Circumstantial Evidence

Robbie’s Journal-16-Feb-17: I was sitting in the hidden break room of Quick & Convenit. Whoever named this store couldn’t spell convenient properly. As far as I know, I and I alone know where the break room is. My only coworker, Kaden, is sleeping at his post, the cashier desk. The buzzing of the Slipzee machine is the only thing that can be heard.

I’d already stocked all the shelves; it’s not much work, we have like four shelves to stock, not including the freezers. There’s way more freezers than shelves, there’s like 42 freezers. They’re always empty with the exception of like a gallon or two of milk, as well as one freezer that’s frozen shut. That means it’s always stocked though.

The clock was ticking as I just stared at it, waiting for the minute hand to reach the twelve. There’s a fly buzzing around the room. 10 PM, shift’s over. I left the break room and noticed Kaden had already left. I locked up the store and left for the night.

As I write this I am eating dinner, microwaveable pockets and root beer. Hopefalls, the town where the normal is absurd—unfortunately, the town I reside in.. It's a quiet town at night. The Snow Mob is asleep, The Killer Clowns are partying, and our political figures are writing novels. It’s going to be Friday tomorrow. I would be able to sleep well tonight, if not for the knowledge I hold.

The manager of Quick & Convenit left a note for us. They told us their boss, Mr. Gold will be coming to the store sometime next week. They hold the power to fire one of us, and will be monitoring us. If I get fired, I won’t be able to pay my rent, if Kaden gets fired, I have to fill in for him as the cashier too. And they could be here any day.

I will now attempt to sleep. This is Robbie, signing off.

Robbie’s Journal-17-Feb-17: I began the day by grabbing a box of cans. These cans have beans. I stock the shelves. Kaden made light conversation while he waited for customers.

“Stack the cans, stack the cans, stack the cans,” he hummed a little ditty as each can was stacked.

“Please stop.”

“Hmm, I dunno.” I hate working with teens.

I finished stacking cans for the day, which left me with janitorial duties and helping customers. There was only one customer today.

Larry Long Mouth, the town’s local weatherman; the title was given to him, and it’s just stuck. His skin had a glue-like color, as usual. His elbows accidentally stabbed into the shelves, giving me more work to do.

“These shelves are too damn close!” He would angrily shout as he went to look for something else to complain about.

To make it worse, I'm really tired of looking at Larry. He can’t shut his gaping mouth, it’s permanently open, reaches to the bottom of his waist, and Larry doesn’t always clean his mouth out, so you’ll sometimes just see chunks of food, or just his organs.

Oh, but Robbie, if his mouth opens to the bottom of his waist then you can’t see most of it behind his weatherman get-up right? Wrong, this man doesn’t wear clothing, he just walks around nude. To be fair, his body is probably sharp enough to cut through it, and I don't think this town has clothing for his species yet, also he doesn’t have genitals, but still.

“Robbie, you guys are out of Slipzee cups again?!”

“Yes Larry, we won’t have any until September.”

“I hate this place!” He would storm out angrily, before walking back in to buy a box of donuts and proceeding to stand near the cup-less machine for a couple of hours. He does this almost every day.

As usual, Kaden would sit at the cashier desk, typing away on his laptop or sleeping until someone needed to ring something up. Something ain't right with that boy, I never see him anywhere except here. He must just stay at his house, wherever that is. Do teens not hang out with their friends anymore?

When it comes to conversations, Kaden seems to be able to hold a conversation with anyone, as long as they’re talking about something he has some knowledge on. The only person I've ever seen calmly talk to is the mayor, Mayoress Jaine; he looks both nervous and calm.

Cleaning is mostly hassle-free today. Larry broke the Slipzee machine entirely when he jumped on the counter to let the soft freeze drink fall into his wide gaping mouth hole. Luckily Kaden knows some tech stuff, so I forced him to fix it.

“Oh come on! Cleaning is your job.” He complained.

“Yeah, well… I dunno, just fix it or something, you know technology, you can fix it.”

“I know programming, not engineering.” Always making excuses.

“Just fix it.”

I wait in the break room, as my shift is almost over. I watch the clock tick. The fly from yesterday is still buzzing, and the sound of the Slipzee machine is gone. Tick tick tick, the time goes by as I wait. I hear someone talking to Kaden outside the break room. I decided not to investigate.

10 pm, shift’s over. I left the room.

“Thanks Xana.” I see Kaden waving to Xana as she leaves.

The Slipzee machine is fixed again, humming as always.

“Did you really call the mechanic?” I didn’t wait for the answer.

“I told you, I'm not an engineer.” He shouts after me.

As I write this I am eating dinner, a frozen burrito, my microwave failed. Maybe I can get Xana to use her alien tools to fix it. No, I won't stoop down to that twerp’s level. I’ll fix it myself later. It’s going to be Saturday tomorrow. Night falls again, all I can hear outside is the sheriff’s pug, barking away. Probably at the giant rat in the sewers.

I will now attempt to sleep. This is Robbie, signing off.

Hopefalls’ Newspaper-18-Feb-17: BREAKING NEWS: Local Actor Neil N. Mysteriously Missing!

Authorities are baffled following the mysterious disappearance of local actor Neil N., who has not been seen for four days. Witnesses describe him as having grey skin, a round head, and a tiny body, sparking concern and curiosity within the community.

The sheriff’s office has issued a statement, with Mr. Cop remarking, “This isn’t normal guys.” Emphasizing the unusual nature of the case. In a surprising twist, the sheriff’s secret pug everyone knows about, offered its own input but added little to the investigation, simply responding with a bark.

Neil’s wife, known as Female Neil, expressed her distress over her husband’s absence, stating, “I just want him home safe. Wait, this is going to be in the news? Try my brand new spaghetti recipe.”

Local citizens are urged to remain vigilant and report any sightings of unfamiliar individuals. Keep an eye out for the unusuals and the usuals. Keep an eye forwards and backwards, everyone! And yes, even you, aggressive duck in the pond.

Robbie’s Journal-18-Feb-17: I had begun this morning by reading the newspaper. There was something interesting today in the newspaper.

The crossword was impossible, I swear I checked every possible answer, it can’t be solved. Like why write a crossword puzzle that can’t be solved. Oh yeah I guess there was something else too. Sunday comics! On a Saturday? Just funny cat comics today.

When I arrived at work, Kaden was early. He was sitting at the counter like normal, typing away at his computer. There was a box ready for me to start unpacking into shelves, labeled, “cheese.”

“Howdy Rob.”

“Don’t howdy me, little man.”

“Lighten' up, Rob.”

“Robbie, and why don’t you just do your job.”

“I am, there’s no customers yet.” he looked annoyed at me for some reason.

I begin to stack the cheese blocks on the shelf next to the singular slices of bread. Larry was here again. Kaden was juggling milk cartons while he waited for Granny Pancake to get her wallet out.

Sandy however the hell she spells her last name, Larry Long Mouth’s coworker, walked into the store today. Her dress, shiny as ever. I don’t know if she had a report she was doing or if she was coming to drag Larry back to the news station, but I was busy wiping frost off the freezer glass.

This day has been boring. However, every time I turned around I saw something moving right out of my view. It happened multiple times today. Now that I think about it, it was probably just Larry, I'm going to confront him about that tomorrow.

After finishing my cleaning stuff, I went back to the hidden break room.

“Robbie!” Kaden had shouted at me from outside the room.

“What?” I shouted back.

“Do you know what’s wrong with the lights?”

“Lights?”

“Where are you?” he asked

“Nowhere.”

I’d left the break room, making sure Kaden didn’t see the breakroom’s location. The lights in the store were all shut off. Kaden was looking at the breaker. It had been broken, and was missing all the switches.

“The lights went off after you’d walked off.”

“Hm. Really?” I don't really care.

“Where even were you, I searched everywhere for you. We have to tell the boss, and I don't have his number.” He was moving his hands for some reason.

“In the break room.”

“We don’t have a break room. Were you just hiding in the freezer maze?”

“No, why don’t you go home for the day, our shift is almost over.”

“Alright, just get this fixed please. I couldn’t, the switches are gone.”

I’d sent Kaden home as I’d fixed the breaker’s switches. It was easy, I grabbed the switches from my pocket and put them back into place... I went home afterwards. I tried to find out where Kaden goes, but I couldn’t find him. Tomorrow…

As I write this I am eating ramen, I will have an amazing meal in a week. I can hear a police siren. It's going to be Sunday tomorrow. The sound of rain hits my roof, pitpatplop.

I will now attempt to sleep. This is Robbie, signing off.

Kaden and Jaine’s Chat log - Night - 18-Feb-17:

Kaden: “I got off 42 minutes early today.”

Jaine: “Hey, good for you.”

Kaden: “How were your mayoral duties today?”

Jaine: “Pretty calm in the office today. Mr. Gold decided to not try to take my spot today.”

Jaine: “I had so much free time.”

Jaine: “I might have added 69 pages to my romance novel.”

Kaden: “Nice.”

Jaine: “How was your day?”

Kaden: “Same as always. I sat around checking people out.”

Kaden: “Wait,”

Kaden: “That sounds wrong.”

Jaine: “Lol.”

Jaine: “I know what you meant”

Kaden: “Rob was just as weird as usual, disappearing during his shift, staring at customers, grumpy pants.”

Jaine: “Tl;Dr”

Kaden: “Rob was being weird.”

Jaine: “Alr.”

Jaine: “Weird like you? Or weird like…”

Jaine: “I dunno.”

Jaine: “You know what I mean.”

Kaden: “Uncomfortably weird.”

Jaine: “Are you sure that’s not just you being a kid around an adult.”

Kaden: “Teen.”

Kaden: “we’re not that far apart in age Jaine.”

Kaden: “You’re the old one, talking to a minor, how could you!”

Kaden: HopefallsGIF.com/Screaminglady

Jaine: “You'll be an adult in a few months, idiot, and I'm only two years older than you.”

Kaden: “Haha”

Kaden: “We still meeting up after church tomorrow to talk about Spud-Man?”

Kaden: “Jaine?”

Kaden: “You there?”

Kaden: “Hello???“

Jaine: “Sorry mum made lasagna.”

Kaden: “Ok, so we're still up for after church?”

Kaden: “The Spud-Man volume 41 discussion?”

Jaine: “Now.”

Jaine: “No. (stupid auto-correct.)”

Jaine: “We'll have to move it to Monday, I have meetings to go to right after church.”

Kaden: “K, love you.”

Jaine: “Love ya too.”

Kaden: HopefallsGIF.com/Catsleeping

End of conversation for the night.

Sandy Kelimoratagratmugikla’s Camera- Night - 18-Feb-17: They began getting out of the news van. Sandy was repositioning her hair so it’s bushiness would stay out of her eyes. She was standing on the sidewalk of a road. No cars anywhere to be seen, the only thing around is a shack, and the view of the hills. She grabbed her microphone, waiting for Larry's cue to begin speaking.

“Camera’s on.”

“Good evening ladies and gentlemen. I’m Sandy Kelimoratagratmugikla, and we’re reporting not live from 42nd street, where we have reason to believe the next disappearance will occur here.”

“Did you need to bring me along Sandy?” Larry spoke up, camera in hand.

“Well since you didn’t come in to report the weather today, Pete told me to take you with me on this field report.”

Larry grunts. Larry and Sandy did not have any sort of defense with them. They stood around waiting for something to happen. After a while of kicking rocks and petting the stray cat that walked by, Sandy gives up.

“Cut the recording Larry. We’re not gonna find anything here.” Sandy sighed as she kicked some dust up.

Sandy walked back to the van and got into the driver's seat, and waited. No noise. She stuck her head out the window to look back, and saw nothing, not even Larry. All that was there was the camera, still recording.

Sandy picked up the camera, all she could see in the recording was a flesh colored hand, human looking, as it pushed the camera away, and cut to the ground.

Robbie’s Journal-19-Feb-17: Today had begun like any other day. Once I got to the store Kaden wasn’t there. For some reason that fool believes in Void Man, supposedly this world’s creator. I think he’s just going to church as an excuse to get off work on Sundays. I think Christianity is false, but whatever Kaden believes in is getting him out of work.

On Sundays, when Kaden isn’t here, I have to fill in as the cashier. It’s not fun. I spend my day stocking shelves and cleaning until someone comes in, and I can't go to the break room, I have to wait at the counter. There’s not even a clock in the main area.

I waited for Larry Long Mouth to come in, ready to confront him about stalking me yesterday. He never did… for some reason. So today was great, I still feel like I was being watched or even judged. I would see hallucinations as I waited today. I’d rather not say what of.

They only went away when Granny Pancake walked in. The old lady wanted to buy some waffles. I wonder if her skin tastes like pancakes, since she’s made of pancakes. She took forever to get the money out of her purse. I had to get it myself for her, instead of waiting. She hobbled away afterwards. Grumbling about something.

Sandy something something walked in again today. Her hair was a bushy mess, more than usual. She was wearing a sparkling purple dress today instead. I have words to call her, I won't.

“Larry hasn’t come in here has he?”

“No.”

“I-I see.”

She’d left right afterwards. Crossing something off her notepad. Only a couple more customers today.

Eliza came in, her body still made of eggs and yolk, dunno why I thought that’d change. She was looking for her grandmother, Granny Pancake. Apparently Ms. Pancake isn’t supposed to be walking outside the house.

Don Snow came in, bought a pack of cigarettes, he burns through a pack a week, prolly doesn’t help his mouth is made of coal. How does he smoke without burning his snow skin? Whatever, shouldn’t tick off the Snow Mob.

Ticktockticktock

I took a small break in the hidden room. I swear I heard a noise out in the freezer maze. I ran out of the room, running through the whole maze. I can last at least 3 minutes here before I freeze up. Whoever turned the freezers into a maze sucks.

I think Kaden did it actually, a few months ago. Said he was bored, so he moved every freezer. Running through the maze, I could feel my hands numbing, and my vision fogging. I got out of the maze.

I heard the voices again…

Screaming for my name…

Screaming to be let out…

They don’t want to be down there anymore…

10pm, my shift’s over. I leave.

As I write this I am eating spaghetti and meatballs, I will move my amazing meal plans to happening in 2 days. My hand is bleeding from the coldness of the freezer. It's going to be Monday tomorrow. It’s raining spaghetti and meatballs right now, that’s where I got dinner from. I saw Charlie doing spaghetti angels in the fallen spaghetti.

I will now attempt to sleep. This is Robbie, signing off.

HOPEFALLS NEWS STATION- CHANNEL 42 -19-Feb-17: Puppet Pete, with his puppet body and hand sticking through him, sits at the desk. He has his papers in front of him and he’s waiting for the camera to turn on.

“Ready sir?” Teli, the small robot, asks.

“Ready.” Pete’s smooth voice ranges back.

“3. 2. 1. We’re live.”

Puppet Pete adjusts his bowtie and looks directly into the camera. “Good evening, Hopefalls! I’m Pete, your favorite news anchor, and welcome to another thrilling edition of Hopefalls News! Today, we delve into the mysterious disappearances of citizens from our beloved town.”

Teli whirs quietly in the background, adjusting the lighting as Pete continues. “For those who don’t know, there have been 3 disappearances so far. Neil Nelson, the best actor in this town. Admittedly he was our only actor. He went missing 5 days ago. Xana, the alien mechanic, went missing 2 days ago. And the biggest hit here at the station, Larry, or as you might know him, Larry Long Mouth, our best weather man disappeared last night.”

Teli slides out of the room. “As you’ve noticed,” Pete continued, “people are disappearing every night. If we don’t figure this out, eventually everyone will be gone. And if there’s no one in Hopefalls, there’s no Hopefalls.”

Teli walks back in with the guest star of the night. “To figure out how to protect yourself against this threat we have a guest star tonight, Mr. Cop.” Pete waves his puppet arm to somewhere off camera. Mr. Cop, with his grey trench coat and golden badge, steps into frame and sits in the chair.

“So, Mr. Mr. Cop? well first of all, is Mr. your first name or just what people refer to you as?”

“My first name is Mr.”

“Alright, Mr. Cop, what can people of Hopefalls do to protect themselves against this unknown threat?”

“Well we don’t quite know for sure. What we’ve noticed is that everyone who seems to go missing, was in a position where they couldn’t be seen. Neil was last seen in his dressing room, Larry was behind Sandy, and Xana was alone in her workshop.”

“So Mr. Cop..”

“Please stop saying my full name every time.”

“Right, sorry, so, you’re saying people should make sure they’re never alone?”

“Pretty much, at this moment in time we cannot share more info and don’t have any other pieces of advice.”

“Alright, thank you for your time Mr. Co- I mean Mr.”

“Glad to keep this town safe.” Mr. Cop walked off camera, as the fake audience applause played.

“Alright folks, we’ll be right back after these messages, stay tuned for the story of Jong Strohn, the man who drinks 3 kiloliters of milk every day.”

The camera pans out and Pete settles back in his chair. He wipes sweat away, despite not being able to sweat. He taps his papers on the desk, and stares at his puppet watch. He has time to get a drink. He gets his straw out and starts drinking his coffee.

He checks his watch again a few moments later. Advertisements should have stopped by now. He looks up, Teli is gone.

Robbie’s Journal-20-Feb-17: Today is Monday... I woke up... Like always…

I got to the store, Kaden was unlocking the store for the morning. Still wearing that bright-ass green jacket. The inside of the store looked normal, except for the shelf knocked over. It had a trail of blood on the back, supposedly where it was knocked over.

Kaden surprisingly was able to push the shelf back up, then he walked over to his cashier counter.

“Not gonna finish helping?” I ask, obviously angry.

“Stocking the shelves is your job, plus I just did help.. I'm waiting for someone anyway.” he leaned back in his chair.

“Sure you are.” I grab some boxes and start reshelving.

I continued to hear the voices, periodically. It’s not Kaden, I watched his mouth movement, and I know he sucks at ventriloquism.

Please let us free…

We don’t like it here…

It stinks of rotten meat…

Eliza walks in today, again. Said Granny Pancake needed some Stomach Soother, she grabs a box of them and takes them to the counter. Kaden scans the medicine then hands it back to her. One whole dollar.

Jong came in and bought a few hundred boxes of milk. Flexed on us, poured some on himself, then flexed all of it off. I had to go get the mop.

While cleaning up the milk, my hallucinations made it look red, and trailed off. Kaden checked in on me after I'd followed a trail of blood that wasn’t there. The hallucinations went away, all I'd done was mop a clean floor.

Kaden was still waiting for whomever he was waiting for around noon. He started to munch down on a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, as usual, for lunch. After he finished his lunch, the Mayoress walked in. She walked up to Kaden and they began talking.

Kaden and Jaine’s conversation - Kaden’s Pov - 20-Feb-17: I finished eating my lunch.

Mmm, a delicious PB&J, can’t go wrong with one of those. I checked my phone, Jaine is supposed to be here soon. Robbie was standing in the corner, staring for some reason. I’m worried for him, blud was mopping the clean floor.

A few minutes later, Jaine walked in, her sea-green hair, smooth as ever. I called her over. Her Ursithan ears twitched when she heard me. She was wearing a purple suit, with a yellow bowtie, and was carrying a comic, The Amazing Spud-Man, Volume 41.

“Hey Kaden. How's your day going so far?”

“It’s been boring so far,” I bend closer and whisper, “Robbie is acting even stranger than usual unfortunately.”

“Dang.” She glanced to her left, Rob was staring at us, “Well, wanna discuss our favorite potato-themed superhero?”

“Yeah, so I read Spud-man Volume 41 the other day, I think it was an amazing volume.” I start talking with my hands, I don't know why my hands are moving this way.

“I’m glad they brought back Cabbage Cutie, I'm loving her arc from thief to anti-hero.” I watched her tail wag back and forth as she geeked out, “I also loved the new villain, Red Carrot. When they reveal that he’s Norman O'Bacon, insane, I mean they lead up to it from the beginning and stuff, and he wasn’t exactly a good guy, but still. I can’t wait to see how Harry will react to finding out his uncle was the Red Carrot.”

She continued after taking a breath, “We’ll have to wait for volume 42, I heard it’s supposed to come out in September. I like the direction they took where they showed O’Bacon slowly going insane in the previous volume, with the hearing the second voice in his head, and seeing hallucinations of his dead wife.”

I nod, laughing a little. I look behind me, Rob is still standing close nearby, watching us. His eyes looked as grim as normal. He started looking around frantically, holding his head, whispering something about voices. I try to ignore it, so does Jaine.

“So how’s Charlie?” Jaine asked, to keep our conversation going.

Charlie is our good friend. We’ve all been friends since seventh grade. Charlie is funny, and bubbly, but right now me and her are in a business war. She owns Burger, the burger joint down the street.

“She’s still a better cashier than me.”

“I meant like how’s she been?”

“Why not ask her yourself, you guys are still good friends…”

I don’t actually know how Charlie’s doing, it’s been a bit since we talked. We were supposed to discuss sales last Saturday to see who sold more, but she had the flu.

“Not after something she told me.”

“What’d she tell you?” I don't actually know, Charlie always seems friendly.

“N-nothin’!” Jaine looked flustered.

“Anyway, wanna hit up Burger after I get off? We can go visit Charlie. And you don’t have to be alone, with the whole, “Don’t travel alone’ thing the news was talking about last night.” This is an opportunity to learn what Charlie said, while still keeping Jaine safe. Double win.

“Why were you awake at 11pm?” she was smirking.

“You know I stay up late programming.”

“Yeah, yeah. I think I’ll join you for Burger.”

Robbie’s Journal - Continued - 20-Feb-17: The voices, they’re back, they’re screaming.

I was just standing around, cleaning. Kaden might claim I was eavesdropping, is it eavesdropping if you can’t hear a word they say?

I walked off, maybe it’ll go away if I hid in the break room. I get in and shut the wall behind me. I stare at the wall. The fly was dead. Lying on the counter top in a spider’s web. The clock looked like it was spinning out of control.

Faster-

Faster-

Faster-

TickTock TickTock TickTock TickTock TickTock TickTock TickTock TickTock TickTock TickTock TickTock TickTock TickTock TickTock TickTock TickTock TickTock TickTock TickTock TickTock TickTock TickTock TickTock TickTock TickTock TickTock TickTock TickTock TickTock TickTock TickTock TickTock TickTock TickTock TickTock TickTock TickTock TickTock TickTock TickTock.

Tomorrow.

Eliza’s House - Day - 20-Feb-17: Eliza left the convenience store. She got the Stomach Soother Grandmother Pancake needs. She was biking home as fast as she could, I can't leave Granny alone too long, she’ll leave the house again.

Once she arrived home, Granny Pancake was hobbling out the door.

“Hey, deary.” she waved cheerfully as she closed the door.

“Grandma! No… you can’t be up and walking, the doctor said you have to rest.”

“It’ll take more than mononucleosis to take down this old lady!” she shouted triumphantly before coughing a bunch.

Eliza rushed over to keep her upright, “Come on, let’s get you inside.”

“Oh phooey, I'm perfectly fine darling.” She tried to wiggle out of Eliza’s grasp, but her weak old lady bones wouldn’t let her.

Eliza dragged her grandmother back into the house and to the couch. She set her down and went to the kitchen to make some tea for her. The kitchen lights didn’t work, but that was fine, the window is big enough to see in the darkness. She reached her hands through the cabinet looking for any tea bags.

She found a tea packet, marigold tea, she started making it into tea while she kept an eye on Granny. She stretched her arm as far as possible to reach the remote without getting up. Eliza walked over and pushed the remote across the coffee table to her.

Granny turned on the TV, and changed the channel to channel 42. The news channel was on an advertisement break.

“Damn ads,” she whispered, before changing to channel 43.

It started to play some old cartoon reruns. A duck was chasing a rabbit with a shotgun. Granny laughed at the slapstick humor.

Whuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu, the kettle whistled and Eliza pulled it off the stove top. The water slid out of the spout and into the crevices of the cup. The liquid was a golden color, it slid around in the cup, effortlessly.

Thump, the broom fell.

She grasped the cup, sliding her hands around it and through the handle. She carefully carried the cup out of the kitchen, tripping on the fallen broom, but catching herself. Grandmother was sitting peacefully on the couch. She had a woolen blanket on now. She was smiling while watching the cartoons.

“Deary, you didn’t have to.” she was still smiling, but more in an endearing way.

“Yes, I do Grandma. I have to keep you in good health.” Eliza sets the cup on the coffee table, “I don't want mononucleosis taking your life.”

Granny Pancake’s smile faltered a little, she placed a hand on Eliza’s cheek, “Dear… no matter how hard you try, I will pass away eventually. There’s nothing you can do to stop it. We both know my body is too frail, and you need to focus on your own life more.”

“I don’t want that to happen though, I need to keep you alive as long as you can be.” A tear made of egg yolk rolled down Eliza’s cheek.

“Live your own life, Eliza. You need to have a life for when I'm gone.” She wiped the tear away, “Find a longer hour job, get a hobby, date someone, but do something to have a life of your own.”

“Ok Granny. I’ll do just that, but only if you promise to rest.” She took Granny’s hand off her cheek.

Granny Pancake chuckled softly, her laughter mixing with the cartoon sounds in the background. “Deal, my dear. I’ll rest as long as you promise to live boldly. Now go out and have some fun tonight.”

Eliza hesitated, glancing at the clock on the wall. “A few friends are getting together at the café, and I said I couldn't join them.”

“Well, join them.” Granny attempted to push her towards the door with her weak old lady arms.

Eliza’s House - Night - 20-Feb-17: Eliza finished chatting with Nagi and Betty and bid them farewell for the night after a long and delicious hang out at the coffee shop.

“Next Friday work for y'all?” Betty asked, her arm was around Nagi.

“Fine by me!” Eliza shouted as she began biking away.

Eliza came to an abrupt stop. The front door of her house was broken. ‘Granny didn’t do this did she?’ She got off her bike and ran into the house. The lights were all off, the television was the only thing producing light, but it was just static.

She ran to the stairs and thought she saw a figure, shadowed in the darkness, dragging something. She grabbed a fire poker and bolted up the stairs. The figure was dragging Granny by the collar. Granny was unconscious, but alive.

“Put her down!” Eliza shouted, unsure what to do.

The figure, enshrouded in the darkness, looked humanoid. They tossed Granny Pancake out the window, and used Eliza’s moment of fear to run past her, grab her fire poker, and down the stairs.

Please be ok, please be ok, please be ok, Eliza ran to the window, “Granny!”

As she looked out the window, she could see Granny breathing heavily, under the moonlight Eliza could see a cut on her cheek, the syrup blood draining out of the cut. The figure had made it outside already, it began dragging Granny away.

Eliza ran back down the stairs, all she could see was darkness, all she could hear was the bu-dump of her heart, and the static of the television.

By the time Eliza made it out, they were both gone.

Robbie’s Journal-21-Feb-17: Today… Tuesday… HelP…

I’ve taken the journal with me to work today. I’m writing right now in the hidden break room, you know what else I've taken with me? My shotgun.

They’re targeting me…

They’re in the walls…

I must be prepared, Kaden pretended to care about my well-being when I entered this morning. I know it’s a joke, a play, a game, they’re against me, they know, everyone knows, what I've done.

Any moment now they’ll walk through those doors. Any moment now they’ll try to take me down. Any second now — I’ll kill em.

Tick Tock Tick Tock

The dust is intoxicating.

Tick Tock Tick Tock

The clock ticks like it does every damn day. This gun feels comfortable in my hand. My fingers are wrapping against the leather of the handle.

Tick Tock Tick Tock

I can hear the voices.

“Oh dear, could you please let me go?”

“Why Are you doing this?”

“Lemme out!”

“This basement is too damn cramped.”

Tick Tock Tick Tock

The hallucinations have started back up.

Tick Tock Tick Tock

I hear more voices… outside the room…

Tick Tock Tick Tock

I’m ready…

Tick Tock Tick Tock

Hopefalls’ Newspaper-21-Feb-17: BREAKING NEWS: Crazed gunman shoots his boss's boss.

Today at 9:32am, Robbie Smith, worker of local Quick & Convenit, shot Mr. Gold, the boss of the owner of Quick & Convenit, Jackson. Reports indicate he had locked himself up in a hidden room in the back of the store. Gold M. Lavish had come in to do his yearly inspection of the employees, and came to look for Robbie, as he opened the wall up, hearing intense yelling behind it, he was shot at, hit by 3 different pellets in the stomach.

Kaden, Robbie’s coworker, stated quote;

“Robbie had been acting strange lately, but I… I didn't think he’d go this far.”

Police department sheriff looked over the journal Robbie had with himself. According to psychiatrist, Jacklo Morris, “It seems like the journal entries were meant to hide something, whatever that something was, the guilt of it had caught up to Robbie.”

Mr. Cop proceeded to search his house, looking to figure out what might have caused this downfall into insanity; it was later discovered that the 5 missing people were in his basement.

Niel N, Larry Long Mouth, Xana, Teli, and Granny Pancake. Each one gave similar testimonies, Robbie had kidnapped them, and stated that he was going to eat them in a quote, “Amazing meal,” to discover what non-human species tasted like.

Dr. Morris believes he planned to use the journal entries as an alibi for him not being the kidnapper, but it would have failed, due to the bias, unreliable narrating, and the conflicting testimonies.

In other news, Jackson Bowman, Owner of Quick & Convenit decides to retire and will hand the store down to the only employee still working, 17-year-old Kaden. Mr. Gold is not entirely pleased with this choice, but is ultimately fine with it.

Everything in this file is written witness testimonies and material evidence for the case of The Missing Folk of Hopefalls. Anyone without high enough governmental clearance should not view these files and will be terminated. run