Crawford R. Jocelyne
Friday March 21, 1986
Weather is mildly warm and a bit damp, could be better.

It has been three months since I was sent here to investigate the recent events of this town's murders. I came here undercover as a local Sheriff with the police department next to a drug store instead of a bail bond. The people here are fine but a bit too on the friendly side. I just hope I can make a good report by the end of this year. Nothing has happened yet.

I close my journal and place my pen back into my pencil holder. Another boring week with nothing eventful in a town claimed to be covered by otherworldly infestations. The people here are complete fools for just accepting an undocumented man coming into their town after a string of murders and just casually sign up, successfully gain the job of Sheriff without a second look at my papers. It doesn't matter though. That's not why I'm here.

"I wish I didn't have to keep writing these damn letters." I can't help but internally scream at myself as I shove another loose piece of paper into my drawer hoping it won't get stained by any poorly screwed on White Out caps. I lock the drawer and turn my attention to a familiar looking yellow folder. I get one every week of every month now. I carefully open it to inspect it and just like an unwanted gift on Christmas it is nothing more than loose paper with just a bit of printed text on it.
It's a police report...Two kids, Garfield Ermenegilda, male 13 years old and Eliot Ermenegilda, male 7 years old. Last known location was at a hobby store looking for piñatas, 5 days ago. Eliot was turning 8 and according to employees, Garfield asked for help to look for something monster truck themed. They were spotted talking to employees but apparently they were all acting dumb on the matter. And just like always I'm being dragged in to figure out the situation for myself.

I placed the reports into my bags that I was packing before I stopped to write the last journal entry for this week and made my way to the front door to put on my shoes. Then my hat and my black jacket with my sheriff's badge attached. It's usually required of me to wear my brown uniform with my brown hat but I only feel complete embarrassment every time I put it on. Like a part of my soul had just died for stooping this low into my career. I know I won't be able to get away with this for much longer but until I'm forced to, I am wearing what I please.

I walked out the door and into my car, reaching into the glove compartment to look for my road map. I still haven't been able to get used to this town. They failed to give me clear directions in the report, so I have no choice but to drive aimlessly around the town looking for any signs of the hobby store those two boys were last seen in. I turned on the radio to cover my frustration. I was already in a crappy mood before I even got the folder through my door mail slot. This was just more coal added to the fire. It didn't take long for me to figure out where I needed to go as I pulled up into the parking lot of the hobby store with yellow caution tape around the doors. I don't want to get out of the car. Not yet. The day hasn't even started and I can already see how this interaction is going to go. They're going to ask to see my badge and once they do they're going to assume that the visit is all thanks to an employee misbehaving that no one but them knew about. Maybe one of the teens was smuggling drugs in the break room or has been vandalizing property. Either way it won't matter because once I tell them it has nothing to do with that they will still fire the kid anyway once we turn our backs on the situation and learn the two boys were probably just camping out in the woods after buying camping supplies. I take a deep breath to calm my nerves.

I know I can't hide in here forever but sometimes I wish I could. I don't care about these people or those kids. I just want to make my full report so I can leave this place and go back to a job where I feel appreciated. I can't help but grip onto the steering wheel and imagine myself driving into the store and killing whoever is inside just to avoid the entire purposeless encounter. But now is not the time to be thinking like that. I exit my car grabbing my bag filled with reports.

I might have shut the car door too hard, the echo of the slam is starting to haunt me. I pray my anger doesn't show too clearly but maybe there is a way I can turn this assumption of anger into dominance. The best way I can do that is to carry the weight of my steps into my heels to make a louder clicking sound as I approach the hobby store with confident appearing eyes that won't look down. An employee just opened the door for me but he moved too quickly for me to thank him, that won't change anything on how they will see me if I was successful in my approach. "Oh, Hello. You must be the new sheriff." A soft looking young woman said, smiling at me, reaching out her hands for me to shake. She's clearly not dangerous and clearly forcing herself to look more polite then she normally is to appear like she isn't a suspect. I must make my movement quick. I shook her hand back, maybe my grip was too strong but that's only because I underestimated how weak she is. She clearly is gaining some sort of discomfort from the hand grab since her eyebrows twitched into a more frowning facial expression. Quickly I let go of her hand, one shake is enough to show that I'm clearly capable of handling the situation and if she was the kidnapper I would have easily restrained her without any sort of backup or help.

Yes, she wouldn't know the wiser that I was just hired three months ago. "Yes, my name is Crawford Jocelyne. I'm here because of the missing persons case, I got word that the two victims were last seen talking to a few employees here. Before… you know." I hope I was clear enough for her to fully understand how I'm going to be treating the situation. Being threatening in body language yet gentle and relaxed in words has always seemed to me as the best way of showing a more convincing yet reliable façade. I can't tell if she sees it as relaxing as most other people do as her eyebrows furrow scratching them and moving her brown thin hair behind her ear now placing both hands on her hips in an upset stance. "It was probably Karl." She said in the most frustrated tone I've heard in a while. "Karl?" I can't help but accidentally look at her like she's an idiot, you can not just name drop an employee like everyone has heard of him. There are so many people in the world and yet the one she decided to name drop of course had to be one of the most common in America. Does she not realize how many people named Karl are in this country? Does she not realize how many people named Karl are on this planet? She could have at least been more considerate and dropped the last name with it. But no, it was KARL. "Ah, he's just one of those conspiracy theorist types. Every time those kids walk into the store he can't help himself but to rant about aliens or whatever bigfoot like creature he just heard of this week. Probably scared those two kids off into the woods and they got lost. Wouldn't be the first time he gave them nightmares." She leans on one of her legs as she lets out a deep pouting sigh in annoyance. This Karl kid is clearly going to be a trouble to talk to from the sounds of it. Probably a pot dealer or a LSD consumer to gain a spiritual awakening while listening to a Beatles album to try and touch paths with Satan to let all lost souls go. Definitely 'a stick it to the man' type, it's going to be a real pain getting any sort of information out of him. I should've just stayed in the car. I should have just ran everyone over and called it a day. I've got no choice but to go through with another regrettable life decision and ask where he is.

straighten my jacket to show I mean business. "And where is Karl now?" I asked, making my voice appear a bit deeper than it already was, which is a clear amateur mistake. She must see me as some sort of joke, probably can see right through me. Like a worm shriveling up on a sidewalk during a heat wave, nothing but pure disgust in her eyes. "Probably in the back room listening to hip hop instead of doing his damn job." She finally lowered one of her hands from her waist as she said that, fixing her uniform sleeve as it slid up for a bit. She must work out in the sun a lot, I can see her cutie marks reaching from her face to her hands. Or maybe they are just freckles. Hopefully she hasn't caught me staring at her hands for too long, I don't want her to assume I have been fetishizing them for the past minutes we have been conversing.

"Okay thank you for your time." I changed which hand was holding the bag with files as it was starting to redden my skin from how hard I've been gripping it. My files... I have made another foolish mistake, clearly I have been caught now. There is no way she would let me go after missing to ask another extremely important question for this interrogation. How could I be so forgetful and foolish? Maybe I can still salvage it before she says anything. After all, she hasn't left yet. "Oh one last thing, can I get your name?" I shouldn't have added that 'oh', now I really sound like a foolish ameture who doesn't deserve this type of career. "My name is Sausha Morena Joris."

"Well thank you for your time Sausha." She nodded, putting both of her arms to her side, her guard down. I'm safe for now, I can not let these mistakes happen again. I make my way to the employee room where I assume it's in the back. I hope it's in the back, I don't want to seem like a fool but no one is giving me any type of clear directions. I look around once I hit near the end of the store and look to my left and right, dammit it happened. I make a quick left turn hoping no one will notice.

Thank you Sausha for not at least telling me what direction the door is, you worthless bitch. But I did manage to find it easily after taking that left turn and opening the door to see this scrawny young man listening to trash music on his portable radio. I must be extra careful about how I approach this man. If he really is against federal officers then this might lead into an uncomfortable encounter and I can't risk having anyone dead in my third month as sheriff even though nothing has happened during those months. I clear my throat which instantly grabs his attention like a party popper going off while he is asleep. Green eyes, that's the first thing I notice. Everything else about him is boring and plain. Like bread. "Excuse me, are you Karl?" ANOTHER FOOLISH MISTAKE CRAWFORD, this man doesn't even know who you are and you drop his first name without any hesitation. Now you will never get any information out of him as long as he sees you as a full threat coming out for his identity. "Yeah?" Karl looks at me with lazy eyes blinking, this man clearly does some kind of drug with how slow each movement he makes is. "I'm the new sheriff, my name is Crawford Jocelyne. I'm here about the missing children's case." Karl leans forward looking at me with wide eyes. "New sheriff? Like from another town?"

Karl asked rather anxiously, I better answer this in a more calming and light tone to make him show I am in no way a threat to him unless this later turns into a child abduction case. I nod at him. "Well actually I'm from the city, I moved here just three months ago." Karl jumps up to his feet and grabs me by the shoulder shoving his dopey face in front of mine, at least he didn't smell like marijhiwanna, he's probably covering the smell up with the stick of gum that's in his mouth. He then rushes to the door and closes it quietly, locking it. He turns to me looking rather malicious. "They haven't gotten to you yet." He says as he sits back down at his chair next to the radio. He quickly lowers the volume as he points at a chair. "Sit. We need to talk."

I did not expect Karl to be this forward in talking, maybe he's trying to cover up suspicion or his idiocy by pretending he knows something. I sit in the chair and fold my hands, furrowing my eyebrows to show I am in no mood for games. He leans in closely towards me. "You're hearing about the yellow hat lady right?"
"The yellow hat lady?..." I can't help but be flabbergasted by the sudden topic, the yellow hat lady? What kind of tomfoolery is he spouting about? Although….it does sound familiar.

He leans an elbow behind his chair and lets his hand hang on the top rail. "I sent a report a year back…. You're with the government right?"

FUCK, he's on to me. He must have been watching the conversation I had with Sasha and spotted all my mistakes. I'm not losing this battle yet…. I can't afford to. "No, I'm just the sheriff." I tried to make my tone more confused and disgusted with his behavior, i mean how could i not be when i just moved here across states? Surely this would be seen as strange behavior to any outsider across town. It's not everyday you see some strange man in a hobby store spout things about a radical looking young lady in a yellow hat while he was on some sort of lsd. Or maybe that's it, maybe he hasn't caught on and this is just some delusion he made for himself with all of the 'Mary Jane' he smokes.

He winks at me. "Ah, I get it, keeping a low profile. Don't worry I won't hand you over like that." I straighten my back trying to show that his words don't haunt me in any shape or form. "Uh huh, sure. Now what were you saying about this… 'Woman with the yellow hat?' is she important to the case?"

Karl awkwardly folds his hands like he's recounting his steps. "Now, you see. That's what I was thinking at first. I knew she was going to come back after my last encounter with her." He then folds his arms as he looks rather angry with the conversation beginning to go deep into thought. I clear my throat to try and get him to stay focused. "Could you elaborate more on this last encounter you had?"
"Sure man!"
He leans forward as he looks me dead in the eye.

"I've been working in this town for three years now. I'm not the brightest but I can see the amount of danger that will happen if I keep quiet about this any longer. If you live here for as long as i have you will start hearing rumors….. Fairy tales… myths, WHATEVER you want to call them. From very unfortunate people. The homeless...kids... doctors…"

I cross my arms as well, what is this man on about? At first I thought he got me but maybe he really is just an idiot. "Are you telling me a ghost story or giving me a report? Because this is starting to get on my nerves."
He shakes his head and hands. "No no no, sorry, let me just cut to the chase."

"The most common thing those people would tell you about are these so-called 'myths' live in the woods that are only a few miles away. Now I used to never believe it until one stroll near the woods during a night shift….and I came across her…. That's when I realized that those myths were true."
He leans next to me and whispers into my ear. "It's when i realized the entire town is covered with those murderous creatures."

He leans back and starts looking directly into my eyes again, his leg shaking. It's honestly getting on my nerves.
"A murderous teenager who turns people into dolls, A crazy dentist who steals peoples tongs, a house made out of skin that just CONSUMED someone, the second church down the street really being a cult for a cat god. These were all just rumors…and I used to think that they were nothing but stupid camp stories too….. until I saw her."

JUST GET TO THE POINT, all i need is the information about this woman but this moron won't get to the point. Just get to it already. "JUST GET TO THE POINT." I grip the handle of the chair and he starts moving his entire body away from me. I didn't mean to yell at him but whatever makes him get to it i'll do.

"Sorry, Sorry." He takes a deep breath as he fixes the way he's sitting to lean more back on the chair. "I remember a few months back when I was in the break room, a coworker of mine came up to me with a pale face and said 'The girl with the yellow hat is back'. At first I didn't understand… I thought he was just trying to prank me and I never heard anything about the 'Girl in the yellow hat'. It was my lunch time and it didn't even dawn on me that he meant one of the common town myths. He told me that every now and then a girl in a yellow hat appears and if I ever see her I should cover my eyes. After a bit of digging I found out she was rumored to be a government experiment and during a walk my coworker saw her and she took his dog. At that moment I was convinced it was a prank and even when I doubted myself I thought he meant take as in she just takes pets with no collars because she works with the government and I thought I would be fine since I don't own any animals." Karl shifts his body side to side. I can't help but place a hand on my forehead to massage it. I didn't ask for his life story…unless this is just how he is under pressure, guess that means I just fucked myself with the yelling, i should try my more relaxed approach.

"You're rambling."

"RIGHT, sorry. So that night I went home and looked through my window and I saw a figure standing on the sidewalk. I wasn't too sure what it was since I didn't see any arms, hands or legs which I will then soon realize this woman was wearing a very long Poncho on top of her dress. So I'm sure you can see how I could find that confusing to look at from a silhouette."

I slam my fist on the arm rest.

"Right, stay on topic…..Confused, I grabbed a flashlight and my gun and went to approach her in case she was dangerous."

I lower my hand from my face. "You saw a young lady out on the sidewalk and decided to approach her with a gun unprompted?"

He looks at me with wide eyes thinking. "Well yeah? I didn't know her. When you live in a small town like this, seeing someone you're not familiar with randomly approaching your house in the middle of the night is not a good sign." I couldn't help but slowly place my hand back on my forehead as a response.

"So anyway there she was, the girl with the yellow hat. I thought she was lost so I started to ask her some questions but she didn't respond. I then grabbed her shoulder and threatened to shoot if she didn't tell me why she was standing outside my house….. that's when she turned around and…. I was looking into a camera…"

I lowered my hand again and started to lean forward to hear him better. "What?"
Frank takes a deep breath as he continues "Her face… it was a camera I saw how i'll die.. I saw the world coming to an end. I couldn't hear my own thoughts, I couldn't hear anything. I wanted to scream but all that came out was this feeling that I had a long thick needle in my throat and I began to hallucinate and under the panic I put my fingers deep under my eyes to try and take them out. It was like I was dead already, what was going to happen to me in the future." He begins to hyperventilate.

"I didn't want to see it… I wanted to do anything so I wouldn't have to see. And then she walked away. I couldn't tell at first, I had blood on my hands, one eye was looking down while the other was looking forward, and my ears were ringing…. It's when I realized how insignificant of a person I really am to those kinds of people.. Or creatures. Murderers Monsters. It took a year for the scars on my eyes to fully heal but I still know they were there."

I couldn't help but lean back amazed. To this…this complete loser having any sort of valid information to give me. He continues.
"Every important person who has ever existed has claimed they did something for the people. And all i can do… is send in report letters on what happened and have them laugh in my face or yell at me thinking it's some sort of prank." He rubs his eyes. "That's why I'm happy you're here."

I straightened up my back pretending like I wasn't intrigued by every word he was just saying. "Well Karl.." I get up and place my hands on his shoulder to pat him and try to calm him down. "Despite how ridiculous your story sounds, I'll help you once I solve the case I'm dealing with right now." Karl slowly calms down and his breathing patterns return to normal. He goes silent. "I'm sure there isn't anything to worry about tho-"
Karl begins to speak again. "I'll come with you"
"What?" I look at him upset trying to show a way to make him back off.
"You don't know this area as well as I do and i've done enough research on these fuckers to help locate where they might be"
"No, absolutely not." I cross my arms. I'm not allowing some moron to follow me around and distract me from my job.
"Why not? Do you need proof? Because if you let me come with you-"
"Because number one, you're insane. A woman in a yellow hat with a camera for a face? Absolutely ridiculous. And two, you're just a bystander and if what you're saying was true then you're a victim and that gives me even more reasons why you SHOULDN'T work with me." Maybe if I pointed at him aggressively he would have understood the seriousness of what I just said.

"IF! IF! THAT'S THE THING…if…if it were true then it would be best to find it and stop it and it could have been the reason those two kids went missing. LET ME HELP, I'M NOT ASKING FOR MONEY OR ANYTHING REALLY. I just want to show you I'm not crazy." Karl looks defeated after uttering that last sentence. I guess the experience really messed with him. That's not my problem though, but if he doesn't want pay and he'll direct me to the possible source of what i'm looking for. Maybe this can work in my favor. Maybe adding a threat to the deal can twist all of this into my favor.

"I'll help you."
"Really?" Karl gets up and smiles looking at me, his missing teeth are beginning to distract me. I guess that's a new interesting trait to add outside of his green eyes. "Sure, but stay FOCUS. No more ranting or a scratched cheek won't be the only thing you'll have to worry about."
Karl sighs "If you're threatening to send me back to the Psychiatric hospital, the 'self inflicting behavior' has already been written off as no longer a threat and I've been reportedly okayed to be among society without any need to be sent back."
That's not what I was threatening at all but that does give me some ideas for later. "We'll see."
I begin to walk out the door. "Wait where are you going?" Karl asks as if it needed to be. "The woods."
"We're going now?" He ask like he's shocked
"Of course, best to get this all over with now."
Karl blinks at me blankly, grabs his coat and fixes the chairs. He then speeds up and bumps into my back, I didn't realize he was taller than me until now. It pisses me off. I clench my teeth in frustration and give him an angry glare. "Oh sorry." He takes a quick step back. That's much better.

I lead him to my car where he gets in like he's already comfortable with my company. I can tell this is going to be the start of a very long week. I start the car and drive to the woods. "Take a turn here." He points to a curve before I even step on the gas petals. I sigh and start driving.