Pushing past the third puzzle poster door, you find yourself in a dusty subterranean hall that seems even more expansive than the Driector’s Lodge would seem. In fact, this seems to be an entire complex filled with rows upon rows of shelves. Walking around it seems almost impossible to search this entire place.
This gives a whole new meaning to Cabin In The Woods…
The flourescent lights flicker and hum, enveloping each reverberating stride you take. Shadows dance through the aisles. And then a hammering sensation throbs in the back of your skull like being hit from the back with a frigid brick. Wheeling around you see an old record player set up in the middle of the path… that you just walked through moments before where there was nothing. The record is already playing…
Burning to leave this place you dart down the nearest branching pathway, now unsure of where the exit/entrance even is. What was once a concerned brisk jog now sees you sprinting down what feels to be a corridor with no end. Circuitous. Looping.
The only thing to break your pace is the firm clack of your left foot landing on an enueven surface. Plastic. It’s a good thing you didn’t break it. There is a cassette lying neatly on the floor. Waiting for you.
Sherriff’s Tape- Dated 11/1/2021
Transcript:
Sherriff Yuca (SY): Alright, What’s your name?
P_____ Love (PL): P______ Love.
SY: Now lemme state for the record. This is the first interview after the incident, so know that everything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law, so we need the God’s honest truth, Son. Can you do that for us?
PL: Yes, sir. I told you I’m not a liar.
SY: Alright, tell me what happened las night?
PL: Camp Xeno… Well it was Halloween night, so after everyone was in their costumes for the ghost stories befor ebed around the bonfire. It was fun, I guess. Maybe a bit corny. But-
SY: To your knowledge, were there any illegal substances being used by anybody? Liquor, tobacco, marijuanna, drugs, pills, anything at all?
PL: No sir.
SY: So how did you know the deceased, Ms. Veronica Cruz?
PL: She was one of the campers. I mean we never really talked but… she was weird. Hot, but weird. Never really talked anyone but herself. She was in lodge (unintelligible).
SY: She ain’t have any friends?
PL: Not really. Actually the other girls were pretty mean to her. Think most of them were kinda jealous at how she was built.
SY: Alright son, let’s try to focus and be respectful of the deceased please.
PL: Sorry.
SY: That’s alright.
PL: Sorry.
SY: Alright so, yall had the ghost stories last night around the fire, what time roughly?
PL: Well Director Xeno always preps to run his ghost stories by 8:30 so that everyone’s in bed and lights out by 9.
SY: So yall were all in bed by 9?
PL: I mean mostly… yeah.
SY: What do you mean mostly?
PL: I was laying in the cot in Lodge… I was in the bottom bunk in lodge Gilli and I saw the Lodge Leader and Veronica. He was yellin at her and trynna take somethin from her. I didn’t know at the time, but I think I know what it was.
SY: Well… What was it son?
PL: A doll.
*photo slides on desk*
PL: No. No. It’s not that one. I told you guys that’s not the doll.
SY: Now son, don’t go on tellin them folktales. Just give us the damn truth. We don’t take too kindly to fables around these parts.
*Door clicks*
SY: Now… do you think (unintelligible) was trying to hurt mrs. Cruz?
PL: No sir.
SY: Well then… what happened after that?
PL: I tried to go to sleep but the sounds of cicadas and frogs just kept me waking up so I snuck out around midnight to go throw some rocks in that well.
SY: Now why would you do something like that?
PL: Well I don’t have any pennies so I thought rocks would work instead.
SY: And what were you wishing for, son?
PL: Just wishing for the sounds of the frogs, and the cicadas and coyotes and the trees… I just wanted it all to stop.
SY: Crazy city kids.
PL: I’m not crazy.
SY: Relax… no one said you were crazy son. Now be straight with me. You said you went to the well…
PL: I heard a noise that sounded like a low gurgling sound and then it turned into a scream.
SY: And where did you hear this scream coming from?
PL: At first it sounded like it was coming from the well but then it sounded like it was coming from the rope course, so I went to see what happened. When I ran across the little land bridge thing I saw Veronica up there in the trees and… ropes and…
SY: Son?
PL: I saw the doll standing there on the edge of the tree platform and it pushed her off…
SY: Bullsh.- Cutting the recording.
<TAPE END>