There was nothing anybody could do anymore. I was too far gone, as was Tim and Alex. We were in his control, all of us, sitting in front of him, blank stares on our faces. It was awful being aware. I knew Alex and Tim were gone; the stares on their faces showed that they were too far gone. But I knew. I could feel everything, and it was such an awful feeling. All of us sat in a row, Jessica, Tim, Seth, Brian, and Alex. Sarah and Amy were no where to be found. The Operator appeared in front of us, making my vision go to static for a couple of seconds. I couldn't move, no matter how much I wanted to. Jessica's face had the blankest stare, worse than even Alex or Tim. It made me want to sob. This was my fault. If I hadn't left her alone in the hotel, maybe she would be out of harm's way, far away from where we all were. Her video was the worst of them all. Seth and Brian had given me their videos a few days prior, and while they were awful, Jessica's made me want to just sit down and sob for hours. The Operator stepped closer to us, and my whole body shivered and shook violently. My head started to pound, and my eyes felt as though they were going to pop out of my head. My back cracked, and I slumped over on the ground. I was being broken down, piece by piece, in front of all those who I cared about the most. I closed my eyes, trying to think of something else, but I could only think about Jessica's video.
She wore the chest camera, breathing heavily. She ran through the trails of Rosswood Park, hoping to escape the clutches of this evil creature. She tripped over a root, and landed face first onto the dirt. She coughed, her head pounding. She couldn't move, but she knew what was coming. She didn't know what it felt like, but she knew it was coming. She started sobbing hard, tears falling in front of the camera lenses. She whole body shook, and the camera lenses started to visually tear. Audio distortion started through out the video, and the Operator appears in front of her.
"No, noo please. Just leave me alone!" she screams, but the Operator is not a merciful person. Tentacles shot out from behind him, and the camera's image blotted out in colours of blue, green, and red. A piercing scream followed in the darkness of the image.
Images flashed by. Jessica screaming, though no sound was coming out. Her face showed just how much pain she was in, and her eyes were full of tears. The scene cut, and showed Jessica walking, and then collapsing onto the ground into a coughing fit. She leaned over, holding her head, and coughed up blood, making her sob. She laid down on the ground, crying softly. The scene cut once more, showing Rosswood Park, only Jessica was being dragged through the woods. She was screaming at the top of her lungs, her screams mixed with the sound of coughing, audio distortion, and her own sobbing.
The scene cuts one last time, and shows Jessica walking up to the hotel where she met back up with Jay. Her hair is a mess, and she walks up the stairs, and to her hotel room next to Jay's. She unlocks the door, and lets down her bag. She takes off the chest camera and sets it up on the TV table. Jessica is a mess. There is blood in the corner of her mouth, and her throat is red and rashy. Her hair is all knotted, and she has purple bags under her eyes. She steps back, and you see that she a twig, she hadn't been fed in a long time. She cries silently on the bed, and lays down in the bed, not bothering to change her clothes. Before she goes to sleep, she writes a code down on a piece of paper, and sets it on her night table. '1102'. She lays the piece of paper down, and wipes her eyes. She sets her head down on the pillow, and tries to go to sleep.
I blinked, and found myself still in the room, only the Operator is farther away. I looked around without turning my head; everyone was still there, nobody was missing. Such a relief. I didn't know what I would do if I found out for sure that someone had in fact died. I found himself upright again, staring right into the Operator's lack of face. Tears ran down my cheeks like someone had turned on a faucet behind my eyes. My vision went full static, and behind my eyes, words appeared.
"Watch, and smile for the camera."
My vision returned in time for me to see the Operator unfurl his tentacles, and wrap them around Jessica. Her face went from blank to pure terror as she awoke from her trance-like state, screaming, tentacles slowly wrapping around her body and neck.
"JESSICA, NOO!" I screamed as the Operator pressed in on her neck with his tentacles,
suffocating her. Jessica's body fell to the ground, her chest not moving up and down. My eyes filled with tears, and my body leapt forward, grabbing the Operator's tentacle. Rage and adrenaline filled my body, and I knew I probably wouldn't make it out of this situation alive. I bit down hard into the Operator's tentancle, causing my head to burst with pain. A silent scream went through the room as my body collapsed to the ground. I could hardly breath, and my vision was going black. I could see dots starting to cloud my vision, and I couldn't help but start to sob. My chest heaved up and down in pain, and before my vision finally left, I saw the stares of all my friends change, from blank to alive, and I saw them jump up after me. My vision faded out, and my breath went from jagged to silence. The eerie quiet swept through the room, filling my ears as my chest stopped heaving, and my body hit the cement ground of the room.
My eyes popped open. I was no longer in the room. I was in my apartment. The one that had been burned down by ToTheArk about 3 years ago. How was this possible?! Then again, a lot of things that seemed impossible a couple years ago were all too real now. I sat up in my bed, and went to the window. Everything was the same as before; the trees outside the window were all there, and the building across the street still had no lights on inside. I walked out of my door, and spun around in my living room. Everything was still here. I rushed back into my room, and looked under the bed for my bag that I had been carrying around for the past 3 years. I ducked down, and looked under, but couldn't see anything except the other side of the room.
I always left my bag under my bed. Even if it wasn't in my apartment, it was always under the bed.
I rushed back out the the living room, and looked around. My camera sat on my desk next to my computer. I walked over to it, opening it up and watching the previous thing I shot. It was Marble Hornets footage, from 2006, one of the earlier pieces that were filmed.
"I don't know, maybe this town has grown up," Brian was saying.
"Maybe it has." Alex replies from behind the camera.
This was what I had posted as Entry #7 on the Marble Hornets channel on Youtube. But that was 3 years ago. Why would it still be on my camera?
On the video, Brian sighs and leans back in the seat. In the background, the trees and buildings could be seen, but no Operator could be seen standing between the two buildings behind the car.
"Are we gonna go again? Are we?" Brian asks.
"Yeah, we have to practice this so that when you do it with Tim, it'll be perfect." Alex replies. Brian smiles and papers moves from behind the camera, and they re-read the lines, including the "loop of unhappiness" line.
Something was wrong. This was not on the original tape. In the original tape, the Operator is shown behind Brian, standing between the two buildings behind the car. Why wasn't that on the footage?
I set the camera down, and sit down in the chair next to me. I typed Youtube into the browser on my computer, and logged into my channel. I typed in the username "Marble Hornets" and the password. On the screen, an error message pops up.
"This channel is not in our database/never existed."
My eyes grew wide as I closed out of the window. I went through my computer, looking for entries that I have already posted. I can only find up to Entry #10. I watched from the beginning. Entry #1 shows Alex walking through his house, not running, and looking out the window. He pans around the yard, and finds nothing. The tape cuts. Entry #9 shows that Alex is much calmer, and Tim and Sarah are doing their scene.
Alex yells, "Cut! Perfect guys! That was some awesome stuff!". The tape cuts and shows Entry #10. Entry #10 shows Alex walking with Amy through Rosswood Park. They don't come in contact with the Operator at all, and they simply walk and talk. The tape cuts.
My head starts to hurt, trying to understand what is going on. I walk over, and plop myself down on the sofa, and turn on the TV. A morning show shows the date and time.
"Good Morning America, my name is Robin Roberts. Today is June 9, 2006, at 7:30 in the morn-".
I turn the TV off. June 9, 2006. I think back to when I supposedly posted the "Introduction" video on Youtube. June 20, 2009, that's when I posted it.
It's about 3 years before I would have posted it.
I get back over to my computer, and once again type Youtube back into the browser. I type "Introduction-Marble Hornets" into the search bar. The only things that show up are videos with the word "Introduction" in the description. There is no Introduction video. I sit down on the ground, rocking back and forth. I can't think. How is this possible? No Marble Hornets footage. No Operator. No anything. It's not the date I thought it was, it's three years prior. I hold my head, hoping it'll make me understand, but I can't. I lay down on the ground when there is a knock at my door. I slowly get up, dazed and confused, and walk over to the door. I open it up, and Alex and Tim stand in the doorway.
"Hey, Brian, Seth, and Sarah are waiting in the car. Are you ready to go shoot some of Marble Hornets?" Alex asks. I stare blankly at them.
"Jay, are you alright.? You seemed really confused." Tim says. I realize my mouth is hanging
open. Closing it, I shake my head.
"I'm fine." I mutter to them, wiping across my forehead. I'm trying to breathe deeply, knowing that if I don't at least warn them, everything will go back to normal, and that can't happen.
"I just, um, I don't know how to say this, but I think we should stop Marble Hornets, right this second." My answer obviously confused them. They come inside, and sit down.
"What do you mean, 'Stop', we're doing so good! We've filled endless tapes, and the acting is brilliant. Why do you want to stop now?!" Alex yells, obviously upset. Tim sits silently, but I can tell that he is upset with me as well.
"I can't explain it too much, but I feel as though something bad is going to happen if we keep shooting Marble Hornets." I reply.
"What do you mean, "Bad"? What do you think is going to happen?" Tim asks.
"I don't know, just something really bad."
"We can't just stop just because you have a bad feeling." Alex starts to get up and walks to the door, Tim following closely behind.
"I quit." I say. Alex and Tim turn around surprised.
"What?" Alex asks.
"I said I quit. I'm done. I don't want to shoot Marble Hornets anymore."
"Jay! We need you! You're one of the best people we have!" Tim exclaims.
"No, stop." Alex says, holding his hand up to silence Tim. "Jay, obviously something is up with you. I know you feel as though something bad is going to happen. I have been starting to feel it, too. It just doesn't feel the same as before. I feel like I keep looking over my shoulder, and that I'm never alone. I'm paranoid, all the time, and I know Tim has been feeling the same way." He looks over at Tim, who moves his head down in agreement. "Maybe it would be a good decision to stop production." Alex gives me a smile, but stops suddenly.
"What are we going to do with the countless tapes that we have? If something bad is happening, we can't just throw them out."
I think for a moment, then come up with the perfect response.
"Burn them."