THE FOLLOWING PAGES PROVIDE BRIEF SNAPSHOTS INDICATING THE CROSS COUNTRY JOURNEY THAT DETECTIVE ANDERS, EMMA, AND BLAINE ARE, AT THIS TIME IN THE ENTIRETY OF THE EVENT, ON. THESE ARE SMALL PERIODS DURING TRAVEL CONTAINING CONVERSATIONS, DISCUSSIONS, AND REVELATIONS THAT WILL BE PERTINENT TO THE CASE LATER ON.

--File 025: Snapshots #1: Dreams--

10/18/XXXX

SNAPSHOT #1

This appears to be recorded some time after the events detailed in Emma's journal. The handheld is now situated on the center console of the car, in between Anders and Blaine, and all three appear to be watching the countdown, likely assuming something will happen when it reaches the 24 hour count. Blaine is recording from the front seat; Emma appears pale and tired and somewhat twitchy, but she gives a small smile when he turns the camera to her.

Emma: "Should you be recording? We should save space so you can get, you know, important stuff."

Blaine: "After what happened to the handheld, I feel like I have to be recording constantly, or I'll miss everything."

Emma: "Fair."

Blaine: "Besides, I've got plenty of memory cards, and I'll be emptying stuff onto my laptop whenever we hit a rest stop."

Anders: "I hope you're not expecting fancy. I'm paying, which means motels."

Blaine: "You think I've ever stayed in anything better?"

Emma: "It's fine. We don't need 5 star hotels- we're trying to move fast, anyway, and we need to reserve resources."

Anders: "Atta girl."

Blaine: "I've still got scholarship money. I don't think they'll be too mad if they find out I used it to help fund a cross country road trip to hunt down the potentially literal ghost of one of the most prolific and horrific serial killers of all time."

Emma: "Definitely no problems there. If they actually ask you anything, you could probably spin this as homework. You took the rest of the semester off due to health reasons, then filmed and edited a massive movie in which three bizarre heroes travel to uncover the truth behind a haunted video game and murder flies."

Blaine: "That... is kind of an amazing idea."

Blaine focuses the camera on Emma's face, who seems amused now.

Blaine: "So, Emma. It's time to interview the heroes. What are your dreams?"

Anders makes an irritated grunt, but Emma just laughs.

Emma: "You can't be serious."

Blaine: "People should know who it is they have to thank."

Emma: "This is like those scenes in horror movies when everyone dies and they play back all the cute, stupid, quirky clips so you can see just how well they all got along."

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Anders: "I like her."

Blaine: "All right, then you know what to do. Action."

Emma rolls her eyes, but decides to play along.

Emma: "I want to be a writer. I'm studying creative writing in college as a major."

Anders: "Can you actually get any kind of stable career out of a major like that?"

Emma: "Sure. Teaching."

Both Anders and Blaine burst into surprised laughter, only speaking once it subsides.

Blaine: "What is it you dream of writing?"

Emma: "Ironically, horror."

Blaine: "Talk about inspiration. Even after all of this?"

Emma is silent for a long moment.

Emma: "I don't know, actually. I guess... it depends on how all of this goes. It could be cathartic to try to get all of this out of me head, so it doesn't just... get locked up in there."

Blaine: "Yeah. Like therapy."

Emma: "Writing is a powerful outlet."

Anders: "Books were never my thing. I like watching sports. A good baseball game will shut my brain off more than a book will."

Emma: "You just need to find the right book. What about you, Blaine?"

Blaine: "Reading? I like historical stuff. I was reading up on Mary Shelley, actually."

Emma: "The author of Frankenstein?"

Blaine: "The very same. Interesting woman."

Emma: "And now, we're living our very own horror story."

Anders: "Welcome to the club."

Emma: "Hand me the camera, Blaine."

Blaine acquiesces, carefully handing her the hand camera.

Emma: "So, Blaine- your turn. What's your dream? Fame? Fortune? Wild success as a movie producer?"

Blaine: "I don't need any of that. If I can get work behind a camera, I'll be happy. I want to survive and be comfortable. I don't need a mansion, or a seaside cabin. I just need a place to call home, and I'll be happy."

Emma: "Very practical. I would've thought you'd want to be the one directing or filming the next big hit."

Blaine: "I like the technicality of cameras. I just like working with them. They capture everything exactly as it is."

Anders: "Video footage can always be edited, Blaine. A camera captures things how they are, but angles can change the story."

Blaine: "A camera reflects reality."

Anders: "Yes... and no. Say you have a man who is angry and steps slightly off camera, a hammer raised over his head. There is a thud, and a child begins screaming. Insinuation in this moment is that he hit the child, no?"

Blaine: "...Maybe."

Anders: "In reality, he struck a nail in the floor, scaring his child with the loud noise and therefore causing them to cry. The camera only depicts what is seen, but the angles hide the full and complete truth."

Blaine doesn't seem to like this point, and says nothing following Anders's example. Emma changes the subject to take attention off of Blaine, or so one can presume.

Emma: "Did you always want to be a Detective?"

Anders: "No. As a child, I wanted to be a baseball player."

Emma: "What stopped you?"

Anders: "I wasn't very good."

Emma: "Were you happy with your choice?"

Anders: "Fifteen years ago, I heavily contemplated following all those other 'lost ones', or whatever they called us. Bartosz convinced me to stay on. He needed someone in the field looking for any signs of a return from Grantham."

Blaine: "I get why Bartosz might see the supernatural in Grantham, but why you? You only dealt with him in Los Angeles."

Anders: "When you walked into Wynona [BEEP]'s house, did you come out of there thinking it was all completely and totally normal, everything you saw?"

Both Emma and Blaine exchange grim looks.

Blaine: "No."

Anders: "There you go. Imagine that on repeat, nine times. Grantham killed nine people in Los Angeles, before moving on. We could never catch him; he was like his stupid science experiment flies... and now it's happening all over again."

Emma and Blaine are silent for a long moment. Blaine finally looks up and indicates for her to hand him the camera. He quietly stops recording.