THE FOLLOWING PICKS BACK UP WITH A RECORDING TRANSCRIPT OF BLAINE AND EMMA.
--File 042: Alex Part 01--
10/21?/XXXX - sometime after midnight?
This video takes place some time after Emma's journal entry, though it's unclear just when, as the time and date on the footage moving forward begins to get scrambled. At times, it displays seemingly accurate readouts, and sometimes the years are in the negative; sometimes, the hours are 0's, and at times, the minutes and seconds fluctuate at seemingly uncontrolled intervals. It is still dark, and Blaine has noticed that Emma is not herself; the discovery of this was not recorded, though it would appear Blaine started filming not too long after the realization.
Blaine: "Who are you? Why do you keep possessing Emma?"
In the faint moonlight of a waning moon, only part of Emma's face is visible. Her expression is flat, and her eyes are strangely pale and focused on Blaine's face, behind the camera. She is sitting in a strange position, hands limp at her sides, back ramrod straight, as if whatever is possessing her can't quite control her. Both of them keep their voices relatively low, but from the motions of the camera, Blaine is nervously looking around to try to see if anyone is listening.
notEmma: "Emma must not die."
Blaine: "You keep telling me that. Why do you keep telling me that?"
notEmma: "Because you keep failing."
Blaine: "I haven't failed anything! Emma's fine!"
notEmma: "She always dies, and when she dies, there's no going back."
Blaine: "So... so, what, are you Emma from another... dimension? Is that's what's happening here?"
notEmma: "Emma must not die."
Blaine: "Come on, you have to give me something to work with here!"
notEmma: "You have to keep her alive."
Blaine: "Hey-"
Quite suddenly, Emma's eyes flutter, and her body goes entirely limp; Blaine manages to drop the camera to the side softly before catching her. He's heard quietly trying to get her to wake up, repeating her name and lightly shaking her, but it's clear that he is still trying to keep quiet and is afraid someone will find them.
At this point, there's crashing in the forest, and Blaine goes dead still, crouching over Emma's still-unconscious body. The only sound is someone running around in the forest, breathing hard and fearful.
Voice: "Blaine? Emma? God, please, please let them be here-"
Blaine suddenly sits up, shocked.
Blaine: "Alex?"
Alex: "Oooooh, thank God, thank you, God- where are you? I can't see a thing in this forest!"
Blaine: "What are you doing here?"
Blaine quickly stands up, trying to shield Emma by keeping her in the bushes. He picks up the camera as he does, and in the gloom of the trees, the camera is able to pick out the vaguely recognizable shape of Alex, looking somewhat haggard. As he steps into a patch of moonlight, he looks as though he has been running hard.
Alex: "I just managed to get out of there."
Blaine: "Just? Dude, you ditched us the second the shit hit the fan."
Alex: "That's not- no, I didn't, though the timing was... bad. I admit that, it was bad."
Blaine: "No, dude, stay there. Are you with those freaks? What the fuck is going on?"
Alex: "Trust me, I'm not with them. I'm alive by God's grace."
Blaine: "Or something."
Alex: "Whatever you believe in, it doesn't matter- the point is, I had to grab something. Something I completely forgot about- and it's vital. Where is Emma? I have to give it to her."
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Blaine: "Nuh uh. Not until I see it."
Alex: "Just trust me."
Blaine: "Are you insane? Half this town is filled with a bunch of smiling freaks. How the hell do I know you're not suddenly one of them? Weiss made it sound like everyone here's getting infected."
Alex: "Fair, but I can't prove that. Come on, would you just-"
Emma: "Alex?"
Blaine and the camera jump in surprise; Emma is now standing beside him, looking bleary-eyed and woozy. She looks at Alex in suspicious confusion.
Emma: "Alex? What the hell happened to you?"
Alex: "Thank God- look. I need to give you this. I can't believe I almost forgot."
Blaine: "Not another step closer, Alex-"
Emma: "Hang on. What- no, it's fine, Blaine, let me see that. That's-"
Emma steps out of the bushes past Blaine, ignoring his protests and his attempts to stop her. Alex, in the moonlight, is proffering a small, somewhat rectangular object, most likely a book. The details are minor, but Emma seems to have been able to make something out, and with a flash of her cell phone's flashlight, she illuminates the object in Alex's hands.
It's a small notebook.
Blaine: "I... don't understand."
Alex: "You don't, but Emma does."
Emma says nothing. She is standing stock still, staring at the notebook in Alex's hands.
Emma: "That's... not possible."
Blaine: "What?"
Emma: "That's my journal."
Blaine: "So? You must have dropped it when we ran."
Emma: "I didn't. I was just writing in it like ten minutes ago."
Blaine: "Er..."
Obviously, Emma doesn't recall being possessed, so it's unclear exactly how much time has actually passed since she wrote in her journal.
Emma takes the book from Alex's hands with shaking fingers, handing Blaine her cell phone. He points the light at the notebook as she reaches into her back pocket and pulls out a perfectly identical, lilac notebook with an identically worn, fraying band wrapped over the cover. An identically tattered ribbon sticks out the bottom of the small notebook.
Blaine: "It's just similar."
Emma: "It's not similar, Blaine. It's mine."
Blaine: "How can you tell?"
Emma: "My dad bought this for me for my last birthday. It has my name embossed on the front, and on the front inside cover, he wrote a small letter to me."
Emma points out the identical embossing on both journals, spelling out her full name, including her middle, plus the date of her birthday. Beneath it, a small "Beloved Daughter" is embossed, as well. She manages to open the "new" notebook to the inside cover, revealing a small letter written in an untidy scrawl with a sentimental message about her birthday. Keeping it open, she opens the journal from her back pocket to the same inside cover, and it reads the exact same, identical message.
Blaine: "I... I don't..."
Alex: "I've never been able to open it. When Weiss kept saying 'iteration', I kept thinking I was forgetting something. When you said it, I suddenly realized why I feel like I've seen you before- it all came back to me."
Emma: "Came back? Where the hell did you get this?"
Alex: "In all honesty? I don't know."
Blaine: "Oh, come the fuck on-"
Alex: "I'm serious. Hear me out. Father- Father Pe-"
Alex blinks rapidly, an expression of nauseated horror flashing over his face in the light of Emma's still-lit flashlight. He swallows visibly and audibly, then shakes himself and moves on.
Alex: "Father Perez... he told you I lost my memories when I beat the game. He didn't get to really tell you everything. When I woke up, the game was gone, along with my family and my home; but they found me with this book."
Emma: "What?"
Alex: "No one could open it. It was kept with my things in the hospital... and I had... dreams."
Blaine: "Dreams?"
Alex: "I hadn't lost my memories yet. I was having horrific nightmares- Father Perez told me. I would scream and scream and they had to take me out with tranquilizers. I never told Father Perez what those dreams were, because when I finally stopped having them, it was because... I lost my memory."
Blaine: "So, what, you conveniently got it alllll back, just as things got hairy with Weiss?"
Emma: "Blaine!"
Alex: "He's right to be paranoid, Emma. It's the only way to stay alive. I don't remember everything- I don't remember the game, or anything specific about what happened after I beat it. Probably too... it doesn't matter. I remember the dreams. I would see Emma, flashes of her, writing in that little journal, and I kept hearing the phrase, 'Emma Must Not Die'."
Both Emma and Blaine exchange looks; Blaine's is not visible to the camera, but Emma's is, and she looks deeply alarmed. The phrase seems to erase much of Blaine's paranoia and mistrust.
Blaine: "That phrase, exactly?"
Alex: "Yes. I'd hear the phrase... and then I'd watch Emma die. Repeatedly. Every single time, it was different, but it was always... always horrific."
Emma: "The fuck?"
Alex seems not to be hearing or seeing them anymore. His expression is haunted as he delves into the dark, twisted memories of the nightmares that plagued him in the hospital.
Alex: "And then... and then... there'd be this... this horrible mirror. I'd see this mirror behind her dead body, and there'd be these horrible things, and they'd reach out through the mirror toward me, but it wasn't me they were reaching for."
Blaine: "What are you talking about? Things?"
Alex: "It's like... it's like shadows pushing through the glass, and the glass cracks, but it sticks to the shadows, and that pushes through the mirror into millions of shatters shards of glass conforming to shadows, and I can see my reflection, and I'm smiling, but I'm crying and I want to scream, and then I see... I see you."
Alex is looking at Blaine now, and there's a look on his face of horrified revelation.
Emma: "You see... Blaine?"
Alex: "Yes. I see Blaine, and he's... he's covered in blood."
There is a very long, deathly silent pause.
Alex: "He's covered in blood. It isn't my reflection smiling in the mirror. It's Blaine's."
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FOR THE SAKE OF BREVITY, THE FILE ENDS HERE.