppose his words sounded genuine. Of course, I couldn't
know for sure, so I remained cautious. Jace lumped against
the wall, tilting his head back against it. I never
could escape, he said, I don't think anybody ever does. Who.
I asked, hardly expecting the answer I was about to receive.
He looked over at me directly, mister Blank. His voice quivered.
It seemed as if merely saying his name caused him
a great deal of discomfort. I know I come from
what even is? He kept quiet as he talked. We
were finally getting what we came here for. He's incomprehensible.
Imagine the worst was visceral nightmare you ever had. That's
nothing compared to an encounter with him. You cannot run him,
you can't kill him, can't deal with him in any way,
and once he's after you, he won't stop. You just
have to pray that you never meet him. The look
of absolute grief suddenly washed to Very's face. But it's
too late. Now you've tried to hide yourself. He's already
on his way. You want to elaborate on that, I asked.
He smirked at the question. It was one that had
sat all me to my core. The smile wasn't one
of joy relief, not even close. It was more comparable
to smile that somebody in great pain would make upon
learning that their misery would soon be coming to an end.
Shouldn't spoke in his name again? I guess it doesn't matter.
It's the end of the line for me. Suddenly, as
if a man possessed, he drilled his elbow into Mike's
root and began scrambling away from him. He barreled passed
me in into the washroom, and before I could even
try to stop him myself, he locked himself in there. Shit,
he muttered, began banging on the bathroom door. The hell
are you doing? I tried talking some sense into you.
This is my punishment for failing. What are you talking about?
Come on, we'll figure it out. Can't deal with what's
happening next, he said through the wood. My nightmares end here.
I pray that your suffering ends up being less in mine.
I'll pray for your friend as well. I suggest you
do the same. Come on, don't don't do anything stupid.
Too late, I heard his body slump to the ground.
Moments later, when he finally got the door open, Jay
was lying limp on the floor with an empty unlabeled
pill bottle beside him. Fucking hell, mother, said Geez. Rose added,
looking understandably horrified. What the hell do we do now?
Do we call the cots of something? Fuck? No, Mike replied,
I'm not dealing with that. I didn't find a guide themselves.
He overdosed, simple as that. He turned to me, now, pleading,
are you I touched the back of my head dry,
I shook my head. No good, no blood, no suspicion.
Mike said, Let's get the hell out of here. Then
that's not how it works. He also busted a bathroom
door down, Remember, I said. He seemed to think for
a moment before coming to his final, profound conclusion. Fuck it.
I I have my own reservations about leaving the situation
the way that it was, but Mike was already out
the door before I could even say anything else. In
the moment, there was nothing I could do but follow him.
Then call it selfish that the situation was beyond helping
at that point, if you asked me, I felt somewhat
responsible for Jesus death. But if you asked me if
I felt somewhat responsible for Jay's death, I would have
answered an affirmative. The feeling in my stomach as we
walked to the car it wasn't a good one. The
drive back was relatively silent. We'd gotten next to no answers,
had a hell of a lot more questions, and I
just witnessed a fucking suicide. On top of that, there
was somebody following us. I don't think either mic or
Rose had noticed that the driver was doing a good
job of being discreet after all. Suddenly I remember the
sketchy vehicle that had been parked around town. I looked
back to the vehicle in up tinted windows. I don't
think I'm going to tell them there was a really
high abrought panic. Prowley isn't going to help us here.
One thing's for sure, though, This situation has gotten a
lot more complicated. Is this asshole really following us? Unfortunately
they noticed fit I'm mad it. This wasn't good. Nevertheless,
both Mike and Rose were being rational about it, nain.
Although they were both visibly worried, they seemed to understand
that freaking out wasn't going to help ignore them. It's
okay if they keep following us once we get into town,
then I'll call the cops. Hang on, Rose began, you
don't think they saw us leaving the apartment? Do you
probably did? Why? Stupid question on my part. We totally
left a dead guy in there. Shit, Mike shouted, upon
realizing maybe it's the cops themselves tilling us. That's so
dumb for so many reasons, Rose responded, why would cops
be following us? To begin with? Who the hell knows
what cops are thinking? They can't pin it on us, right,
we didn't do anything. They don't know that. They can
argue that we forcibly shove the pills down in the
road and left. Why would we do that? I don't know, Rose,
What the hell does it? Anybody do anything? All right,
fucking relax? I raised my voice just a bit. They
aren't Copp's, Mike. That's ridiculous, ougaire copp expert. Then who
is it? Mike responded. I didn't have an answer, but
I knew one thing was probably for sure. Whoever was
following us was probably worse news than the police trying
to shake him off. Mike told me, yea, no way
in hell. I'm not a fucking stunt driver, as I
had hoped. The vehicle trailed off once we got into town.
As much as I appreciated the initial relief, this just
meant we had another thing to worry about, another lingering issue.
I fought back to the unfamiliar cars tinted windows that
had been parked of round Town. I didn't think about
it too much at the moment, but the vehicle they'd
been telling us had also been tinted kit. I thought,
this whole situation is getting a bit too complicated for
my liking, not that this was an enjoyable experience to
begin with. We parked at a nearby gas station, not
wanting to reveal where any of us lived just yet,
I still couldn't quite shake the feeling that we were
being followed after all. Of course, Mike was against us.
These motherfuckers probably know where we live already, he said,
I say, let him come my shotgun. We need to
get duston off. Okay, come down there, ramble. Rose replied,
before you get yourself killed. Let's come up with a plan,
an actual plan. We ended up driving over to Mike's
apartment after a few eventful eyos, but before we could
come up with anything at all, Mike and Rose ended
up passing out I had no idea how they found
it in themselves to sleep after everything that had happened.
I simply couldn't. Paranoia was also starting to creep up
on me, causing me to constantly check the street to
see if anybody was out there waiting for us. But
as the night went on, nobody showed up. Either that
or they were. They were doing a hell of a
good job at being discreet, but eventually it's come to
fatigue myself. I woke up next to the windows, the
sun stinging my eyes. Mike was cooking up breakfast, sausages
and pop tarts in the kitchen. Breakfast of champions. I
suppose bouquet, Mike said through a mouthful of pork. Last
night was buck. What's next? I suppose it was time
for a shot in the dog forests. Mike and Rose
went too intheist in the idea. I could hardly blame them, However,
our options were running relatively slim, no other avenues to
really investigate graffiti in the forest. They're getting desperate Mike's hide,
putting his head down, but he got up after a
few moments, grabbing for his jacket. Desperate. It is I
never really like the forest place always spook me as
a kid. I mean, I can't say I'm too fond
of it as an adult. ADA just feel so coastrophobic,
you know, surrounded by dead trees, but exposed at every
conceivable angle. Maybe I'm just weird, I tried, suppressed his thoughts.
When we walked in, Where did your brother say you
found it? Rose asked near the creek? Very specific, Mike said,
and what the hell are we supposed to do when
we find it? I don't know. Maybe we'll find a
clue somewhere. The words came out of my mouth with
serial confidence, and it was obvious the hell kind of
clue were we supposed to be looking for. As we
continued walking, we passed the time by contemplating what mister
Blank might be a serial killer. Perhaps we needed to
look at it from a supernatural angle, some kind of monster,
do you mean? Maybe? But what was its connection to
the theater? The whole situation was maddening to think about.
I mean, nothing made any sense. After about twenty minutes
of inspecting each and every tree near the creek, we
finally found it. The carvings that my brother was talking about.
My comment upon seeing it pretty spooky, and I couldn't disagree.
It was more or less the way that my brother
had described it. Very strange. Indeed, it is difficult to
make out any real features of the man depicted in
the carving. No, I mean, I guess it was a
man humanite at the very lease. It appeared to be tall,
wearing some kind of long, sweeping coat. It was a
strange pattern covering the torso, almost looking like bones, hard
to tell given the nature of what we were looking at.
And then there was the head, the facial features blank
if you will, and of course it was accompanied by
the word stop scrippled all over. I can only describe
the nature of the writing as distressed. Was it just
a coincidence? I doubted that What the hell are we
getting into here? I heard my mutter under his breath.
I looked over at Rose, trying to gage her reaction
as well. She certainly looked frightened, as expected, but not
in the same way that Mike was. The fear on
her face appeared well, it appeared to stem from a
more urgent matter. You guys, she began asking, don't panache,
but I'm pretty sure somebody's following us. The hair on
the back of my neck stood up. I realized something.
We'd been careless. Even though we were being tailed last night,
we didn't bother carrying that caution over to this morning.
I mean hell, I didn't even look over my shoulder
when we first walked into the forest. Mike clicked his
tongue loudly, looking agitated. O k asshole, come out, he shouted.
Jesus Mike rose, and I said in unison, I don't
want to draw this out. He reached into his back
pocket and pulled out a pistol vodicum prepared learn that yesterday,
didn't we The next few moments comprised of a tense silence.
Well maybe not, I'm not. I'm pretty sure everybody could
hear my heart beating out of my chest all white.
I flinched as a deeper voice called off from an
indistinguishable location. Suppose there's no point in keeping this sut.
I see you have a gun and I'm coming out,
so don't shoot. I can see movement within the maze
of trees. My click, the safety often named the weapon,
right towards the general area it was coming from. Are
you stupid? He said? Also and twenty four don't fucking
call me a kate. Whoever been following us didn't hesitate,
continuing towards us. It's not like your age makes you
any less of a kid. I've known the teen year olds.
I'd already consider men, given what they've been through. The
boys eventually revealed itself. He looked to be in his
early third is dressed windbricker and well tailored dress pants.
He was about a head shorter than Mike, wavy hair,
clean shaven face, in a weld weary look in his eyes.
There's also substantial scarring down his left cheek, but beyond that,
it's pretty much one of the best looking guys I've
ever seen in my life. Not important detail, but whatever.
You're not going to shoot me, kid, So why don't
you stop pretending like you ever considered it? He said,
in just about the most confident ton Night ever heard
in my life. Mike grit the pistol, the veins bulging
in his hands. Don't push your luck. I'll introduce myself,
he said, Ignoring the threat. He reached into his coat pocket,
which made Mike flinch, and pulled out a pretty official
looking FBI badge, an identification card. His name was Finn.
His thumb was covering up his last name. Maybe it
was a conscious decision. I'm not really concerned with whether
or not you believe my credentials, but I'm curious what
are you kids doing out here? Why the hell should
we tell you, Mike asked, still trying to sound assertive.
Sten side, if we're looking at Rose Darling, could you
please ask your friend to put the gun down. He's
going to hurt himself. He looked back at Mike. Keep
it in your hand if it makes you feel safer
it though. Rose obliged, nudging Mike. Come on, she whispered,
It's not going to end well. Mike mumbled something angrily
before obliging himself. Sad nodded and smirked. Now regarding my question,
what's the deal here? He certainly pretended like he didn't
already know the missing people. I said, I'm sure you're
familiar with the rest of the details, probably more so
than we are. He nodded before looking down. Yeah, it's
a strange case, Mike scoffed. Strange my sister's missing. If
you know what the fuck's going on, then tell us.
He looked back up at us an inquisitive expression on
his face. Maybe that's something I'm trying to figure out myself,
And that's when he dropped the bonchell on us. He
wasn't actually hit un official business. He was essentially after
the same thing we were. This wasn't the first instance
of mister Blank causing somebody to disappear. It's the chance
Sarah had gone missing a few years prior, hauntingly similar circumstances.
He tried looking into it, but his higher apps told
him straight away and wouldn't give him any information or leads.
Mister Blanc was an utterly classified tobock. Ever since then,
he'd been chasing after answers, trying to unravel this obscure mystery,
and with much luck. However, there was an opportunity here.
This was the first time that mister Blanquet ever made
an appearance since his fiancee went missing. Without telling any
of his fellow agents and without the discretion of the
higher Apps, he'd come here to conduct his own investigations,
all while attempting to stay hidden from agents already posted
here the tinted vehicles. I'm muttered, that's why they're here, yep,
he said, Thah, they don't want anyone prying, probably for
the best, but for all his reasons, I can't stay away.
Deer Likewise, I said, so was your following us last night?
He raised an eyebrea before shaking his head. Sounds like
you've got their attention. Did then? Why are you following
us now? Rose asked. He looked at Mike. Your Mike
Karen right. Mike gave him a slight nod. Lacy Karen
was one of the people that went, Missy, that was
aware of the whole thing. I took a shot assuming
that you tried doing something about it. When I saw
you guys leave town yesterday, I got even more curious.
I couldn't have followed without giving myself away, though, So
you kept an eye on your apartment and then you
walked into the forest for a thing in the morning.
Interesting behavior for sure. So prove my intuition, right, What
do you know? Because I'd love to know as well.
His tone had taken intense turn. It was pretty obvious
that he was driven by passion, which I could understand,
even if my was far less of a degree than his.
Truth be told, we really don't have much, I told him.
I felt embarrassed. Ephn, considering showing him the tree carving
as some kind of evidence. Perhaps my passion really was
clouding my judgment. Maybe we really were just grasping at
straws here. But then Stan took a look at it himself.
I expected him to scoff, possibly make a sarcastic comment
to the effect of good job, guys, you really cracked
the case here, But instead of doing that, he began
studying the carving rather intently. After a few minutes, he
reached into his pocket and took out his foam Look familiar,
he said, showing it to us. After nearly gagging at
the initial site, I had to admit that it was
a tall humanoid, sweeping coat still at the torsa blank face.
This time it was drawn in blood on a dirty
basement wall. It was also a man with his entrails
leaking out and down towards it. Oh fuck, I muttered,
trying to hide how much I was shivering. You sure
you're supposed to be showing us that. I'm not supposed
to be doing a lot of stuff right now, Spen replied,
But here we are. What the hell is it? A
crime scene? Said nodded. Two and a half years ago,
about the same time Sarah went missing. I don't know
the details because I wasn't there. Risked everything to get
my hands on this. Despite how gruesome it was, the
crime scene pretty much confirmed that there was some kind
of connection here, but the question remained, what now? Where
do we go from here? Guys spoke up? Check it out?
She pointed to another tree up ahead, maybe about twenty
of the way. Could it be? I thought? Approaching it,
it was a similar carving had been scribbled into it,
the same figure, the same word. I began scanning the
air once again. There was another tree, a bit away
father this time, and then another one, and another one.
The four of us began following the carvings like a
trail of Breadcomb's right towards how to be the culprit
behind them. We didn't even hesitate, didn't stop to ask questions.
We were driven by sheer impulse at the revelation. But
clearly Stan was paying more attention than us. After a
few minutes, I felt him put a hand on my shoulder. Wait,
he said, what why you have a gun, don't you?
I mean, so does Mike. We'll be fine, not that,
he said, look forward, but stay calm, and then I
saw it. There was something up ahead, a large figure
doing a poor job of hiding behind a thin tree.
I could see a large, pale, bony hand twitching erratically
as a droop near the ground. A quiet patrol noise
suddenly began to fill the air around us, like a
combination of high pitched radio frequencies and some kind of
deranged laugh. I suddenly remembered what Jay had told us
before he died. He's already on his way. I was frozen,
absolutely and equivocally frozen. I can only describe the fear
that grip me as visceral think. I was drowning in
a freezing lake of incomprehensible dread, unprepared to face what
was ahead of me. In the slightest I looked at
tend most capable one of us, but even he looked petrified,
face drained of any color. I looked back at the trees,
watching it as the pale, garganchhin creature wrapped its disturbing
hand entirely around the tree. The high pitched radio frequency
laugh continued around us, seemingly growing louder and louder by
the second, and then out of nowhere, it stopped. What
are you looking at? A deep, slimy, penetrating voice as
aulting my ears. It nearly sounded like it was coming
from my own head, a finch, taking my eyes off
the entity behind the tree for just a moment, it
was gone. When I looked back up, said, I heard
Rose call my name out and with my head around,
nearly passing out and fear upon seeing what was behind me,
it was hemp, blank faced, skeletal torsup, giant bony hands
leering dun right at me, only a few inches away.
Without even thinking, I began running. I turned my back
after a few seconds, watching as the creature's body twisted
and contorted, turning into a massive spider human hybrid pretends
a pale, vainly limbed crawling toward me. I nearly threw
upright there. Stan drew his pistol and began shooting. Due
to how ratically it was moving, he missed ever shot,
except for one which drolled straight through the creature's head,
causing a wave of thick black blood to burst out
from either side of its temple. It went limp immediately,
with its limbs crumbling and falling to the ground for
a moment, I suppose I was relieved, But then then
I realized what kind of monster we were dealing with.
The laughing had come back louder than ever. Now that hurt.
I blinked once and the corps disappeared, And then I
noticed a hulking shadow loomine somewhere next to me. I
looked over, watching as the creature, now back in its
humanoid skeleton, for wrap one of its hands around and
neck with the other one that grabbed out of his wrist,
instantaneously crushing it into a bloody pop. His friend grunted
in agony. The creature turned to look directly at me.
The bottom half of its face began to distort, and
soon enough a human mouth of merriage from underneath its skin.
If I was close to puking before, I couldn't help
myself now, I wretched, before looking back up to see
it smiling at me. Not only that the smile was
familiar with soft pink lips flowing white teeth that were
just slightly crooked at the bottom. It was Lacey's smile.
What are you doing, Seth, come find me? Heard A
voice was unmistakable. I heard myself whimper. I blinked one
more time, and it disappeared again. Sven dropped to the ground,
still grimacing at his gruesome injury. Mike and Rose were
an object shock. I could feel tears began swelling up
in my eyes start running again. The voice came from
elsewhere in nowhere. At once, I began hearing what sounded
like heavy animalistic movements approaching fast. I turned around, seeing
something barreling towards us. It looked comparable in appearance to
a marilla with dark fair but with about three times
as many limbs running at us like an oversized centipede,
and of course the familiar blank face of the front.
He wasn't even giving me time to grieve, safe to say,
we took the advice and we bolted the hell the
other way. Every time I looked back to see if
it had finally caught up, the creature always looked like
it was moving at an unfathomable pace, yet it always
remained the same distance behind us. After a while of this,
it really felt like I was losing my own grip
on reality. As we began reaching the edge of the forest,
I remember my vision beginning to blur. I passed out,
likely due to a combination of exhaustion, fear, and agony.
Upon hearing Lacy's voice and seeing her lits on that
fucking monster. I woke up back in Mike's apartment, close, dirty,
cold sweat running down my forehead, and my joints aching
like hell. It had become dark outside. I suppose I've
been out for a while. Mike and Rose were sitting
on the other couch, neither saying a word or even
looking up. I can't really blame them, I suppose, not
after an experience like that. Worse, when I finally asked
he left, he drove off and said he had to
do something urgent, and I was answered after a few moments.
Never even went to the hospital before leaving town. I
don't think he's coming back. Guess beyond getting any more
help from them, I thought to myself, I decided to
stay at my parents place for a bit. I mean,
they were happy to see me, but I wasn't really
there emotionally. I mean I hid it, to admit it,
but the whole encounter had taken a lot out of me.
As much as I still wanted to somehow save Lacey,
I I couldn't stand the idea of facing that thing again.
I needed time to overcome my fears, time to recover
before looking for any more answers. But mister Blank wouldn't
even let me do that. For the first few nights,
everything was normal for each of my vacation days to
get off work and spend my time watching TV, playing games,
trying to motivate myself to stop being so scared and
go looking for her again. That was working so well.
I was still petrified at the very thought of it.
But after a few nights the tapping started sounding like
a bony finger rapping on my winter during the dead
of night. I never bothered. Of course, when I didn't
react to it, mister Blank began fucking with me in
more severe ways. Let's see a hulking shadow behind my
shower curtain seconds after I had stepped in a pair
of legs sticking out from underneath my bed as I
was getting ready to sleep. An unwanted passenger in the
back seat of my vehicle. That night, employees following me
around the grocery stores, staring at me in restaurants. I
never could make out any of their facial features. It
was all starting to take a heavy tow on my mind.
I made feel my sanity slipping away by the ire.
I called Mike and Rose same story. Rose's voice was monotonous,
devoid of any kind of emotion. Mike sounded like he
was on the verge of tears. But what made everything
infinitely worse was the knowledge that at any point or
it could kill me in split second. So that begs
a question, why didn't it? What was the point of
fucking with me like this? And it all came to
a boiling point when I was grabbing my mail As
I was getting ready to reach in, a bloody hand
poked out of my mail box and handed me my envelopes.
How generous It was all starting to become rather bothersome.
I freaked up right then and there, fuck you, I screamed,
what a fuck do you want from me? I grabbed
the door of the mail books and slammed it into
the hand until I heard bones beginning to break, and
for the first time in a while, fear was my
dominant emotion. It was it was anger after and during
the punishment, the hand eventually retreated. I bent down, staring
directly into the now empty slot. He where a fuck
is Lacey? Asshole? Mascreams are beginning to attract the attention
of my neighbors. Not that I cared. I could hardly
keep my frustration in At that point, I had to
let it out. Why don't you just kill me? You
could fucking find and kill you first, I hardly believed
in what I was saying. The words were simply pouring
out of my mouth. I slammed the door, shot and
stone back into my house. I did some time for
self reflection. The cups told me to let it go
from the start. In hell, even my own parents were
telling me that. So why hadn't I Why couldn't I
just let it go? Maybe it's because as I hadn't
lost hope. Mean, for one reason or another, I still
believed that I could get Lazy back, that I could
somehow overcome this horrific, seemingly impossible enemy. I come out
victorious in the end. After all, mister Black could ims
hit Lacy's voice and it meant that she was still alive. Right.
Perhaps that was a stretch, but I didn't allow myself
to believe that it to be comparable to out met
into feed right then and there there was also another
thing driving me forward. If I didn't face it head on.
This thing never going to leave me alone. I remembered
what I told myself from the beginning, that I wasn't
going to let it end like this. Whenever i'd back
down from a conflict before, my father always told me
to grow a pair of balls than man up. Made
me hit him at times, But suddenly that seemed like
rather sound advice. I spent the next few days getting
off my ass and preparing to head into the forest.
I was going to keep following the tree carvings are
only real lead wherever that may lead me. It was
pretty obvious that physical attacks were in bringing this thing down,
and hell, I wasn't even trying to kill it. I
needed information first, Like like with the hell I was
keeping lacy. However, physical wounds did seem to bother it
in some marginal capacity at the very least. While I
was brainstorming, I noticed something else as well. Ever, since
the mailbooks ccident, the bastard had left me alone, my
first act of defiance against it had to be a
correlation there. I decided to call Mike and Rose again.
They still sounded freight and defeated. Mister Blank was still
going after them. What did this mean? I only had
my theories, of course, Nevertheless, they were theories worth testing.
I began putting together my own mini arsenal, my dad's pistol,
one of my shotguns that i'd borrowed a few weeks back,
a haunting knife, a baseball bat for good measure. Was
I trained an armed or an arm combat fuck? No,
so had a ponscious chance. Though. I decided to head
back into the forest exactly one week after I had
first gone in. I made my preparations, of course, wrote
a letter for my parents in case I didn't come back,
a letter from Mike Win for Rose never bother asking
them to come. They sounded like they weren't even ready
to leave their rooms while I talked to them last.
I wasn't quite sure what to put in the letters.
I obligated to write them an explanation, I suppose. Before
heading out of my house, I slugged back one swig
of whiskey two cups of coffee. I tried to calm
my nerves. It didn't really work, didn't matter. Before I
knew what I was standing back at the edge of
the tree line alarm, I took a step, a deep breath.
Another step, Oh, ship, the nerves had come back. One
more step, my legs began shaking, it as if the
fear I had been suppressing began and rushing back to
me all at once. I looked up and something caught
my eye. A large figure, keilled by the woods, creeping
along my line of vision. A familiar hand wrapped around
one of the trees, danneling a severed hand by the
pinky Sveinn's hand. Most likely, it's taunting me. Every fiber
of my being was telling me to turn back and
run the fuck away, and I nearly did just that.
I was petrified, but that didn't mean I could stop.
This thing wasn't going to stop following me at the forest.
It knew where I lived. We had to push my buttons,
how to get under my skin. It knew nearly everything
about me. There was too deep into this mess already,
this my fears deal with it myself, or end up
like Jay and leave Lacy's trap in whatever house it
was currently in. But that in my mind. I took
another deep breath and I began walking right towards it,
and as I suspected, it disappeared shortly after. Like I
somehow scared it off, even though that probably wasn't the case.
I smiled myself, reveling at the idea. From there, I
began following the carvings were tracing our steps from a
week prior, but I was planning on getting farther this time.
As expected, mister Blank didn't leave me alone after I'd entered.
In fact, I was pretty much on my toast the
entire time. About five minutes in I heard something breathing
down the back of my neck. I remember what had
happened to stand and immediately piverted sideways. At that point
it was it was the closest I'd ever gotten to
it this time had taken a gargoyle like form, wings
and all. I pulled up my pistol. I fired about
four shots at it. I mean I never had great aim,
so one bullet even grazed it. But I think my
message was sent because it disappeared with a blink immediately afterward,
and held a share of vaudatory torments toward me as well,
screaming horrible things at me in generic demonic voices. The
only time these really affected me was when when I
was imitating Lazy. The guy was really pissing me off.
It appeared two more times before it finally managed to
hurt me. However, the attack was awkward. It obviously could
have killed me at this point, yet it seen pent
On trying to give me only non lethal injuries. Nevertheless,
it succeeded. Have you have you ever seen fannert of
a rick? You know that cassic cree Pipass's story. That's
what it turned into. The only no face. He managed
to slash my thighs, not a deep cut, but I
still hope like hell. I responded by breaking my bat
over its head, even though doing so caused it to disappear.
It was a move I regretted instantly. I lost one
of my close quarter weapons when I used to play
bis boll, but I never used a knife for anything
beyond chopping onions. I calmed down by telling myself that
at the very least it wasn't going to kill me.
Boy was iron there After about only a minute, called
out of the dirt in the form of a familiar
machette wielding Zombe wearing a hockey mask and kneeler, tipped
my head off. I managed to dodge the swing by
hair and the tree beside me was sliced clean in half.
I guess mister Blank was something of a cinemaphile. I
suppose that made sense. It didn't look non lethal to me,
I thought to myself, and scrambled to pull out my
shotgun and I blew off the wanner be Jason's head. However,
it took me both shots to do so, and I
wasn't very fast reloading. Mister Blank suddenly appeared behind me,
now hawking faseless, concarrying what looked like elied E bowling pin.
At that moment, I was defenseless. It swung the pin,
breaking the shotgun and half as I tempted to defend
myself with it, And after that I started running. What
the fuck was I thinking? This asshole could basically teleport?
It suddenly stepped out from a tree in front of me.
This time it had turned into one of the nurses
from Silent Hill, bolting at me with a rustynes knife. Fock,
I shouted. It looked like mister Blank wasn't pulling any
more punches. He caused me to experience a new kind
of fear. What not dread or of ay, fear of
the unknown. It was fear of immediate and certain death.
But at the same time I could feel the adrenaline
pumping from my veins. I tried convincing myself that I
was ready. Knowing that I couldn't run, I pulled out
my own knife. I try bracing myself. This is going
to fucking hurt, I thought to myself, and as I
got within a few feet of me, the crack of
a heavy shot can cause me to flinch. The nurse
was subsequently sword and half of the torsa was stray.
Fragments of buckshot littering the tree beside me. Jesus, what
the fuck? I shouted, a panting like hell. At the
same time, Hey boy, let's not be taking the Lord's
name in vain. There a familiar voice, heavy southern twang.
We weren't anywhere near the South. I looked over, seeing
two wholly unexpected figures. One was done with heavy bandages
wrapped around his wrist. He wasn't the one that fared
to shot, though. Sitting next to him was a tall,
bulky man with messy blonde hair, wearing what looked like
a heavy tactical jacket and common hunting pants. He was
carrying a massive industrial lookie shotgun. Certainly not anything police
graded and held. It didn't even look like something the
military would use. Anyways, it's you a lucky day, man said,
slinging the weapon over his shoulder. Sam looked at me
and smiled. I told your friend I was coming back,
he said. I don't think he believed me, though, he
looked at the shotgun wielding friend. So what do you
think told you I had something big? The man chuckled,
watching as the nurse corpse disappeared into thin air. Just
as every one of mister Blank's forms tended to do
well lb He sat, smiling to himself, the strange one
for sure. No matter I mentioned, for a good old
fashioned battle. Whoa, what the what the hell? It's the
only thing I could muster out given I truly bizarre
the circumstances have become. That's up there, man said, ending
a shotgun and something behind me looks like a kitchen
for the same battle. I turned around, watching as a
Michael Myers dropped down from the tree. Well, he wasn't
carrying a kitchen knife. He had a damn chainsaw. It
looked like mister Blank was getting his films mixed up.
Asking any more questions seemed like a lost cause. In
any case, I needed to focus on the task a
hand staying alive while searching for LASSA. But it looks
like have some much needed help now, Camp complained about that.
God damn, this sure is something. The man with the
shotgun seemed to be having a little bit too much fun.
He'd killed mister Blank three more times. However, it was
becoming more of a close call with every encounter. Who
is this guy? I called out to Senn Jimmy, an
old friend, weird ship for sport, Jimmy said, in the
midst of for a loading a shotgun, a ferocious gaze
on his face. But don't bring me down to just that.
I like a lot of stuff. What kind of stuff?
I thought to myself. Well, I guess it didn't really matter.
I came to a realization mister Blank had his hands
full with Jimmy, which meant I had a chance thet
it up and began running. Call it a selfish move.
I hardly cared at that point. Shotgun blast rock the
space around me as I ran, following the pure tree
carve in towards an unknown destination. I couldn't tell you
what I was expecting to find. I didn't even know
if there was going to be anything waiting for me
at all. Nevertheless, I ran, and I never considered stopping.
The whole journey took me a little longer than I expected.
I got in deep into the forest before the carvings
and disappeared altogether. This is it, I thought, feverishly, looking
around for something. But what the hell was I looking for?
After a while of searching, I finally spotted a clue,
another carving, not on a tree this time. It was
on a large rock, right beside what appeared to be
a small opening leading to a cave within not ominous
in the slightest cheese, Am I've really going in there?
I thought to myself. By all accounts, nothing would lead
a rational person to enter such a space. Nevertheless, I
was far more rational at that point. I'd also stopped
hearing the shot can blast a while ago. That can
only mean that mister Blank was about to be on
my ass once again. I took a deep breath and
stepped forward into whatever the hell was awaiting me in
the darkness. The cave itself, if you want to call
it that, it was more comparable to a large hole
in a rock. It was larger on the inside, and
it looked on the outside, but not drastically. You're still
relatively tight. As I traversed into it, for the first
few seconds, I could make out nothing but darkness. But
it didn't take too long to find what i'dunnowingly been
searching for this whole time. There was a light ahead,
like one derived from a small flame, and it was moving.
Somebody with something was holding it up making out any details,
and the angle and distance I was standing at it
wasn't quite possible, so I was forced to move forward
if I wanted my answers. So you've come for me.
It wasn't the kind of voice I expected. Not low
guttural were menacing in the slightest whoever was speaking sound
of meek terrified on the verge of tears. But first
impressions can deceive. I stayed on my toes, preparing myself
for anything. From everything I had experienced so far, anything
was certainly possible. What do you mean, I asked, in
a low voice, as not to trigger any sudden aggression.
How did you find me? The man asked, Oh, he
paused the carvings, But you write to me I suppose
the man turned his face, partially illuminated by a large
candle he was holding dangerously close to his skin. I
could hardly make out any distinguishable features. His hair was
long and scraggly, facial hair appeared to be utrimmed, tired eyes,
things that aren't terribly rare these days. But what I
did find interesting was his shirt, black and maroon, A
white name. To Reed Colin, it's all too familiar. He
had to be an employee for somewhere I'd been before,
but where I guess that's what I wanted, though, he said,
his voice getting shaky, to finally pay for what I've done?
What are you talking about? What have you? I stopped
my question partway through du to a sudden jarring realization.
So that's where I recognized the uniform from the theater,
the one where the ship show it started. I recalled
the details of the investigation. I knew employee joined not
too long ago. Now missing it was him, wasn't it,
fucking bastard? I hardly control the words as they came
out of my mouth. By all accounts, this guy was
the reason he was missing. It took everything out of
me not to strangle him right there. And then those
urges were pushed even further when he chuckled. I see,
he said, you're not the police, someone looking for vengeance.
It's not so good for me, but I suppose it's
what I deserve, he sighed, putting the candle down at
his feet, illuminating a pile of empty soord cans and
selophane wrappers behind him. Go ahead, he said, I won't
fight back. I took about half a minute to calm
myself down. It didn't quite work. I was still seething,
my fish shaking like hell. If I were Mike, this
guy's face would have been reduced to mush already. Luckily
for him. I wasn't Mike. I suppose it was lucky
for me as well. Beyond anything I needed answers, I
took a deep breath and clenched my fist, forcing my
emotions to the curb. At least I tried jerked responsible
for this on you You stream that Caudam film. I
can see the man silhouette not I gulped down my anger.
What the hell are you doing here? I mind droop
his head. Can't go back into town. I'm not strong enough,
not mine enough to face what I've done. A moment
of silence followed. I could see him shaking ever so slightly.
His breathing gradually became rapid and uneven, like he was
he was forcing down tears. Oh, man, I said, is
that what you are after doing what you did? I'm
I'm not so sure. That's the part you don't understand,
He finally said, The force you to do things he
never could to fathom doing before, all without laying a
single finger on you. I scoffed, what you're scared of?
Monsters under the bed? Yeah, he did that shit to
me as well, but I didn't cruck from it. Didn't
have to take twelve people down with me either. Monsters,
the man muttered, Yeah, yeah, turning into monsters is one
of his tricks, but nowhere near the worst one. I
could feel the anger coming back. Look, if you couldn't
handle it, maybe you should have just I stopped myself
from finishing the sentence. There's something I really didn't want
to say, even given the circumstances. Just take my own life, right,
he responded, Yeah, I guess i'd agree. Suppose it all
started with me, I wasn't I began now, at sudden
loss for words, I tried recomposing myself, freaking out. Wasn't
going to get me anywhere. What did you mean when
you said that turning into monsters wasn't his worst trick?
I meant what I said. It goes by trial and error,
turns into things he thinks will devote the most fear
out of us. Horror movies, villains, monsters from folkor those
are good options, the simplest ones as well. But that
won't work on every one. It didn't work on me.
I raised my eyebrow in the darkness. What when he
can't scare you by using such direct tactics, he tries harder,
digs deeper in the recess of your mind. What would
petrify you the most? Things would drive you to the
darkest corners of your own soul. You'll start to feel mad,
just short of being catatonic, cognizant enough to carry out
his orders, but too too constrained by visceral fear to
do anything else. You'll feel nothing but emptiness, a collvoid
where your hard once was hopes, desires, any kind of
positive emotion completely gone. You'll just you'll feel blank. He
paused again. I might not be the strongest. I don't
think even the strongest could cope with that. It took
me a minute to think about what he just said.
If he was right, then well, well that was bad news.
My anger suddenly took a back seat to apprehension. He's
chasing you right now, isn't he, Colin asked, mister Blank
will probably kill me once he catches up. He has
no use for me any more, after all. He paused again,
lighting a cigarette this time. It's frightening how devoid of
emotion his tone was. But I can't say that I
would mind that he took a lawn drag. It's really
sorry for any grief I may have caused you this.
Nothing I can do any more, Nothing we can do.
I didn't want to accept it. Nothing like we can't
find a way to beat him somehow, can't find a
way to to get those missing people back. He took
another long drag. Unfortunately, what the hell are you doing
hiding in a cave? He was cut off by a
familiar sudden accent. I turned around, seeing Jimmy and Spence
standing at the mouth of the cave. Sen told me
to follow his which drawings led me to a yellow
bell of coward. The hell are you running away from
the fight for, Jimmy said, clearly, upset that I had
gone ahead without him. I also noticed that a shot
gum was over his shoulder, not his hands. The fuck
are you doing, I asked, He's going to that weird
son of a bit chain to do shit. Jimmy responded,
disappeared some time ago, lost count of how many times
I killed him? How many have my precious bullets? A
wasted off? God damn it disappeared, I asked, perplexed. Yea
fat and spoke up. It's been about eight minutes. Unless
it's planning on a surprise attack, it looks like it's
gone for now. If that was behind you, I turned
around and seeing Colin now standing up, which dartled me
a bit. What do you mean it's gone, he said,
sounding shocked at the prospect. The hell you think we
mean it? Oppin disappeared the most. Maybe he got tired
of being slaughtered. Who on God's green nurse knows? Colin
stepped forward, moving more into the daylight. As expected, he
looked like Hale smelled like it too. I could see
Jimmy and then physically react to his appearance. However, his
eyes were different than I would have imagined, not so
hopeless like his words. In fact, in fact, they were
brimming with determination. He grinned at me, if only slightly,
We have a chance here, but we have to move quick.
It's happened before. What has I was having a hard
time keeping up of Colin as ran for a guy
that looked like the poduft of an apocalypse. He shure
as hell, was fast on his feet. S then and
Jimmy followed behind, shouting after him in disappearing. Southern knows
right when he bleeds over into our world, he tires
himself out, especially if he keeps taking on different forms.
What how the hell do you know this? He suddenly
stopped running, causing me to nearly crash into his back.
I he began before taking a deep breath. It's a
long story. I have to explain quickly, as much as
it scares me to admit. His story sounded irrily similar
to mine. It all started with the Incidant. Years prior
last time, mister Blank had made an appearance. Whence vent
fiance had disappeared, Colin's brother disappeared along with her. He
was living half way across the country when it happened.
Though he had heard about his missing siblings and the
obscure details that went along with it, he put the
first flight over and attempted to figure things out for himself.
It went as you'd expect, devoid of any trustworthy leads,
luck of any real direction. It took him an entire
week of relentless and dangerous searching to learn the name
mister Blank. And that's where it all started going down
hole for him. But even then it didn't stop. Colin
started getting visits from him the same way that I had,
just like you've done with me. Mister Blank's eychological torments
started off fairly surface level. It is movie villains, Gus
in the closet, creatures standing outside his window, et cetera. Well,
they certainly took a toll on him at first. He endured,
continuing a search in spite of all of it. He
even tried attacking mister Blank directly, just as I had.
Wouldn't work out so well, as he went on to learn,
maybe he was lying about it all. I don't know,
but I can feel my anger towards him gradually fading
as he relaid a story to me, he hadn't really
done anything different than I had. Well, I guess he had.
He did everything completely alone. I had Mike and Rose
with me. After Colin and trudged for mister Blank's initial Launcelot,
the latter started pushing harder, trying to break him completely.
This is where Colin's story truly began diverging from my own.
Mister Blake began using more abstract tactics. For example, Colin
came home once to find his father standing in the
corner of his bedroom. His father had died some years prior.
He didn't do anything, though, He just stood there with
a blank expression, like a mannequin, day and night for
nearly two weeks. On top of that, he'd get more
and more frail by the ire, as if he was
rapidly losing weight. By the end, he was essentially a skeleton.
That resulted in firstponified mental breakdown of Colin's life, And
of course it wasn't even close to ending there. The
psychological stress and torment he experienced sounded like enough to
make anybody lose it completely. Its effaces of pure malice
and hatred staring at him in the mirror, he see
a bottom was pit in the middle of his living room,
while hellish screams continued emanating from within it. Every time
he'd open up a toilet, the face of his sister
drawn to death would be staring up at him, gasping
for air. And he couldn't bring himself to describe the
worst of it, though, just that his deepest, most visceral
fears were manifesting in front of his very eyes, and
it was breaking him minute by min It did reach
a point where he attempted to kill himself. He walked
on to his balcony in the middle of the night
and looked over the railing from the fourteenth floor. He
stared down to the ground with his mind running a
mile a minute. But before he closed his eyes into
the plunge, he saw a figure with a blank face
staring up at him from below. He said that he
froze in that moment, but they stared at each other.
He said that he was coming to an understanding and
implied agreement. Do what I want, an a'l enn this
hell for you. He felt a transitory comfort combined with
the sensation of overwhelming coercion. In other words, he didn't
have a choice in the matter. Not like I can
explain it, he said, just fucking with my head. Felt
like I'd face something worse than death if I didn't
play by his rules, if I didn't do what he said.
Go ahead, think what you want about me. But you
weren't there. You couldn't have understood, right, I said, trying
to digest what I've just been told. You still hate me,
I sigh to myself. I don't know that. I depends.
I finally said, you said that we have a chance.
What did you mean by that? He nodded, Yeah, we do.
I can help you get her back. Everything just has
to go right. My ears perked up. All right, go on,
then we can defeat him, kill him. All we have
to do is capture him on tape. I raise an eyebrah.
That's it. Are you? Are you kidding me? No, it's
not what you think. What's been chasing you up until
this point hasn't been mister Blank, not his real form anyway.
That's what we need to capture. Don't ask me how
it works. But he can't exist in two mediums or
digital spaces at once. His reel one Weekens, the film
that was shown when everybody went missing. That's the first one.
Get him on tape with your own camera, and that'll
be the second one. Well, how the hell are we
supposed to see his true form? That's the hard part.
He only sends out puppets when he crosses over into
our world. In order to see him as he truly is,
we have to enter his Is that where I began asking?
He nodded, yes, that's where your girlfriend is. How do
we get there? Colin reached into his backpack and pulled
out a film reel. Watching the film almost acts like
a passageway between his world and I. A more involved
explanation really wasn't necessary. In fact, the whole situation began
making a lot more sense. I used to ask myself
why mister Blank chose her town? Why the hell he
just had to come here? Well, the theater that had
happened that was an older one, a classic place, so
to speak. It was one of the few places that
still used projectors. What's what's it like in there? Colin
shook his head. I couldn't tell you, But from what
I've learned, the people trapped in his world are essentially
being used as fuel. Mister Blank feeds on inherent negative
human emotion, a gush, uncertainty, despair, thea. He doesn't kill them,
just keeps them there for himself, keeps them in a
constant state of terror. Let's go catatonic after a few
years in real time, but it hardly feels like a
week for them while they're in there, And that's why
he keeps coming back here for more. He'll never stop,
even if every theater stops using film. I'm sure that
he'll find a way, he sighed. I'm not proud of
what I've done, but if I'm going to do anything
good with my life, it's stopping this fucker forever. If
that was true, and last I was essentially in hell.
She'd been in hell for weeks, but I suppose I
suppose only felt like a few hours to her. How
armed you we have until he comes back and tries
to kill us again. I can't give you an exact
amount of time, but I doubt we'll have more than
a few hours. I took a deep breath as we
reached the edge of the forest. Stand and Jimmy were
close behind, catching up to us soon after. What in
the hell are you two yammering on about Jimmy asked.
I turned and looked at him. Jimmy, we might need
your help for a bit. Then I turned to his
span and grinned, let's bury this bastard. My hand shook
as I held the film. Real this is a source
of it all, I thought, the reason last I went missing,
the reason any of the shit had happened at all.
As determined as I was to see this operation through
a lingering feeling of fear and hestance never left my side.
What's the film like exactly? I asked, my voice shaking
just a tad. Colin shook his head. I don't know
what like I ever watched. It can't really prepare you
for much there. Sorry, that was more or less a
response I was expecting. Colin side starting to look anxious.
We don't have time, though he could come back at
any moment. He looked at Jimmy. He's still got it now,
Jimmy tapped at his belt proudly. Silly question. No monster
is going to get a jump on me. That passive
plan we formed wend as follows. We've rushed over to
the theater where everything had started, since I was the
only place we'd actually be able to play the film
since it was still likely being monitored by the police,
we'd have to rely on svent iby I badge to
dissolve the suspicion. According to Colin, if mister Blank's projection
hadn't come back to attack us before we managed to
enter the theater, it's sure as hell was going to
be there once we did, and of course it was
going to be aggressive. That's when Jimmy comes in. He's
going to keep distracting it while Colin sets up the film.
Once he did, Sven and I would be the ones
to watch it. He wanted to save his wife. I
wanted to save a Lacy. None of us were backing down,
and Colin also gave us some very much needed details
regarding the film itself, even though a lot of it
was just speculation on his part. Supposedly, the film does
something strange to the viewer's state of mind. The film
exists in one plane of existence, mister Blanks, we exist
in our own So how does anybody traverse the scap
and move from one to the other. Well, we could
only really theorize there. Colin claimed it was about emotions,
the range of human emotions of spectrum obviously, but not
a two dimensional one, with happiness and sadness, distress and calm,
pain and pleasure at their respective extremes. Nearly every feeling
spurred on by activities in our daily lives are different.
Some are more similar to each other than others, but
no two distinct feelings are truly identical. Even the same
emotions that you perceive experiencing thousands of times over the
course of your life is actually an entirely new experience
each and every time. Now I am getting off track here,
but look, motions are complicated, and according to Colin's theory,
they also act as a catalyst that can move conscious
thoughts between different realcses and some kind of impulse that
worked to strong and specific enough emotion that connected as
a catalyst. But if it were only their thoughts that
had moved, then what the hell happened to their bodies?
That mystery remained. However, Colin was quite certain that the
people who had been transported were all still alive. Can't
feed off a dead persons emotions. After all, there was
something else he'd probably like to know. Colin said something
really interesting. My ears perked up. I did know a
few people had crossed over into mister Blank's realm, managed
to make it back out there. They all told me
that they felt themselves crossing over to a certain freshould
of fear before they left our own world. However, they
were still somewhat cognizant of what had happened. They knew
they were still in the theater. This wasn't the world
that they belonged to. They weren't petrified to the point
where they lost all sense of their past reality. Because
of this, they always kept themselves granted, convincing themselves that
none of it was real, despite what mister Blank threw
with them. Eventually they got back using the sheer wel
out of their mind alone. I breathe a sigh of
relief at the moment. There was nothing that I needed
to hear more. But she should also know that the
all committed suicide within the next three months. Yea, you
you could have left that part out. I said, it's
not going to be easy, but now that you know
this going in, you'll have an advantage. Try and be
ready for anything, cause nothing's off the table here. With
our asses on the cock, he began making our way
to the theater. When we arrived there was a single
board looking cop sitting in his vehicle near the entrance.
He didn't ask questions whence Vent flashed his badge. In fact,
he looked pretty eager to leave. We didn't waste any time.
Once we got in, Colin began setting up the film
while I waited anxiously in the theater. We offered to
help with the process, but he told us that we
just slow him down. I was going to argue with
him there. I sat down in one of the seats,
burying my hands in my face. I was nervous, no
second guessing that fact. Can I even do this? I
thought to myself, Fuck, I have to do this. I
felt somebody put a hand on my lap. At first
I thought I was then try to convince me. But
then then I realized that didn't seem like something he
would do. I'll be Jamie spoke up Oklaholman's back. Against
my better judgment, I snapped my head to the side,
staring at what appeared to be a mass composed of
a variety of segmented human faces. Don't move, kid, Jimmy's
voice boomed from across the theater. Before I knew it,
the Gaulish face was blown to the sigh, blood exploding
from the other side of its temple. My ears were
ringing from the shot as I looked towards Jimmy, who
was holding some kind of oversized pistol. You're welcome, he smiled. Geeze,
I muttered, still trying to regain my bearings. A few
seconds later, I heard Spine cursing. I looked over, watching
as a feral beast looking creature grabbed him by the neck.
Once again, Jimmy blasted it away. My brain rang some more.
It looked like mister Blank had regained the stamina, and
I sure as hell was excited about that vado motherfucker.
This time, Jimmy was the one cursing. Mister Blank, now
in the form of an oversized zombie wearing brass knuckles,
and had got in the jump on him, forcing him
to resort to fistfight, but he was holding up surprisingly well,
dodging powering countering each of the zombie strikes. Jimmy ended
up pummeling it within a minute. How the hell where
did you, I began asking, dumbfunded as his apparently vast
array of combat skills and the evisceration matches on a
planet you wouldn't dear step foot on, partner. I know
my shit, he grinned, as if I were supposed to
understand remotely what the hell he was talking about. I
didn't have time to ask, though I could hear something
breathing down my neck. Once again, some one call, and
I thought to myself, hurry the fuck up. And then
what happened? The projector suddenly flicked on and the breathing stopped.
I scanned the theater, but mister Blank was nowhere to
be seen. I locked eyes. Was fun for a moment,
This was it, This was the combination of everything we'd
been through. Well, Jimmy spoke up, looks like this is it?
I bid good luck to you. Both lights began to dim.
I laughed at myself. Was that really necessary? The reaction
was more of a coping mechanism anything else. I was
utterly frozen in terror. Spen and I were silent as
we took our seats. That the first few seconds I
closed my eyes the fray to open them even a
little bit, but I knew that eventually I had to,
so I did, and I cannot begin to describe what
I saw in front of me. So I divulged in
what I saw in that theater. Let's do a quick
mental exercise. ELL, what does that word mean to you?
More specifically, what do you visualize when you hear it?
Put yourself in that environment right now? Are you walking
through scorching flames while demons scream at you? With dark
forest with thousands of beady eyes following your every move,
trapped underneath us for something gnawing at your feet. Each
one of us has an idea of what our own
personal hell would look like. I found out what mine
looked like in the theater. The film opened on a
shot of a plane abandoned city washed in dark blue.
It was hard to tell what time of day it was,
but the whole place just looked depressing. After a few seconds,
a figure came stumbling into the frame, a man wearing
plain clothes with a stored tree of fees ceatures. His
movements were desperate, stumbling through the empty streets and an
ostensible attempt to evade something. I found out what he
was running from only a few seconds later. It was
another man, naked, this time with black using sores covering
his entire body. It was also a bloody, dirty bag
tied around his head. His limbs twitched and contorted as
he ran after the faceless man, letting out an unearthly
croaking scream as he moved. The faceless man was screaming
as well, though his voice sounded all too human. He
sounded he sounded terrified. I'm not sure how lona I
was watching for, but it felt like I was a point.
I even gave up on the objective at hand. I
wanted to turn away from the screen so badly. However, however,
I couldn't. My eyes stick glued in the horrific scene
in front of me. I couldn't move. I started wondering
has Van was holding up watching something like this. There's
only until later I realized we were in even watching
the same thing at all. Personal hell, everybody's different. A point,
I started feeling strange, as if I couldn't distinguish real
life from what was happening on the screen. My attention
was fixated on the faceless man, almost like I was
seeing things to his perspective. Shit, I thought my mind
drifted too far off to the deep end. I realized
something extremely important at the very last moment. It's just
a movie. I really disturbed a fucking movie. The revelation
came at the optimal time. I was already being sucked
into mister Blank's realm. I can feel it, my physical
self dissolving into an obscure void. Yet yet I was
cognizant of this fact, and while I was certainly scared,
I was also determined. My vision went black for an
unun duration. When I opened them back up, my world
was washed in a dark blue. I could feel goosebun's
popping up on my skin. I was freezing, despite wearing
a hoodie and jeans. There was also something behind me.
I turned around, seeing the man in the bag over
his head staggering towards me. It didn't take a genius
to discern what had happened. I was know in the movie,
not knowing exactly what to do, and fueled by sheer impulse,
I began running through the empty streets. After the initial shock,
I tried remembering what Colin told me. I had to
remember that none of this was real, despite how reel
it felt. But at the same time, how the hell
was this not real? The cold wind bit on my face,
my joints ached against the concrete below. I was even
beginning to run out of breath. He thought, real as hell.
My mind started becoming frenetic. How the hell was as possible?
Where the hell was I? Oh, we never felt physical
sensations in our dreams, so sue, what was this? I
turned round again, noticing the back headed man was getting closer,
his inhuman shrieks sending shivers down my spine. I was
starting to lose it, starting to lose my own sense
of reality. The streets ahead of me were endless and unchanging.
Nowhere to go, nowhere to hide, I could hear myself
beginning to whimper. Utter terror overwhelming my senses forced me
to abandon any previous thoughts, any connections that I had
to the world that I belonged in. Was this the
world I belonged in? How long have I been in here?
Maybe this was all I knew. It was an unnerving sensation,
and one that cold my eyes to begin watering. I
was in hell, I mean, this was my existence. Cold
cold tears began streaming down my face as I continued
to run from this montrosity behind me. I was beginning
to forget where I'd even come from, and I was
getting tired. I closed my eyes, preparing to give up entirely.
Doing so hurt as tears began freezing up, But the
weight that didn't make any sense. I remember reading about
this once, about how tears would only freeze at blow
forty and at sure as hell wasn't a coal. It
was an utterly random fact and one that I had
no reason keeping stored in my brain. But remembering it
in that moment helped me more than I could ever know.
If that part didn't make any sense, then what else
was off about the situation? What was I doing here?
I opened my eyes again, staring up at the sky.
It was empty. No sun, no stars, no moon, no clouds.
That that was right either the building surrounding me. I'd
never seen a place like this before. I didn't belong here.
This was my world, this was this was mister Blank's world.
Why did I come here? Save Lazy? None of this
was real. I stopped in my truck's catching my breath.
He turned around, watching as the man behind me got
slower and slow before stopping only a few feet away
from me. He looked confused, as if he couldn't understand
why I wasn't running. Why had I stopped? Because none
of this was real? Why would I fear something that
was real? Hey, fock face? I spoke up, Where the
hell is lazy? The man to step back? Don't you
fucking run? I said, where the fuck is she? He
started backing up faster. My grink grew wider. I tear
you a part with my bare fucking hands if you
don't tell me. Suddenly I was so cold any more.
I could feel the adrenaline coursing through my veins. Where
the fock is she? And voices growing primal. My impulses
fueled by a combination of all the fear and frustration
that I'd been feeling up until this point, I caught
up to the bag man relatively quickly, tackling him the
rest of them down to the ground. I could feel
his sores using all over me, which was quite the
disgusting sensation, but forced myself to ignore it. Where is she?
I screamed as I began strangling in. However, instead of
gasping for air, the man simply began laughing, And of
course he would, This was all of ours. What the hell?
I screamed, grabbing the bag and ripping it from his face.
What I found was a blank face staring back at me.
Do you think I'm scared of you? A booming voice
resonated throughout the space, coming from everywhere, nowhere at once,
and suddenly the man began to solving. Dissolving. Wasn't like
word he was. He was morphing into thousands and thousands
of insects. Horrified, I jumped back. I watched as the
insects began crawling on top of each other, forming what
appeared to be a humanoid torso on top of spider
like legs, and of course, there was a giant blank
face at the very top of the abomination. Run boy,
the voice boomed again. Apparently things weren't going to be
so easy. How the hell was I supposed to win?
I can feel the fear of rushing back into my system.
Mister blank had just been fucking with me the entire time.
With no other options insight, I did what he said,
and I began running from the inset of monstrosity. I
looked over my shoulder every now and then, watching as
the grotesque entity crawled towards me, knocking down buildings as
it did so. But surely this thing was faster than me,
I thought. The weight of of course it was. He
never wanted to catch me. He just wanted me to
keep running. Every tricky threw at me was an attempt
to push me into a corner of fear. I wouldn't
be able to get away from fuck that, fuck that.
I was going to hit back and scare it, as
I might have been. I was going to have to
force myself not to be. I stared into a stop.
I swallowed a piece of wood off of the street,
and I picked it up before turning around and chucking
it at the creature. I missed, but the message was sent.
The insect creature. Mister Blank himself stopped his tracks as well,
seemingly confused as to what to do next. I was scared,
and mister Blank couldn't understand why. I mean, what is
fear anyway? This a dictionary definition, of course, what a
vokes fear in one person and more necessarily evoked out
of the next. At this point, mister Blank was trying
too hard. He transformed again into an even bigger monster,
resembling an amalgamation of Black's lodge, rotting corpses riding tendrils.
Was it scary and maybe to a fourteen year old
after everything I'd seen, this only made me laugh, laughing
joey mockery, every emotion, the contrast of fear and despair,
and that was the ultimate weapon against him. Suddenly I
remembered a plan. I reached into my pocket, I pulled
up my phone. I got the camera ready, but unfortunately,
mister Blank disappeared before I could start recording. Nevertheless, the
tables are turned. Who was scared now? I wasn't exactly
sure where to go, so I just picked a round
em direction and began running. But something unexpected happened. The
environment around me began to change. No more buildings, no
longer washed in dark blue. I suddenly found myself standing
in an endless field of yellow flowers, with a cloudless
sky above. For a moment, I was absolutely jarred. What
the hell had happened? I thought? I ended up that
answer as soon became apparent. When I looked down the flowers.
They were right, to say the least, blinking back at me.
Some had mouths lined with razor like teeth, vigorously chomping
away at the air. Some had their petals replaced with
riding fingers ending in claws. This was somebody else's hell,
the rather interesting one at that. I guess i'd better
start running again, I thought, Trying to be as careful
as I could, I began stepping over the ghastly flowers.
After a few minutes, the environment changed again. This time
it was night and I was standing in front of
a precarious looking rope bridge hanging over a deep cavern.
I was beginning to understand what was going on. I
suppose that I broken the system in a sense, my
own hell was no longer scary to me, so I
was free to run for somebody else's everybody who had
been trapped by mister blancolyt bobs began to go off
in my head. I remember the conversation I had with
Lacy right after we'd gone through a haunted house on Halloween.
It was a conversation about fear. What we were most
afraid of, what I'm most afraid of. I remember her
telling me, Okay, this is a weird one, but mazes,
Oh yeah, I mean imagine randomly being trapped in amaze
in never being able to find your way out mazes.
I knew what I had to look for now. I
couldn't tell you how many different hells I ended up
traversing probably upwards of thirty made it close to forty.
They were all unique, all utterly horrifying in their own sense.
But what was even more interesting were the people I
met alone the way out of all the hells I
found myself in, I came across fourteen people who were
trapped in them. Nine were already catatonic, Two were hysterical
and impossible to reason me. As for the other three, well,
I don't want to give myself too much credit here,
but I think I save them. Not that it was easy.
They weren't so willing to let things go. They truly
thought that they were in hell, destined to live that
way forever. They'd long forgotten about their past lives, who
they were before the time they'd spend in the theater
before being transported to mister Blank's world. Trying to convince
them otherwise was nothing short of a task, specially given
the environment around us. But I wasn't scared. I had
to prove it to them. Nothing was going to kill us,
nothing was going to hurt us if we didn't let it.
By the time i'd frand Li says Hale, I had
a grateful group of three by my side, Dash a
twenty one year old college kid, nicoll A twenty five
year old computer programmer, Ann Roumond, twenty seven year old soldier.
We sure as hell had been through a lot together.
At that point started feeling like days had passed since
I was in the theater, but my resolve never slipped.
I was finding her no matter what. I nearly dropped
to my knees relief when I found myself standing inside
the labyrinthin and all paid off in the end. The
walls were about fifteen high, covered in cracks and coated
in moss. The ground was also comprised of crack stone.
There were torches set up every few feet or so,
illuminating the place, but just barely so. I guess putting
up was probably not the best idea. That's said. I
wouldn't be scared if we did, though, Roman said, grinning
at me, not scared of a fake place like this,
I smiled back. When I met him, he'd been petrified,
as if he'd given up any kind of hope here.
He was now ready to help me take down mister
Blank and find Lacey. You're right, I responded, nothing scary
about this place. But Dash is also right, but I
stuck together. Everybody nodded, and we began searching. About every
ten turns we'd come across some kind of creature wandering through.
They arranged from Eilis little Girls to go looking things,
but that wasn't a problem. We'd seen more frightening things
than that. Once it was obvious that we weren't taking
that fear bait, the creatures pretty much ignored us. I
couldn't keep track of how many turns we took, over
one hundred at least, it's pretty obvious. While Lacy wasn't
exactly a fan of hers. But eventually we came across
something different. I set us stairs, leading down into darkness.
Unlike the creatures that posed a more uncertain threat, it
evoked a fear of the unknown, making it exponentially more
frightening than any of the corny monsters we'd encountered before.
I could see the hesitation rising amongst our group, but
that was to be expected. That's exactly what mister Blank wanted.
For that reason, I didn't even think about it before
descending this, using my phone's flask light to guide me along.
It didn't matter if nobody followed. All that matter was
that I didn't let the feast stop me. To my surprise,
I heard three sets of it sits following behind me.
I smiled to myself. That was it, the final stretch
of all the madness I had experienced so far. I'm
not sure how far we'd walked, not that it mattered.
I'm sure everything in this world was nothing more than
an illusion, even time I had to tell myself that
in order to deal with what we came across. Next,
the stairs ended, leading to what appeared to be a
bottom's void. Sounds emanated from below. They were obscure ones,
things that I had never heard before, leading to chills
involuntarily crawling down my spine. Mister Blank had certainly stepped
his game up. No cheap scares here. What was presented
in front of me petrified me to the bone. Once again,
I could see hesitation amongst our group. What do you
think down there, Nicholl l asked. I paused for a moment,
considering the question. Nothing, nothing at all. I didn't let
another foot cross my mind before jumping down. For the
longest time, it felt like I was floating. If you
ask me how long exactly, There's no way I could
have told you. There was nothing around me, no sensation
at all. I was in the void, and soon enough,
soon enough, I felt solid ground beneath my feet. I
picked the direction I was already facing and began walking again.
I had no sense of time. My mind began drifting
with each step I took, but I never a light.
It get away from me completely. An indiscernible amount of
time later, I found myself standing in front of a
stone clearing, with everybody else behind me. We were at
the edge of the maze. Let's find what I was
looking for. I let out a deep exshill, probably the
deepest one of my life. Well, you see, she was
right in front of me, curled into a bowl with
her back against the stone wall. She was wearing what
she typically did, blue jeans and a green flannel shirt.
Upon hearing my voice, she looked up at me, her
eyes long roared from what had been a constant stream
of tears. She didn't look happy to see me, but
I didn't expect it to be. She'd probably been given
too much falsehood in a place like this. You are
not real, she whimpered, before beginning to cry again. Leave
me alone. I approached her slowly, nice. He looked back up.
I was one of the few people who called her dad.
I'm one of the only real things in this entire place.
I go out her hand. She pulled back a bit
at first, but I didn't let go. I didn't force
it either. You shouldn't be here. Let's get back to
where we belong. Her skin was warm, so was mine.
I saw a spark of understanding in her eyes. But
before I could smile, a familiar presence made an appearance.
A large shadow cast itself into the light of the torches.
I looked up, seeing a tall, skeletal figure with a
blank face living down at us. Lacy flint, but I
just gripped her hand tider. I looked up at mister
Blank and shot him a self satisfaction grin. There's nothing
left for you to do here. A moment of silence
followed as he continued learing. Do you consider this a victory? Yeah? No,
I began to respond, Mark, really, but YE didn't win either.
The whole time, my hand had been slowly reaching into
my pocket for my phone. I growled it. I opened
the video camera, but it was too late. He disappeared
in the blink of an eye. I grinned him myself.
He scared, I frightened the brigaman. I looked back at Lacey,
who looked equally confused and terrified, but a sense of
reality had returned to her face before it seemed as
if she was in a trance in the process of
forgetting where she'd come from. Said wait, She shook her head.
How are you looks like she's back? Nicholl said from
behind me. You're pretty good at this art. You I
suppose I was? And who I like? She began, before
trailing off. There's a lot I have to explain, but
not here. Ride Roman said, how are we getting back?
I'm not sure how the answer to the question came
to me. It was kind of just something I figured
out along the way. What do you mean? I responded,
We've been back the whole time. We never went anywhere,
don't you remember. It took a second, but Rouman began
to smile. We never left the theater, Debby, I nodded.
The other too soon followed suit. This is some Dorothy
type shit, isn't it. That's ed grinning as well. No
fucking place like home. I looked back at Lacy. We
were never here, don't you remember. It took a moment,
but she nodded. Yeah, she said, Oh, look's cold, into
a slight grin. I think I'm starving to Pretty soon after,
I remember my vision going black. Well, I'd be lying
if I said that I remember what happened at all.
I just remember waking up back in the theater, with
the same time that had spent mister Blank's world still
fresh in my mind. It didn't feel like a dream,
and it wasn't one. I sat rapidly, feeling a hand
on my shoulder. As I did so, I turned round, seeings,
then smiling at me. Finally back take you while, he said,
Then did you? He nodded. I found her. She's back.
I looked around the room, but the only people there
were calling Jamie and a few bewildered looking police officers.
Then where she looked round some more. Wait, where's Lacey?
My heart stopped for a moment. If you will, one
of the cops woke up, we might be able to
shed some light on that. Apparently, the police had found
the people who had gone missing in the theater in
an abandoned warehouse three towns over. When they were first discovered,
they were still unconscious, albeit alive. However, while they were
being transported to the nearest hospital, two of them woke up,
two university students, a male and female whose names hadn't
been released. Apparently a dazed woman had also been found
wandering through the woods in a different state as well.
I had a good feeling on who they could be,
so that's when and I was right. I hold us
at the hospital immediately. The cops tried to stop me,
but as Fenn flashed his badge again and got them
off my case. He really was a good asset to
have a round. I looked through the windows of the
rooms that discovered students were staying in. I don't think
my smile has ever been wider when I saw Lacey
sitting up in her bed, alive and playing with her
hands as she usually did. She looked a bit frail,
but there was no doubt about it. She was smiling.
She remembered everything. I left without saying anything to her.
All that I needed to know was that she was alive.
Our reunion would come later. For now she needed to rest.
On the way back, I learned how she ended up
in the warehouse so far away. To begin with, Almah.
Mister Blake's influence was severe and far reaching. He had
a whole legion of fear, and he slaves during his
bidding in al Wald. Since he needed his victims to
remain alive and and disturbed, he'd order people who'd been
petrified into obeying him in the past, like Colin, to
storm the theaters, quickly drag the bodies out, and then
drive them off to a far remote location. Once there,
they'd keep the physical bodies alive while their frightened minds
remain trapped in mister Blake's world. This time, they even
took it up a notch, then replaced the video surveillance
with looped footish taken when the theater was empty, in
order to confuse the investigators even more. It's sure as
hell worked a full persistent right, No, not really. Seven
arrests were made that day. It'll be an interesting trial
for sure. Less. I can't say that I hate these people.
We can't hate Colin Eater. There's only one person I
can direct my anger towards, and he's still alive out there,
and I feel a lingering responsibility to rectify that. We'll
see where this goes. I got a call from Jinny
a few hours ago. I told him about what I
saw in the other dimension, but how I wanted to
get rid of mister blank Watson for all thought something
you might be interested in. He told me it is
farmand apparently got a bounty on his head out there
in the Cosmo. Now we can make a real killing
of a real man fought. Another buddy is interested as well.
Name is dex Oh, but he's got a word arm,
so don't freak out when you meet him. Freaky weird
on him, all right, talk to you about the details later, Bifan.
Now looks like the hunt might be back on. That
is the end. I hope you enjoyed that. Thank you
for listening, and I will see you in the next story.