A/N: I felt the urge to write tonight, so I decided to use a prompt I saw on my Tumblr dashboard from WriteWorld - They're Watching. I wrote this in about a half an hour, and didn't really proof read it beyond what I caught as I wrote since I tend to do that pretty decently. I also had no idea what I was going to write when I started, or from who's perspective it was going to be. Surprises all around!
They're watching.
That night, as Jay sat nursing a tender cheekbone and an increasingly blackening eye, the realization hit him. Sure, on some level he'd been aware that the MarbleHornets channel was garnering some attention - the view count and ad revenue kickback told him as much, not to mention the couple hundred messages and Tweets sent to him every week. Still, for every stranger following every move he broadcasted, it felt weird to consider that anyone that he had ever known would be able to stumble across his exploits.
Obviously Alex was keeping close tabs on him. totheark - whoever or whatever they were - even had access to the channel, through what means Jay couldn't even begin to guess. But when Tim came charging at him earlier in the night, shaking with fury over unwittingly becoming a star in a horror movie he'd never even signed up for, Jay had to marvel over how easy it had been for him to find out his little secret. Just google "Marble Hornets" and there you go! Anyone who had ever been aware of the project could just put in a few nimble keystrokes and find out just what happened to the cast and crew years later. MTV had nothing on Jay.
Tim had found the channel. Who else could? Jay mentally went through the list. His first thought was of the rest of the former cast. Could Brian find it? Could Sarah? What about Seth? Alex's parents had been quite keen on supporting their son's efforts in the early days of production - Jay recalled endless Facebook posts littered upon Alex's wall with his mother's proclamations of pride in her "little movie maker." Did she ever wonder what happened to the film that had meant so much to him? Thankfully Jay's own parents had never shown much interest in how he spent his time at college (or in Jay at all really.) Honestly, he wasn't even sure if his parents knew how to operate YouTube, or if they even knew what a "Twitter" was.
Their lack of technical prowess, which had bothered Jay beyond belief while still living at home, had somehow become some perverted blessing.
The world is a strange place.
A strange place in which innocent people could disappear without a trace for weeks on end in the blink of an eye.
Jessica.
He has to remember what he's doing this for. Finding Jessica.
Maybe Tim was right. Maybe this was all Jay's fault. Maybe Jessica wouldn't have ever been involved if it weren't for him. But he has to make it right. He has to find her. With or without Tim.
But how can he do that when They are always Watching? Not just watching what he records but watching while standing outside of his windows or waiting in the shadows, the trees, the nooks and crannies of buildings and tunnels? Every time he makes a move, he feels like They are two steps ahead of him, able to plan ahead because They Are Always Watching.
It makes his head hurt.
It's not fair - he can't watch them.
(He still wonders how the box with the tape that brought him back into all of this - the one where Alex and Amy are attacked - found its way to him.)
(He still wonders how and who knew where he lived so that they could burn it to the ground.)
(He still wonders how the Masked Man - Tim - knew when he was going to go back to the old house - or even if he did know.)
He wishes he had more cameras. More than just the chest cam and the handheld. He wishes he had security cameras - great ones, that he could set up wherever he liked in all of the places even remotely involved with either Alex or Marble Hornets, that way he can be the one who watches them for a change.
It would be nice to be the one two steps ahead for once.