Chapter Text
Resource One: The Beginning
The entirety of this audio behind you was recorded by Grian H. [REDACTED], regarding his experiences in the town of Hermit Hollows. Original Audio recorded in the year 2016. The final statement was recorded in 2017 and occurs six months after these events take place. Audio Footage Recovered, Restored and Released to the public in May of 2023 by local authorities and government officials.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Tape Recorder Clicks On]
…Right. So where to begin?
[A Deep Sigh Can Be Heard]
My name is Grian. I am, or rather, was a journalist for whatever newspaper would take me in. However, my career path in that industry has currently been put on a severe hiatus, due to a rather unfortunate incident that I’d rather not talk about. What is important to mention right now is that my sister has decided to ‘take me in,’ so an event like the incident doesn’t unfold again. While the entire matter has been nothing but a bit of an inconvenience to me, I am still glad that Pearl is willing to support me. She’s…she’s a good sister.
The town she lives in, Hermit Hollows, is quite weird, really. I mean at first glance everything seems normal. It’s a small town, with a little less than one hundred inhabitants. I will be honest, this place is really in the middle of nowhere. The last two hours of Pearl and I’s long trip had been spent staring out into the bleak pine forests that hugged both sides of the road closely. I would even go out to say that this place does seem quite cozy.
[A Pause In Dialect Occurs Due To Unintelligible Voices In The Background]
Sorry, I am currently trying to escape the notice of my sister. She doesn’t want me doing any more ‘digging my nose into places that it doesn’t belong.’ I’m not sure if this counts, but I don’t want her hiding or breaking the only tape recorder I have with me. There’s zero phone service out here, so all of my online resources are at the moment, out of reach. I was never one of those people who liked to use their phone at any given chance, but going the last three days without checking it all had been weird.
Right. Where was I? Yes, why this town is weird. Okay. Well not to be that guy, but there is definitely something off about Pearl’s roommate. His name is Impulse, and he seems like a very nice guy, don’t get me wrong. He’s just odd. He runs the convenience store nearby. I think it’s called IBuy or something along those lines. He’s gone most of the day working, then he comes back home for supper, and then leaves again to do…something?? Pearl says he’s really into geology and likes to go cave diving whenever he can. She’s obviously not lying to me because the quick glimpses I’ve seen into his room have shown many rocks neatly arranged on shelves or scattered around like paperweights.
But like it’s weird, okay? He’s gone all day, he quickly comes back for a meal, and then immediately leaves again. Last night I waited for him to come back, and you know what time he came back? Four AM!! When does this man even sleep? I don’t understand!
[Grian’s Name is Heard Being Called. A Closet Door Opens Nearby]
[Tape Recorder Clicks Off]
[Tape Recorder Clicks On. Brisk Footsteps and Crunching Leaves Can Be Heard]
Sorry for the break everyone. Pearl caught me getting all worked up over Impulse. She sent me outside to blow off some steam, so I am now walking through the woods behind her house in the hopes of finding a clear spot to sit and finish this stupid recording….
Alright. So there is definitely something weird about Impulse, but he can hardly represent the entire town now, can he? No, I’ve noticed some strange stuff from the town itself. The first is how quiet and still everything is at night. I swear that in the hours between one and two in the morning the wind stops blowing and the forest itself is frozen in time. I’ll try to see if I can get a video recorder to properly catch it later, but I’ll work with what I have right now. AND! Last night, I swear that the moon was different. It was bigger, somehow. Not just from equatorial distortion or whatever scientists try to explain it with. But just overall bigger. However, that was the night I was waiting for Impulse to get home; so I might’ve not been very caught up on sleep.
I also have not seen a single person in my entire time here other than Pearl and Impulse. I mean, we have neighbors! Where are they?! I mean it’s probably just a coincidence, right? This all is! I have finally gone off the deep end, haven’t I? I mean sure, my roommate is weird, and the moon is slightly bigger than normal, and I haven’t seen anyone else, but like, come on! Those are all normal enough!
[An Audible Sigh Can Be Heard]
I need some sleep. This is crazy! I am going crazy. It started with breaking into a politician’s home to get evidence on him, and now we’re here. In the middle of the woods, imagining that this town is supernatural or something! Maybe Pearl was right. I need a life outside of journalism. I need to focus on the bigger picture…
Yeah! I’m done with this! I am going back inside. I am going to put this tape recorder into the bottom of my bag and forget about it. I am here to keep a low profile until the police stop trying to press charges against me for trespassing. I am not here to try to discover something that doesn’t exist. I need to keep my nose clean. If not for me, for Pearl. Nothing good is going to come out of chasing things that might want to chase me back.
[A Long, Drawn Out Sigh Can Be Heard]
Okay. Right then. Signing Off…
How does this thing….
[Tape Recorder Clicks Off]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Come on, Grian. If you’re gonna live here, you at least have to help get some of the errands done. Whatever you’re writing can wait another hour,” Pearl called from somewhere else in the house.
Grian sighed, carefully setting his pen and notebook down. Even though he had put his tape recorder in the bottom of one of his bags a couple hours before, the thought of pulling it back out still nagged at the back of his brain. There was something weird about this town. He just had to figure it out. Still, he had promised himself that he wouldn’t think about it, and running errands with Pearl would be the best way to put the thoughts out of his mind. Not to mention the fact that she was currently providing both warm food and a nice room for him with no charge. He would definitely have to pay her back once he found himself a new job.
He stood up and pushed in his chair, taking care not to scratch the wooden floors. Walking out of the room to where Pearl was, he wondered vaguely if this meant he could finally meet some of the other townsfolk. His worn sneakers sat alone by the door, which he quickly pulled on, looking up at Pearl as he did so.
Pearl was just slightly shorter than he was, although Pearl had been taller for a majority of their childhood. It was always slightly embarrassing to have your twin sister be able to use your shoulder as a low armrest, but that could happen to be one of the side effects of an early growth spurt. Even with the height differences, you could still clearly tell the resemblance between the two. They both had the same wavy hair that wasn’t light enough to be blond, but couldn’t exactly be labeled as brown either; and they both shared the same earth-brown eyes as the rest of their family.
Grian stood back up from tying his shoes and leaned back against the wall. Pearl looked at him skeptically for a second before opening the front door and gesturing theatrically to go out. He rolled his eyes slowly, but walked out into the late summer air anyways.
It wasn’t too warm outside, and you could feel the wind nip at your skin if you stood still for a little too long. There was probably only a little less than a month before the leaves would start to change colors and eventually begin to make their descent downwards. The town of Hermit Hollows was located in the northern portion of the country, but still had a long way to go from being the northmost tip. While this place may not get as much snow, it was colder here than where he had been living before.
According to Pearl, the store where she got her groceries from was less than a mile away, so she usually preferred to get there on foot. Grian had always appreciated a good walk, even if his little excursion with the forest and the tape recorder this morning hadn’t quite worked out the way he had planned. Still, it was nice to enjoy the weather and watch the few clouds slowly travel across the bright sky.
The short walk to the store passed in relative silence. The birds were singing loudly in the trees, and the passing wind made some of the smaller branches creak. Both he and Pearl stayed silent. He wondered if Pearl was annoyed with him for using the tape recorder so soon after arriving here. He had promised her that he wouldn’t be nosy, but there was just no adventure in leaving things be. Still, he hoped that she would forgive him. She did have the power to kick him out after all.
Only fifteen minutes had passed until the store came into view. It was a smaller building, made out of bricks and lots of glass windows. Above the double doors, light-up plastic letters spelled out the word ‘WelsMart.’ It definitely wasn’t a place that had a lot of business, but you could tell that the building itself was well taken care of. The small parking lot didn’t have any cars in it, but it also was miraculously spared from the cracks and weeds that grew across a lot of this town’s roads.
Pearl led the way inside, the bell on the door ringing loudly as it opened. Pearl called out in greeting to the owner of the store, a man that apparently had the name Wels. A response came back from somewhere in the back rooms of the store, and only a few seconds had passed before a man holding a stack of boxes appeared.
The man set the boxes down, allowing Grian to get a better look at him. He appeared to be a younger man, only in his early thirties or so. He had straight blond hair that had been pulled into a short ponytail barely reaching his shoulders. Smile lines were lightly etched on his cheeks, and he seemed like an overall nice person.
“Hello, Wels! Nice to see ya!” Pearl greeted once again with a smile as Wels wiped a thin line of sweat from off his brow.
“Hey Pearl!” he responded back before fixing his eyes on Grian, “Who’s this?”
“Ah, him? That’s my little brother Grian. He’ll be living with me and Impulse for the next little bit,” Pearl responded, going over to jokingly ruffle Grian’s hair, which he quickly dodged with a huff.
“Well, it’s nice to meet you. I’m Wels,” Wels said, sticking his hand out for a slightly irritated Grian to shake.
Grian felt an easy smile return to his face as he shook the man’s hand, “Nice to meet you too!”
“Well, I better go put the newest deliveries on their shelves,” Wels resolved, gesturing over to the pile of boxes he had just put down.
Grian just nodded and Pearl waved a quick goodbye as they began to walk down aisles to complete their shopping list. There wasn't as much on the list as Grian had first feared, only a few different kinds of fruit, some snack foods, and other random items that all in all amounted to less than twenty items.
Pearl had sent him to go get a bag of shredded cheddar cheese while she picked out the week’s produce. Alone in the aisles Grian let out a quick sigh. Pearl had been right. Nothing about this town was weird, just an older grocery store, and a nice man who ran it. There was nothing that was out of the ordinary at all. You could place the interior of this store on any corner of London and you would just accept it as normal.
Grian found a bag of the cheese Pearl wanted easily, and had brought it back just in time to see Pearl put the last of her apples into a bag. Within just a few minutes of searching through the few aisles of Welsmart, the list was completed. The two headed up to the counter where Wels stood, reading a book idly. Whatever he had to unpack out of the boxes, he had done it fast. He snapped his book shut quickly and scooted closer to the cash register.
“Find everything you need today?” he asked, as he scanned the items Pearl and Grian had set down on the counter.
“Yep! Glad to see that the grapefruit is back in stock! I’ve been missing it in my lunches recently,” Pearl responded, fumbling with her wallet to pay.
“Fresh from the city late last night!” Wels responded, as he finished scanning the rest of the items and put them into plastic bags.
Pearl nodded enthusiastically as she paid for all the groceries. Grian carefully took the three plastic bags from off the counter and gathered them into one hand. At this rate, the pair would be home before the sun even began to set.
“Nice to meet you, Grian! Come again anytime!” Wels finished as Pearl and Grian started to walk out the door, groceries in hand.
Pearl and Grian both bid their farewells and left the shop; the bell on the door ringing once more. The breeze had picked up a little, and Grian was slightly regretting not wearing his favorite red jumper, and instead only donning a white t-shirt. Pearl didn’t seem to be bothered by the cold and quickly walked back onto the road leading back to the house.
“So,” Pearl began after a few minutes of silence had gone by, “Was that really as bad as you thought it would be?”
“Nah,” Grian replied, absentmindedly staring into the forest off the sides of the road, “Wels seemed like a decent enough fellow.”
Pearl laughed a little, and a smile settled on Grian’s face. It had been, all in all, a nice day. He was actually starting to like it a little in Hermit Hollows. The two walked side by side all the way back to Pearl’s house, laughing and chatting the entire rest of the way.