EMMA'S RECORDINGS DO NOT PICK BACK UP UNTIL A WEEK AFTER THE DISCOVERY OF WYNONA.

--File 009: Recovery--

10/10/XXXX

The video starts up, and many things are immediately noticeable and worth noting. Despite only a week having passed since the event, Emma does not look well. There are deep, dark shadows under her eyes, and her face seems somewhat sunken in; there is an ill, gray tone to her skin. Her hair is surprisingly clean, but her psychiatric records from just before this- included at the back of the report- reference the admission that she is taking several showers a day to combat feeling "permanently dirty".

Her bed is visible in the background, but the bed has been stripped of sheets, mentioned also in her report, in which Emma admits to continuously washing her sheets and clothes to rid them of anything "left over". The clothes from the event, the hospital threw out, at Emma's request. Just visible in the shot is a small collection of medication bottle caps, peeking up over the bottom frame of the camera.

Emma sits for over a minute, staring somewhat off to the side of the camera, before she suddenly blinks, shakes herself, and looks tiredly into the lens of her facecam.

Emma: "My psychiatrist suggested I start these back up, because I need to talk about what I'm going through between sessions."

She goes quiet again, and then when she talks, her voice is quiet.

Emma: "They've got me on serious medication because I swallowed... things."

She swallows hard and a look of panic flickers across her face, before she collects herself.

Emma: "I keep feeling like there's something going on that they weren't explaining. They didn't just bring in the trauma response. I mean, we expected pest control to start up, but something happened. Blaine told me that before I woke up, there was a Detective there who was really, really serious about trying to get some of the flies to look at. He said that it took him only a few minutes and then he was suddenly barking out orders and seemed really freaked out."

Emma goes quiet again, and then her expression hardens.

Emma: "Nothing about this was normal in any way, shape, or form. They shut down the entire neighborhood, and after I woke up, there were these huge pest control teams that showed up in like, hazmat gear. Everyone was so damned serious, and the whole street got shut down. Blaine and I got transported like we were carrying infectious diseases- the whole thing was insane. I mean- the flies themselves... I've never, ever seen or heard anything like it."

Emma goes quiet again, but it seems like she's contemplative.

Emma: "I haven't seen Blaine since everything happened, since we were cleared to leave the hospital. He's shaken up pretty bad... but I need answers. I heard that Detective mention something that I can't shake- the 'Maggot Man'."

Emma shuffles around and then pulls up a sheet of paper, which she printed from her school library.

Emma: "I got this from the library. The Maggot Man was Jake Grantham, and I- I saw, before we went to Wynona's house, that he was executed before all of this went down. Then Wyn went home, and... none of it makes sense. There was so much trash in that house, and her mother would never... and then there's this."

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Wynona holds up a familiar gray device- the game she picked up from the scene of the crime.

Emma: "I completely forgot about it, but I hung on to it from the moment I picked up, apparently. Someone stuffed it into my bag, and I still have it. It's the game that was in front of Wyn. It has to be important, because Wynona is just not a gamer, and I can't see her sitting there, in the middle of an infestation on that level, ignoring the death of her mother, brother, and sister, just to play a video game."

She looks frustrated, turning the game over and over in her hands.

Emma: "He's dead, though. This reeks of his hand, but how could he do any of this if he's dead? How could anyone do this, when he's been in jail this whole time? It's impossible. I know, though, that Wynona was the one who got him arrested. She told me, just before all of this went down. If anyone would be targeted by this guy, it would be her and her sister, and those flies... the flies are horrific."

She shuffles around again, and holds up a collection of books. The first is the memoirs of Detective Bartosz, the second is the book written by Brigette Alois, and the third is a book specifically on flies, an entomology book.

Emma: "There's all sorts of stuff about this case that was never openly talked about. My mom remembers the killings, but this Alois lady talks about these flies that Grantham left behind like they're almost supernatural, these scientific experiments. Bartosz was there, and he seems totally nuts after everything he's gone through, but considering what I've seen, I think I believe him. I tried finding actual reports for Grantham's murders, but they never actually showed the crime scenes."

Emma holds up the book on flies.

Emma: "There's this botfly, the 'human botfly', that lays its eggs in the skin of a mammal. Alois talks about it briefly, but man, she downplays the fuck out of that, because these things are horrific. It's super painful, and there's these boils that show up on the body, and you can see the larvae moving around in there. They burrow into your pores and it hurts like hell, and you can FEEL them moving around in you."

She looks ill, and glances down at her medication.

Emma: "They were worried about something like this with me, I know it. They gave me so much medication immediately, and they were moving like I was infected with like, the zombie virus, or something. There was this older doctor who came in to work on me, and he looked like he was scared of me."

She puts the books down and puts her face in shaking hands, taking deep breaths before sitting up again.

Emma: "There is nothing normal about this. Nothing. This entire thing is fucking insane. If it's a copycat, I can't think of any person on Earth who could control flies like that, or create something that nasty. The amount of trash..."

Emma stops, as if afraid to say what she's thinking.

Emma: "I think Wynona was trying to buy time. It's like... it's almost like... like she was trying to keep them off of her by distracting them with fresh food and trash. There was so much food. Way more than what anyone would need over the course of three days. I cannot imagine what she..."

Emma stops finally and bursts into tears. She sits there for several long, agonizing seconds, just crying, before there's a sudden knock at her door. She jumps, and terror replaces her upset as she twists around to look at the door; a male voice is heard, but Emma's reaction to it is not one of relief. She looks almost angry.

Emma: "God, it's Keith. I can't deal with him right now. He was so great for like three days after I got discharged, but then he was all 'You shouldn't sleep alone, let me spend the night', but when I suggested he could take the couch, he got all pissy, and I realized that this motherfucker was trying to take advantage of my mental state to try to fuck me."

If Keith can be thanked for anything, it's breaking up the terror that moments ago had dragged her to tears, imagining what Wynona may have been going through, and may have gone through all these years. The knocking continues, and the voice seems insistent, though the words are not easily picked up. Emma twists around, angry, to shout at the door.

Emma: "Piss off, Keith! Leave me the fuck alone!"

The voice responds, a mixture of pleading and indignation, and, swearing, Emma twists around, hits her keyboard, misses the button, swears, and ends the recording with her usual abruptness.

--END TRANSMISSION--