Chapter 1: The Literature Club
September 18th: 9:13 am.
Kevin's morning routine was pretty much the same as it always had been, minus Miles' quips and jokes that always brightened it up.
Truth me told, Kevin missed Miles' sense of humour. A lot.
After making sure he was ready and his door was locked, he began walking to the sidewalk, before stopping for a minute to read his texts.
Miles had texted him, to his surprise.
Sent at 7:42 am:
"I'm staying at a motel for the time being. In Utah now."
Kevin was hoping Miles could earn some hard-earned money off of this whole Murkoff thing. He'd been trying to make ends meet for six whole years now…. Ever since Kevin's parents died in a plane crash in 2007.
Kevin put his phone away, and was about to make his way to school before…
"Heeeeeeyyy"
Several hours later, there he was. In the Literature club with the four girls:
Sayori, Natsuki, Yuri, and Monika.
He had sold his soul to this club, it'd better be worth it.
Monika then walked over to him.
"Hey, thanks again for staying, I really appreciate it Kevin" She said with a smile.
"Ah… no problem Monika, looking forward to it!" Kevin replied, putting on as much enthusiasm as he could.
Just moments before, he had confirmed them that he was permanently joining them. He also agreed to write a poem for the next day, which on top of his homework, was bittersweet, but if he could make Monika happy… it really would be worth it.
"Alright everyone! That's us for today!" Monika announced, "Make sure you remember your poems for tomorrow as well!
He was beginning to like this club.
Miles was just under three hours away from Mount Massive at this point and could hardly contain his excitement.
He was now in Colorado, so he wasn't far now.
Even then…. Something was nagging at his mind… telling him to turn around… forget the money…
"No!" Miles said out loud to himself. He depended on this case to get him more jobs and therefore, more money…
Still…. Something seemed… off….. what was Murkoff do-
"Kevin?"
He snapped out of his trance.
They were outside his house now, with Sayori's not far down the road.
"You're worried about Miles, aren't you?" Sayori asked with concern in her voice.
"Huh? No! Of course not, he's 27, he can take care of himself…" Kevin stammered in response.
He wanted to believe what he said…. But truth be told, he knew of two times in his life where Miles almost got himself killed.
"This whole…. Illegal activity thing does sound dangerous, but if you're right, he'll pull through like a champ!" Sayori reassured him.
She waved him goodbye before trotting down the road to her own house.
At about 9 pm, Miles pulled over his Jeep in front of Mount Massive Asylum. He just looked at it, stunned.
It was indeed… Massive.
"At least they gave it an appropriate name…"
After grabbing his Whistleblower's email and bringing two extra batteries for his camera, he exited his jeep and walked toward the asylum.
He entered through the side gate and looked up again at the enormous building.
Suddenly, he got a sense of dread…. a sense of... doom even…
He took out a notebook, and wrote down this thought to keep him grounded. A bit of a habit he developed when his Brother and Sister-in-law died in the plane crash.
"I start feeling sick just looking at this place. Mount Massive Asylum, shut down amid scandal and government secrecy in 1971, reopened by Murkoff Psychiatric Systems in 2009 under the guise of a charitable organisation. Cell phone reception cut off abruptly a mile out, more like a jammer than lost signal. The Murkoff Corporation has a long track record of disguising profit as charity. But never on American soil. Whatever they thought they could get out of this place has to be big. Might finally be the story that breaks the bastards."
Miles then lowered his camera… and began his tour of Hell on Earth.
Kevin lay awake at 2 am that night, thinking about Miles' safety, about the Literature club, and about the Girls….
Sayori, Natsuki, Yuri, and of course; Monika.
Perhaps he could get closer to one of these girls via the club.
Miles had always teased him about the Girlfriend topic (seemed hypocritical since he didn't have one either!) so this was his chance to rub it in Miles' face.
He managed to grin himself to sleep, with happy thoughts about a possible relationship.
If only…. The same thing could be said for Miles...
