THE FOLLOWING TAKES PLACE SOME TIME AFTER THE PREVIOUS FILE INVOLVING ALEX, EMMA, AND BLAINE.

--File 045: The Lake--

The video begins somewhat abruptly, and in the middle of movement. At first, the camera is angled down toward the dark, dirt floor of the woods they're traveling through, but as it rises up, there is a ring of light just ahead of the cameraman, which appears to be Blaine once again. The light is being brazenly used by Emma, who is pointing it downwards as she walks, studiously looking through, presumably, the "other" journal. Alex leads the way, with Emma between them; Blaine walks just behind her, and even as he is adjusting the camera, he reaches out quickly to steady Emma when she trips over foliage, distracted.

Blaine: "Wouldn't it be better to wait until we stop moving to try to read that?"

Emma: "We have barely enough time as it is."

Alex: "Are there any major differences, yet?"

Emma: "I thought to move ahead to where we are now, but I noticed something straight away that made me go back."

Blaine: "What's tha- gotcha. You need to pay attention, Em, you're going to fall flat on your face."

Emma: "But I've got you. The big difference is the lack of possessions."

Alex looks back, his barely visible expression a bit startled.

Alex: "Possessions?"

Blaine: "You think that's the weirdest thing going on?"

Alex: "Without context, yes."

Blaine: "For a few days now, Emma's been getting possessed. It keeps saying the same thing, over and over, and it even writes it in her journal."

Alex: "What's that?"

Emma glances back toward Blaine.

Blaine: "'Emma must not die'."

Alex nearly stumbles to a halt, looking so alarmed that the whites of his eyes shine in the glow off of Emma's flashlight.

Alex: "So that's why you two suddenly started listening to me! Were you ever going to mention that?"

Emma: "It hasn't happened in a minute, so-"

Blaine: "Not actually true. It happened just before Alex showed up."

Emma comes to a total halt and stares at him.

Emma: "Were you ever going to mention that?"

Blaine: "Look, a lot's going on. I just got told I kill you in countless versions of this reality, so you'll have to forgive me for forgetting the latest warning not to let you die."

Alex: "Huh."

Emma: "Well, the point I was making earlier is that none of that's in the journal... but there are other minor details, little things that are different from now and then."

Blaine: "Like?"

Emma: "For starters, you seem a lot more... different in this version."

Blaine: "Me?"

Emma: "Yeah. When I write about you in my journal in this world, it's like... I dunno. I don't seem to like you very much. You creep me out, in the rare moments that I talk about it. I don't feel that at all, with you, in... er, the present."

Alex: "He doesn't creep me out right now, either."

Blaine: "Fantastic."

Emma: "No, that's a good point. Alex seems uncomfortable with Blaine, too. And here, in the confrontation with Weiss, because that happened then, as well- Alex doesn't leave the group. I mean, obviously, because he's got no journal to give me. When Father Perez is... um..."

Emma looks up apologetically at Alex, but he waves a hand, though his face remains turned away from them.

Alex: "It's fine. I feel, oddly, as if I half-expected it to happen."

Blaine: "'Iterations', huh?"

Emma: "Who knows how many times we've gone through this. We must be starting to remember things. But here- we're in the forest, and we don't go to Grantham's. We make the decision to head back into town and to our motel."

Blaine: "Something has changed."

Alex: "But what?"

Emma: "There's another problem, though."

Blaine: "There goes all my good feelings."

Emma: "I write about our decision to go into town, and then there's a single page, and it's splattered with blood. There's two words written on it."

Emma looks up and pauses, and the other two do, as well. There is a noticeable amount of mist beginning to seep in around their legs, by this point.

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Emma: "It says... It says 'Alex is dead'."

A chill so prevalent it can nearly be seen seems to travel through the group. They remain silent, and Alex looks down at the ground, before squaring his shoulders and gesturing forward.

Alex: "Maybe this is a sign. Maybe I won't die."

Blaine: "You're willing to test that?"

Alex: "I don't have a choice. My life has been altered; people I loved are dead. I almost died. This will never leave me alone; if I could even leave the town, I have no doubt I'd either be brought back, or die trying. This is my destiny- if it's to die, well... then I die."

Blaine: "What a load of shit."

Emma: "Blaine... come on."

Blaine: "Destiny- what kind of destiny is this? What kind of God allows this to happen?"

Alex's voice is calm in the face of Blaine's accusations, even as he continues to pick his way through the underbrush.

Alex: "Who's to say He is? Who's to say He isn't doing something actively?"

Blaine: "Right. 'Everything is part of the plan'. Right."

Emma: "Who knows. I don't have answers, and my phone's starting to die."

As if on cue, Emma's flashlight dims.

Alex: "I don't think that's your battery. Electronics work funny around here. Your phone might outright shut off and never turn back on."

Blaine: "My camera seems fine."

Alex glances at Blaine and his camera.

Alex: "I have a funny feeling that may be by design."

Emma: "Huh?"

Alex: "I... I don't know. I can't explain it. The camera is like an extension of him, to me. It feels right that he's filming this. I don't even question it."

Emma gives a small laugh, almost surprised.

Emma: "You know what? You're right. I haven't questioned it in a long time. Feels wrong for it to be off."

Blaine: "That doesn't make me feel better."

Alex: "Hang on- we're here."

Emma: "Oh, thank God, because my feet hurt like shit. I don't see a house, though?"

Alex: "No, not at the house. We're at the lake."

As Alex says this, they push through a wall of trees into a suddenly open space. Stretching out before them, ominously, is a massive lake, the water of which is eerily calm and black as a yawning void. Nothing moves, and thick clouds of mist that look like they could be cut with a knife drift lazily across the surface of the water. There is no sound in the air at all, but on the far, distant side of the lake, a couple lights twinkle out at them. When Alex speaks, he is whispering.

Alex: "That... is Grantham's house. The lights are always on."

Emma: "Alex, this suddenly seems like a really, really bad idea."

Blaine: "You know what, I'm... kind of on Emma's side."

Alex: If we try to head back now, we'll barely make it to town on time."

Emma: "Can we not... go around the lake?"

Alex: "We could, but that's another almost two hours, easily. The lake's bigger than you'd think, for the area."

Blaine: "Fuck. This seems like a really bad idea."

As Alex steps forward and begins scanning the edge of the lake for something, Emma begins furiously flipping through the journal. Her flashlight is definitely flickering low with light, now, and the light of the moon is no longer helpful. Blaine pauses to fiddle somewhat with the camera, and a light seems to suddenly burst into being from the device, unaffected whatsoever by whatever is causing Emma's phone issues. She glances up gratefully as he approaches and shines the light down on the pages.

As Alex continues walking along the bank of the lake, looking for something only he knows, Emma hurriedly continues her flipping. Flashes of her writing, along with the occasional dried spatter of browned blood fly by, but she suddenly stops the moment a hastily sketched drawing flicks past. Ripping back to the page, it's clear that it's a picture of the lake.

Emma: "I knew it. I knew I saw some sketch about the lake.."

Emma is clearly uneasy. The sketch is the lake, including the small lights that she portrayed as little stars beyond the distance... but the lake itself seems more ominous than before. She made a point of filling in the shape of the lake with a thick scribble that nearly ripped through the page, seemingly intent on the inky blackness of the water's surface.

Across the top of one page are only the words "BEWARE THE MIRROR".

Blaine: "That does not sound good."

Emma: "No. I don't think we should cross this lake, Blaine. I'm looking... yeah. I didn't realize it before, but this is... this is where Alex dies."

Blaine: "What? I thought you said we didn't go to the lake."

Emma: "We didn't... at this point. We did later. I've only skimmed, I don't know what's happening at this point, but my writing's chaotic, and I- there's these moments where all I put is 'Stay away from Blaine' in blotchy writing all over the page. This one's right before this moment. I don't think you're supposed to be with us, here."

Blaine: "Fuck me. This is starting to make me feel really fucking weird."

Emma: "I'm just trying to be open. I don't think lying to you would make this any better."

Blaine: "...No. No, I guess not."

Alex: "Guys! I found it! I found the boat."

They look up, startled, and see that Alex is a long ways down, waving them over. Mist is curling thick about his legs and feet, but there's a small lantern that is now lit sitting atop a rotting post on a very small, handmade dock. A boat bobs just in and out of view.

Emma: "Alex! Hey, get away from there!"

Blaine: "Dude, this was a mistake!"

Blaine's hand drops as he begins running, hard, in the direction of Alex. The camera swings past in steady pumps, and the jostling makes it hard to make out any speaking.

There's a sudden shriek, and a sound can be heard. After some research, the closest written description of the sound produced would be that of a lower register on a glass euphone, an instrument played via friction of the fingers dipped in water. It is incredibly, incredibly eerie, and sounds shockingly loud, echoing through the space. Blaine's speed increases, but Emma's shouts can be heard even over the sound of the camera.

Emma: "ALEX! GET BACK! Oh, my fucking God, IT'S GLASS!"

Nothing is visible, but the eerie, music-like sound continues to increase in volume, the lower pitch combined with a piercing higher, almost wailing pitch- again, still heavily similar to the sound of a glass and steel euphone. The sound of shattering glass is an undercurrent to the eerie, almost alien music.

Alex: "What the fuck is that?!"

Blaine: "Get BACK! Alex, get back now!"

The camera is still only showing Blaine's movements, but there is a sudden jerk, and Blaine drops the camera, which still has the light on. It drops onto its side on the bank of the lake, and what is captured is seen crookedly.

A shape is moving against a backdrop of inky black sky and stars, black and jagged. The music is clearly coming from this, and it is moving off the surface of the lake. Every movement produces more alien notes and blasts, and the beam of light glitters off shards of what appears to be glass moving through the sky.

The shape suddenly thrashes, flailing itself, and with an increase suddenly in the bass tones of the eerie sounds it is emitting, it flies off screen. Emma's screams echo across the lake, drowning out the swears of Blaine and Alex; there is a cacophany of noise, of blasting notes and shattering glass and debris, and even the creaking of felled trees. The camera thumps into the air, seemingly from the force of whatever has struck the earth; the sound of feet crunching on dirt and gravel reach the mic, and the camera is scooped up off the ground.

There is more sprinting; the lens is pointed toward the shifting shape, but the camera is moving away from it, presumably back into the trees.

There is a swear and a sob- the person holding the camera is identified as Emma- and she trips, falls, and the camera suddenly cuts out.

--END TRANSMISSION--