With trembling hands, Lauren took the tape as it slid out of the VCR and placed it back by the folder. She took a few moments to compose herself, massaging a growing headache as the horrors and revelations she'd just witnessed sank in like an anchor. "How did Carl even manage to get the tape back?" she wondered, having no way of knowing what happened after the footage cut out. Thankfully, that was the only new question she had, as the tape answered most of her other ones. For one, she now had a much more intimate look into the power of The Keeper, or as it was referred to in German lore; Der Großmann. The thing had absolutely decimated Carl just by being in his proximity, and that terrified Lauren for one sole reason; she too had felt whatever supernatural radiation emitted from the creature, but the effect it had on her in the park didn't even come close to the level of devastation it had on Carl, which meant that The Keeper maintained full control of how its influence affects its victims. She could only imagine the terrible ways it could use that ability to its advantage and felt even worse for Kate the more she thought about what the demon could've been doing to her all this time. There was also the matter of the creature's origin to ponder, and she couldn't help but wonder how many different names and identities the beast had, correctly guessing that there were quite a few since the creature had most likely been around long before the author of that storybook discovered it.
Then there was the biggest revelation from the entire film; Kate's connection with the Mathesons. It was undoubtedly the reason she'd been targeted by the faceless demon, and snuffed out her previous theory of Carl being the one to bring these dark forces into their lives… even though he was still responsible for getting himself put on The Keeper's hit list. Kate would've been a target regardless of Carl's actions, and that's something that nobody could've changed. Lauren was sure that Kate had no idea of her true lineage before being shown that family photo, and she sincerely doubted that her mother had been made aware of the family's dark past as well. "Wait a minute… Beth got sick back in '07, just two years before Kate ended up in the line of fire…" she pondered; "and her condition only got worse and worse after what happened in Riverview," Lauren realized, a volatile combination of shock and anger erupting inside of her. "That slimy son of a bitch, He's the one responsible for what happened to Kate's parents," she seethed, remembering how John Milens had died of a mysterious disease, the exact same one that wound up killing Beth, when Kate was only three years old, leaving her without a father figure from that day forward and devastating his widow to the point that she changed her own last name back to Hayes, but kept her daughter's as Milens in memory of her late husband.
The crimes of Der Großmann didn't stop there, however, as Charlie Matheson Jr. was also a major factor. He'd been an innocent child before that demon took him away, and to what end? Was it for sport? For sustenance maybe? Both options were equally sickening, but Lauren felt especially nauseous when thinking about a little kid being fed off of by that monster. Had it not been for the tape, she never would've guessed that the twisted ghoul that she and Carl both encountered was actually Charlie. Despite the fact that he'd never said it out loud in the video, Lauren came to the same conclusion that Carl did; Charlie was stuck somewhere between life and death, trapped eternally in that twisted form. He looked younger in the film than he did in the burned house, but it was such a slight difference that it was easy to miss. However, it was more than enough evidence to prove that he was definitely still aging… just unnaturally slow. "He never really was a monster, was he…" Lauren sighed, remembering how Charlie gave Carl several chances to leave his home before going on the offensive. She then began to wonder if Charlie was like The Chaser; a slave to the demon that took them both away. "Maybe he was back then, but now… I'm not so sure," she thought, remembering how the boy had only lashed out at her because she startled him in a vulnerable moment. At the farm he seemed to act as more of a predator, whereas when she'd come across him in the burned house, he behaved like a wounded animal; only aggressive when threatened. She would've written it off as Charlie simply protecting his territory had it not been for the fact that, if that was the case, he would've acted the same way upon spotting an intruder in his childhood home rather than fleeing the scene. The thought of him being able to break free from their tormentor's influence brought a smile to Lauren's face, and she sincerely hoped it was true.
Finally, there were the actions of Frieda Matheson to mull over, something that infuriated Lauren to no end. That woman was responsible for not only guaranteeing a terrible fate for two bloodlines but bringing a plague down on the entire town of Oakside as well. Try as she might, Lauren couldn't come up with any logical reason for Frieda to conjure such evil, even if she'd actually been trying to destroy it. She was clearly hopelessly outgunned against the abomination and should've known better than to take it on, and even when she tried to make things right in her own twisted way, it'd still been completely ineffective against The Keeper. If she hadn't been so stupid as to summon it, Kate and Charlie would be living normal lives with their families, and Carl and Lauren never would've been caught in the crossfire. Thinking deeply about all of the new information, she glanced over at the second tape, afraid to watch it after what she'd just been shown by the other one. After several moments of indecisiveness, she let out a reluctant sigh, picked up the oddly labeled tape, and hit play, her breath catching in her throat as the image of her best friend drawing in a dark room appeared onscreen.
(X)
The sound of heavy rain hitting the roof was soothing to Kate as she sat on her bed drawing strange, cryptic pictures and jumping at the frequent claps of thunder. She found herself unable to fall back asleep after having another nightmare, so she'd decided to draw instead as memories of the night it all began flooded into her head. The drawing was a habit that had formed over the years she'd been dealing with her paranormal stalkers, and as much as she hated to admit it, it was taking up more and more of her time with each passing day. The walls of her room were plastered with her sketches, the floor was littered with the ones she hadn't strung up, and even sections of the walls had been used as a canvas. She tried her best not to think about the events that had taken place during the past few days, trying especially hard to block out the memories of what happened only mere hours ago, just before the downpour began. So much happened in such a short amount of time, the worst of which had taken place somewhere she'd hoped would provide sanctuary; the radio tower. Kate felt herself beginning to choke up again, and breathing became difficult as a fresh batch of tears ran down her face. "Oh god… Carl…" she sniveled, wiping them away. "Why didn't you just listen to me?"
She hadn't bothered to get undressed or shower when she got home, simply heading up to her room and collapsing in bed instead. She still wore the dirty red shirt, torn blue jeans, and tan shoes that she'd been wearing for the better part of two days now, lacking the motivation to change into something clean after the horror she'd just been through. Kate couldn't explain how she managed to make it out of that situation alive; everything had been pitch-black in that narrow hallway, the only light coming from the crackling flames of Carl's last-ditch plan as horrific sounds rang out from all around them. The last thing she remembered was running blindly through the darkness and throwing open a heavy door, and then waking up in her front yard after being blinded by a flash of light. The only theory she had for the extraordinary circumstances of her survival was that her friend from the other side had finally returned to help after so many years of absence; but even if that was true, his deus ex machina may have come too late to do much more than delay the inevitable.
The longer the storm went on, the more she enjoyed listening to it. The howling wind and buckets of rain helped clear her head, and the metallic creaking of the swingset and the sound of groaning trees only added to the soothing atmosphere. Perhaps the reason she could hear it so well was that earlier, shortly after she'd been teleported to her yard, she opened all of the windows and doors in her house, hoping to counteract the unusual heat wave that came just before the storm. Part of her knew that she probably should've shut them, but she didn't care; it was an unusually warm night, the breeze felt good, and the sound and smell of the rain helped ease her conscience. However, as the hours passed the storm steadily grew worse, and Kate was debating more than ever on whether or not she wanted to bother getting up to stop the inside of her house from being drenched. It was late in the night now, around 3:30am, and the only light in her room came from the flashlight laying on her bed, as the storm had knocked out the power hours ago. She'd set up her camcorder next to the flashlight and was using it to record herself, another habit that stemmed from dealing with entities that nobody else could see. Suddenly, a strong gust of wind blew through the open window, sweeping through the scattered papers and knocking a few from the walls. Then, lightning flashed across the sky accompanied by an earsplitting crack of thunder and Kate froze on the spot, feeling a familiar chill creep up her spine. She turned to face the camera, her terror-filled eyes beginning to water, and whispered; "He's here."
She quickly snatched up the equipment laying on her bed, requiring the flashlight to see more than five feet in front of her and hoping that the camera distortion would warn her of an enemy's approach. "Close all the windows and doors," Kate whispered to herself, running to her bedroom window and slamming it shut; "Just don't let Him in…" The air that'd been warm only moments ago was now so frigid she could see her own breath, and it felt like her very blood was running cold; as if any remaining happiness had been drained from her world. She knew this feeling… it was one she'd felt only once before; it meant that He had her in His sights, and unlike the little 'game' they played in Riverview Park, The Administrator had no intention of going easy on her this time. Despite knowing how ineffective it would probably be, Kate quickly threw on her white hoodie to retain what little warmth she still could, savoring its cozy embrace as she prepared to make one final stand. She crept out into the dark hallway and shut the window at her end of the hall, her skin beginning to crawl as she realized how unnaturally silent everything other than the storm was. Her heart pounded in her chest and her breathing became raspy as fear slowly overtook her body. Part of her knew that securing her home wouldn't stop The Administrator, but the little amount of willpower she had left to defy her adversary pushed her to do it anyway.
She wished all the calls she'd made to Lauren telling her not to come over anymore would've gone through, but no matter how hard she tried, she'd been unable to find anywhere with reception. She almost would've believed it was the storm blocking out her signal had it not been for the fact that she was being hunted, so she was all but sure that her isolation was intentional rather than coincidence. However, as she was running from room to room shutting windows, she came up with one last idea to help her friend. Lauren was undoubtedly nearing Oakside by now, most likely having taken refuge from the storm, as these conditions would make driving an absolute nightmare. A glimmer of hope sparked within the terrified woman as she realized that her friend would be arriving sometime the next day, meaning that she wouldn't be caught in the crossfire of her current predicament. After locking the window in a spare room, Kate tossed the key to her bedroom door on top of a desk, hoping that if Lauren didn't take the hint to leave after seeing the house abandoned and torn apart, a result of Kate's mental breakdown after what happened in the radio tower, she'd see the mess in her room and turn back immediately. She hoped that her friend would have enough sense to flee the house and call the police as soon as she saw what the place looked like, but she wasn't so sure that Lauren wouldn't try to find her on her own. In Kate's mind, that would be the worst case scenario, as she was well aware of the reason her friend was so eager to help her sell the house. It was no secret that they'd grown apart over the years despite being the best of friends when they were kids, and Lauren wished to shorten the distance that'd grown between them. Although, if Kate was being perfectly honest with herself, that wasn't how she felt about it at all; There wasn't an ounce of blame that she put on Lauren for the rift that'd formed in their friendship, and if anything, she was actually grateful for the distance between them, since it meant that her best friend had been kept safe from harm. Her biggest regret was that she wasn't going to live long enough to ease her friend's guilt, and for not attempting to do so sooner. Snapping back to reality, she finished securing the upstairs and raced down the staircase, heading toward the open door. However, as terrified as she was, she wasn't able to resist taking a look outside… regretting it as soon as she did. The wind howled, the rain came down in buckets, entire branches fell from trees, and streaks of lightning flashed across the dark sky. It was then that a particularly bright lightning bolt lit up the area and illuminated the tall, suited figure watching her from the treeline. Kate's heart raced faster than it ever had before as she slammed and locked the door before returning to her objective. "Don't go outside, He's out there…" she whispered, racing through her house with the flashlight's dim beam serving as her only guide. Then, as she was shutting the last few windows and doors, they arrived at long last; The Collective.
Deadhead, Persolus, The Observer, Cursor, Swain, and even Mister Scars could be seen standing outside of her house, appearing and disappearing with each flash of lightning. The only member missing was Firebrand; the one that got away. Her body wracked with shivers as she did her best to ignore the shadow demons and finish what she started, listening to the wind chimes crash together loudly in the tempest. Then, as she rushed to shut the remaining entrances, the radio she had sitting in the room across from the garage turned itself on, despite the house not having any power, and blared what sounded like a distorted combination of garbled music and white noise. She remembered a similar situation, one that occurred at the very beginning of the nightmare all the way back in 2009, only with disembodied whispers instead of music. Finally, after several more minutes of suspense, Kate took a seat at the bottom of the stairs to catch her breath; it was over. The house was sealed, and now all that was left to do was wait. She found herself gazing absentmindedly at the fresh drawings on the wall, wondering what possessed her to sketch them in such an inconvenient place. It was then that it finally happened; her guard had been lowered only for a few short moments, but that was all it took. With a thunderous crash, the front door swung open and smashed into the wall, revealing her adversaries standing just outside; Deadhead with his black hood and lifelike skull mask, Persolus with most of his form wreathed in shadow, The Observer with his glowing glasses and maniacal grin, Cursor with her eyes stitched shut in the shape of x's, Swain with his smiling theatre mask and old military uniform, and Mister Scars with a stoic expression on his mutilated face. At the center of them all stood their master with open arms as if He was welcoming his prey. It was then that she realized with horror that they weren't trying to kill her, they were going to… "No!" Kate yelled, bolting back up the stairs. "I need to hide…" she whispered, sprinting toward her bedroom.
When she finally reached her last remaining place of sanctuary, she slammed the door shut and locked herself inside. Tears began to flow as she walked toward the window, hugging her arms tight to her chest to keep warm. "I don't want to die," she whimpered, watching the rain run down the glass. "It's time to go," said a demonic voice in her head as The Administrator's bony hand grasped her shoulder. Kate let out a shriek and used the last of her strength to break free from Him off one last time. In one final attempt at escape, she threw herself out the window, shattering the glass and slicing herself open in several places. As the ground rushed up to meet her, she closed her eyes and waited for the end. Then, she landed on top of and smashed her camera and everything went black as she laid there broken and battered on the cold hard ground.
