“ I am writing this journal each day just to see what’s really out there. I heard rumors that this part of the woods tends to have one or two people wander off every few years and not return. If not for how long this has been going on or the clear pattern in place without fail, it could’ve just been chalked up to some animal attacks, runaways, or people being lured in by someone fishy. Either way it wouldn’t hurt to check it out, with preparations of course. I’m bringing a bag, I don’t know what kind but it’s small enough to carry and big enough to bring some minor preparations. I know, I should bring more than I have, but it seems none of the others even had a phone or a snack or even water, I have more than most of them had so whatever’s there could even be taken by surprise, assuming it’s not just a bunch of runaways there after all. Where would they even go there? I don’t think there’s a secret child community in the middle of nowhere, but you never know. I’m putting a break on writing for a bit, my bag is packed and I’m ready to go. I’m taking my phone, a hunting knife, my wallet (never know when you need to walk to the store on the way home), some water bottles and a couple snack bars just in case. That’s nothing much but it’s worth it to bring I think. I’ll continue when I arrive, I don’t expect to see much so I hope it was worth it to start writing at all. ”
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“ I found it. This definitely has to be where all those people are. I don’t even know how this was hidden by the woods at all. I mean, it can’t be a huge place, but big enough for all those cold cases to fit inside. It’s like a weird colorful little town..or, something smaller than one, but close enough. I don’t know what I was expecting, but this was not it. I see someone nearby, I’m going in, maybe they can help me out here. ”
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“ I put the journal away for a while so I could talk and get used to this place. The person was a little odd but I’m sure she’s not serious about what she told me, though she did give me a look when I ended up laughing. Not a mean one, but she didn’t really seem to expect that, she seemed younger than me or maybe about the same age so maybe she’s just hooked on some weird stories she was told as a kid and hasn’t been told or found out otherwise yet. I’m just glad the people here speak English. Interestingly, everyone here seemed pretty young - not like an elderly person who somehow ends up looking like they’re in their 20s or 30s, but I’d expect the age range to be about 12-20! It’s not like they’re super healthy here either, though definitely better than the health where I came from. The girl told me her name was Rachel, but she likes to be called Magnolia - I assume she likes flowers, her skirt even resembled one, which she happily confirmed when she saw me glance at it after sharing her nickname. I’m going to write her as Rachel anyways, but I’ll keep in mind to say the one she chose when speaking out loud. Even her shirt helped the look she was going for, it was green against the pink petal-like skirt. She also had on purple boots. Rachel so far seems pretty happy, but I just met her today, so that could be a reaction or even just an act as far as I know. Of course I can’t expect anything too bad for now, I’m just cautious. After we talked a little, she offered to show me around sometime soon and I agreed. Since the place is pretty big, and I’ve never drawn one before, I won’t be mapping it here. I’ve honestly seen more than enough, so I think after she shows me around I’ll maybe stay one more day and then head out to show someone what I found. I can’t wait to see all of your faces, I’m sure I’ll be showing people this once I get out, I’m going to prove I can do things this big all on my own and I’ll get by better than just fine. I’ve still got some space left, on these couple of first pages I’ll update at some point tomorrow when something interesting happens. ”
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“ Something weird happened today. It might not sound that bad, but I swear I saw a lot more people suddenly while it was still night. Like, in random spots, they only seemed confused for a moment when looking around and then completely calm as if that was normal and started walking in different directions. It was late, I couldn’t sleep so I was walking around on my own. Yesterday, Rachel showed me an empty house I could stay in, it’s pretty barren but it’s comfortable, so after I saw all those people I started walking back to it trying to figure out what that was and why it happened. I asked Rachel about it later, she said something about they must have left for a bit and didn’t come back in time, but didn’t answer when I asked what that meant. She seemed amused by my ignorance. I decided I can try to find out tomorrow, my final day. Luckily this is one of those journals that makes it easy to tear pages out, though not really by design, so I’ll be able to safely and carefully give my used pages to someone who will be able to spread it around better and I can use the rest of this for whatever I want to. Rachel keeps on saying vague things whenever I mention the day I chose to leave, I think she’s trying to get me to want to stay because she says I won’t be gone long. She doesn’t seem very upset for someone who wants to convince someone to stay around, rather merry actually. I guess she’s confident. There’s a lot of amazing architecture for a lot of the buildings she showed me, right next to some more functionally made buildings rather than aesthetically. It was a pretty interesting contrast, but none of it looked bad exactly, it just didn’t blend well. Rachel seems odd, but she’s happy and friendly, so that’s okay until I see otherwise. Not much can happen in three days. That’s all the important stuff that happened today, I don’t have much space left anyways so I’ll try to summarize tomorrow if I can. ”
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“ Not much happened today. We chatted a bit. I went to leave and when I said bye Rachel said she had no need to because I wouldn’t be out long. Oh well, I don't know her well enough to miss her anyways, so I don’t need any sort of closure in a goodbye. So, this is it now, I can’t wait to get home… ”