"Morning doctor." A somewhat cheerful assistant sat at the reception of what on the outside appeared to be a large, bleak building. No windows, no more then a single color of gray, it was clearly not meant to seem happy at all.
"I've send over all the recordings you've been requested to work through. Hope you can make anything out of them." She continued, not even really checking to see if you were listening as she was watching something on her phone.
The offices were no better then the rest of the interior, that mostly resembled the exterior in the color scheme and building style. To most visitors it felt like a prison, but you knew better, this was more then a prison to the prisoners, it was their hospital.
A couple of tapes lay on the desk of your office, all labeled with the name of the doctor who made conversation and the patient they did this with, also the date of when it was recorded. Tasked with trying to find out more about the patients on tape, you were tasked with listening to them and trying to make out what it was that was so special about these cephalopods.
The only thing that connected the cases so far was that all patients were between sixteen and eighteen when they were taken in and that every last one of them had their breakdown right after finishing a turf war match. That they all seemed to be rambling ever since had made for a case that so far none had been able to solve.
The pile was rather tall, but reluctantly you pushed in the first tape, got a few empty pieces of paper and a pen ready, and pressed play.
"Recording 73, day 152 of treatment. The patient's name is Magnolia, female, of course."
A large, heavy metal door could be heard, one of one of the most secure cell doors to date, you knew. Not only ink resistant, but also perfectly sealing shut, not even letting air through it.
"Hello there. Please don't hide, I just want to talk to you." The second part followed after some rustling could be heard.
"You… they are here..."
"Calm down, take a sit on your bed. I only have a few questions."
"Can't you see? They are all here."
"But there is no one there, only the two of us."
After a bit of button pushing, you could see the security camera footage that was put on the tape next to the audio. It wasn't recorded together, only edited together later. Because it was one of the security camera's, you only got a blurry, black and white image, but it was better then nothing.
"They are all here. They left, but are now back." The girl stared into what seemed to be no more then emptiness.
The doctor in charge of questioning let out a small cough. "Anyway, I have a few questions for you."
"They will not easily be entertained."
"When did you first start seeing these… people?"
"They were always there, they did not appear, they just can't hide from me any longer."
"And how would you describe them?"
"They are an audience, the all seeing eyes, seeking to be amused."
"Why would you seeing them be such a big problem."
"If you are not good, they move on, they leave, and when they do, you will no longer exist."
"Then why not go about your regular life?"
"They crave action, to have entertainment. Once you are done, they will leave you. All of you are obsolete, all of you are not interesting to them. Even I will be forgotten, hoping to be refound."
"Alright..." The images showed how he slowly tried to get more distance between him and the girl.
"Hear my warning. When you stop recording, we will stop. We exist for them, not for ourselves." And with that, she laid down on her bed and didn't move anymore as the recording cut out, only the voice of the doctor making his assessment.
After having put in the next tape, the sequence started again, only this time a different doctor could be heard.
"Recording 12, He has had 14 days, his first two weeks of treatment, but so far no progress what soever. Subject name would be David. The intake crew described him as having antisocial personality disorder and said he was preaching for some sort of all seeing figure he described as 'they'."
The screen now showed another cell, still in the same quality, but now with different people.
"Hi David, I'm here to talk with y-"
"Don't bother, they won't be interested." He bluntly interrupted her.
"Can't we just talk?"
"There is no us, we are no more then puppets that play their show."
"Then why do I want to talk to you?"
"Because they want us to."
"And what if I left now?"
"They'd just leave us."
"So you live every day hoping 'they' won't leave?"
"You are only trying to emphasize with me."
"How can you stay positive like this?"
"I'll tell you my secret: I lie to myself. Every morning I wake up, I tell myself everything is going to be okay, but I'm lying, and I don't know how much longer I can do it."
"Than why don't you talk to me? I could try to help you."
"You can't. I saw them, and now I know that they're there. All of us will see, all of us will find out one day. They are always watching, always silently watching every move we make, every single thing we do. Always in silence. We aren't safe, we are always watched, but never did we see them. They will not show themselves to us, only watch, always watch."
Again you could see how this doctor too slowly back up from their patient as David continued.
"But why did you suddenly see them?"
"Can't you, they are right here, they are following every last thing as we speak."
"They are listening?"
David nodded and suddenly looked straight into the camera. "They are always listening when things get interesting, glancing over what appears to be irrelevant and only fully grasping what happened after taking it in proper after the fact. May they all have enjoyed." He showed an almost unnatural smile as the video stopped.
However, he continued to speak. "And now they will leave us. They have had enough, they know I know, and you should know too."
"I know you see 'them' but they aren't there."
The last part of the audio sounded somewhat scrambled, giving it an almost eerie sounding undertone.
"You have been a good audience, but now you are leaving me, aren't you?"
"I don't want to leave you, I want to help you."
"That doctor thinks she can help me, but I know only your interest can. When you leave, I do as well, we all do."
The audio cut out and the machine, having reached the end of the tape, stopped.