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There was nothing left to do. It was over. Everything was crashing down at my feet. There was no chance of escape for me; I was too far gone, as was Tim, and especially Alex. Everyone was fully under his control, the Operator's control, and we sat in front of him, blank stares on our faces. Except for me. For some reason, I was the only one aware, and it was awful. Tim and Alex were gone; the stares on their faces unchanging of the dead stare. But I knew. I could feel everything, even though I couldn't move. We were all lined up like sitting ducks. Sarah and Amy were nowhere to be found.
The Operator appeared in front of us, making my vision go to static. I couldn't move, no matter how much I wanted to. I couldn't stand the stares on my friends' faces, especially Jessica's. She had the blankest stare, worse than even Alex or Tim. It made my stomach turn. This was all my fault. If I hadn't left her alone in the hotel, maybe she would have gotten out of harm's way, far away from the rest of us. I'm the one who got her involved; this was on me.
It was her video that was the worst of them all. Each of the members of Marble Hornets had individual tapes, recordings of what had happened in the past few months before we all found each other. Seth and Brian had finally given me their videos a few days prior, and while they were awful, Jessica's sat in the back of my mind, for the longest time. It was all on me. God, why did I leave her in the hotel? I couldn't even remember that far back anymore.
The Operator stepped closer to us, and my body shivered, and shook violently. My head started to pound, and my eyes felt as though they would pop right out of their sockets. I felt my body crack, and I slumped over to the ground. I was being broken down, piece by piece, in front of all those who I cared about the most. It knew I was aware, this being. Somehow, it knew I could feel and see everything, and it was targetting me. And I deserved it.
I closed my eyes, hoping to make the static dissipate, try to calm my headache, desperately trying to think of anything else besides what was happening in this moment. The only thought that came to my mind was Jessica's video.
She wore the chest camera, and she was breathing heavily. She ran through the trails of Rosswood Park, hoping to escape the clutches of this evil creature. She tripped over a root, landing face first into the dirt. She coughed, her head pounding. She couldn't moved enough to escape, but she knew what was coming. She didn't know what it would feel like, how painful it would be, but she knew it was coming. She coughed hard again, tears springing to her eyes. Her whole boody shook, and the cameras lenses started to visually tear. Audio distortion started through out the video, and the Operator appeared in front of her.
"Oh god no, leave me alone!" she screamed, but the Operator is not known as being a merciful creature. Tentacles shot out from behind it, and the footage blotted out in colours of blue, green, and red, a piercing scream dissipating into the darkness of the video.
Images flashed by. Jessica screamed, with no sound coming out. Her face showed just how much pain she was in, and her eyes were full of tears.
The scene cut, and showed Jessica walking before collapsing to the ground into a coughing fit. She leaned over, holding her head, and coughed up blood onto the pavement. She fell to her knees, the camera panning around to reveal the nighttime sky, a forest nearby, and a man lying on the ground, his white shirt stained with blood. She moved over to him, poking at him for a moment before falling over backwards away from the man. Dead. He was dead. She stood up as quickly as she could, running away, her breath heavily, and cracking slightly.
The scene cuts once again, showing Rosswood Park, only Jessica is being dragged through the woods. She was screaming, a gutwrenching sound, and her screams were mixed with coughs, audio distortion, and her own sobbing.
The scene cuts one last time, and shows Jessica walking up to the hotel where she met back with Jay. Her hair is a mess, and she walks up the stairs, moving slowly to her room next to Jay's. She stops infront of the door, contemplating whether or not she should knock on his door, though ends up unlocking her own. She sets down a bag, and takes off her chest camera, tossing it onto the bed. She's a mess. There is dried blood in the corner of her mouth, and her throat is red and rashy. Her hair is all knotted, and sticking up in random directions. Purple bags line her eyelids, and she collapses onto the bed, not bothering to change her clothes. She perks up for a moment, and grabs a piece of paper that was lying around the room. She writes down quickly, and leaves the note on the night table. '1102', so Jay won't forget. She lays back down on the bed, savoring the few moments of silence she has before, not long after, the Operator appears at the foot of her bed. She doesn't scream, doesn't fight. She's done, she's tired. The Operator's tentacles unfurl behind it, and they grabbed Jessica before disappearing, leaving the room completely empty.
I blinked for a moment, and found myself still in the room, the Operator a bit farther away than last time. I glance around, and everyone was still there, nobody was missing. Relief spread through me, but only for a moment. I found myself upright again, staring right into the Operator's lack of face. I kept a straight face, the blank expression still there, though tears streamed down my face. My vision slowly returned to static, and behind my eyes, words appeared as though someone had just typed them onto a computer.
"Watch, and smile for the camera."
My vision returned in time for me to see the Operator unfurl his tentacles. They shot outwards, wrapping around Jessica. Her face went from blank to pure terro as she awoke from her trance-like state in time for her to feel the Operator suffocating her as its tentacles slowly wrapped around her body and neck.
"Jessica!" I screamed, though no voice sounded throughout the room. The Operator released his grip, Jessica's body falling to the group, lifeless. Tears sprung to my eyes, though none fell. Everything I had done for the past 2-3 years had been trying to regain my memory, and find Jessica, and now that my memory was mostly back, the one thing left was to keep Jessica safe. The one thing I had left was gone. Rage and adrenaline rushed through my body like a rough drug, and I had no idea what I should do, but I knew what I wanted to do. I wanted to kill the Operator. I could feel my body overpowering whatever trance was put onto my friends and I stood up, jumping at the Operator. I didn't know what to do, so I punched the creature, and pulled hard at its tentacle, which broke off into my hands. Its remaining tentacles whipped around, catching my throat as I dropped to the ground. A silent scream fell onto the room. I could hardly breathe; my vision was turning black around the edges. Dots were starting to cloud my vision, and I choke out a sob. Looking around quickly before my vision failed, I saw the stares of my friends change from blank to alive, and I saw them jump after me. I felt the tentacle slowly unwrap from my throat, but my vision had faded out, my breath going from ragged to quiet. Silence filled my ears as my chest slowly stopped heaving, and my body hit the cement floor under me.
My eyes blinked open as I shot up in-in what? My bed? I looked around the room, expecting to see the maybe the cement of the room, maybe just light. Maybe I was dead, but no. I was in my apartment. The very same one that had been burned down 2 years ago by whoever was following me. This wasn't possible. Not at all. Then again, a lot of things that seemed impossible a couple years ago were all too real now. I stood up slowly, walking to the window. Everything was the same as before; the trees outside the complex were all still there, and the building across the street was still abandoned. I walked our of my bedroom, and spun around in the living room. Everything was still there. I rushed back to my bedroom, ducking under my bed to grab my bag, the one that I had carried for the past three years. I looked underneath, but couldn't see anything except the other side of the room.
"But...my bag is always under the bed. What the hell?"
I crept back out into the living room, looking around again to see if I had missed anything. Out of the corner of my eye, I spied my desk. My camera sat there, looking as though it hadn't been touched in forever. Maybe it hadn't, I really didn't know anymore. I turned on the camera, looking through the memory files that were still there. The last thing I had shot on the camera was for Marble Hornets, footage from 2006. It was one of the earliest tapings of the movie. I pressed play, and watched off the camera.
"I don't know, maybe this town has grown up," Brian was saying.
"Maybe it has," Alex replies from behind the camera.
This is what I had posted as Entry #7 on the Youtube channel. But the thing is, that was several years ago. Why would it still be on the camera? I had deleted by now. On the video, Brian sighs and leans back against the car seat. In the background, the trees and buildings could be seen, but there was no Operator that could be seen standing between the two buildings behind the car.
"Are we gonna go again? Are we?" Brian asks.
"Yeah. Just as practice so that you can do this only a few times when Tim has the time to film." Brian smiles and papers are rustled somewhere off camera as they begin to read through the lines once again.
"...I just feel like a depressed teenager all over again, stuck in a loop of unhappiness..."
Something was wrong. Really wrong. This wasn't the original tape. The Operator should be seen behind Brian, standing between the buildings behind the cars. I set the camera down, and sit down in the chair beside me. I open my laptop, and type into Youtube, and begin to log into the channel. I type in "Marble Hornets" as the username and the password. On screen, an error message pops up as I hit sign in.
[Username/Password Incorrect. Please Try Again.]
I retype the information, but again, nothing goes through. The message pops up over and over, telling me the same exact information every time. I switch over to Google, once again typing in "Marble Hornets".
[No results found.]
I close out of the window, confusing growing onto my face.
"Okay, seriously. What the hell?" There was nothing about Marble Hornets on the internet, nothing. Where did it all go? There's brief hint of hope in the back of my mind, but I push it away. It can't possible be real. I decide to go through my computer, hoping to see if I could find any entries I'd already posted. However, I could only find up to Entry #10. I begin to watch from the very beginning.
Entry #1 shows Alex walking through his house, not running, and looking out the window. He pans around the yard, and finds nothing. The tape cuts.
Entry #9 shows that is Alex is much calmer, albeit slightly frustrated at strangers passing by.
"Alex, calm down!" Sarah says, her voice a high pitched tone. Alex sighs.
"Right, sorry." On camera, he rubs a hand over his face and takes in a deep breath. "Let's just wait for these people to pass, and then we'll continue."
"If we're taking a break, can I see the lines?" Papers rustled, and Sarah looks over her lines, reading silently to herself. The tape cuts.
Entry #10 shows only Alex walking through Rosswod Park. He passes a playground, and he doesn't come into contact with the Operator. He just simply walks by. The tape cuts.
I close the laptop, running a hand over my own face. My head's starting to hurt as I try to understand what is going on. I walk over to the couch, and plop myself down onto it, turning on the television. A morning show tells the date and time.
"Good morning. Today is June 9, 2006, at 7:30 in the morn-"
I turn the TV off. June 9, 2006. I think back to when I supposedly posted the "Introduction" video on Youtube. June 20, 2009, that's when I posted it. It's about three years before I would have even posted it. I get back over to my computer, and once again type Youtube into the browser. I search "Introduction - Marble Hornets" in the search bar, but the only things that show up are results with the word "Introduction" in either the title or description. There is no Introduction video to be found. It just doesn't exist. I lean back against my chair, my face flushed of any colour. This just isn't possible! No Marble Hornets footage. No Operator. No anything. It's about 6 years into the past. I can't help but rock back and forth, clutching my head in my hands.
"What the hell? What the hell?!" I find myself repeating. I found that I've been saying that more and more lately.
*knock knock*
I brush a hand through my hair as I stand up and walk over to the door, opening it. Alex and Tim are standing in the doorway, their car behind them.
"Hey Jay. We're doing a line run-through today," Alex says, looking him up and down, "Are you okay? You seem a bit--dazed..."
"Yeah, you seem a bit confused," Tim chimes in. I shake my head.
"No, I'm--I'm fine. Um..." I look back inside my apartment, glancing at the camera. "I need to talk to you guys. Come inside."
I step out of the way, inviting Tim and Alex inside, closing the door behind them. They sit on the couch, and I sit across from them in one of the other chairs in the living room.
"Look, I really don't think this "filming" thing is such a good idea," I begin slowly, trying to figure out how to approach the subject.
"What do you mean?" Alex asks, crossing his arms over his chest. "You mean, you want to just stop filming?" I nod.
"Jay, are you serious?" Alex says, obviously frustrated. I glance over at Tim, and I can see him glaring at me. I look back towards Alex.
"I can't explain it too much, mostly because I don't know the full story--"
"Full story? Full story about what?" Tim finally chimes in and I look back over at him.
"I just said I can't explain it. I just feel as though something bad is going to happen if we keep shooting."
"Nothing bad is going to happen Jay! Stop being so paranoid," Alex says, standing up to pace around the room. I scoff. Like you have room to talk, I think, though I realize that this Alex isn't like the one I'd being running from for three years.
"We can't just stop filming. I mean, we're almost done!" Tim still sits on the couch, though he's moved his own arms over his chest.
"Fine. Keep filming. But if you do, then I'm out."
"Out? You mean like finished? You quit?" Alex asks, tunring towards him, his face in a shocked expression.
"Yeah, yeah. I quit."
"Seriously Jay? All because you think something might happen?" Tim says, anger written onto his face.
"I can't take the chance."
"Something's obviously up with you. What's wrong?" Alex asks, genuinely concerned. I hadn't heard him speak like that in years, and that really wasn't an exaggeration.
"Alex, please. I truly think something bad might happen if we continue. Something really awful, like life or death awful. Like we kicked up some bad vibes by filming." I tried my best to explain without giving away too much.
"Life or death? Really?" Tim says, standing up to settle next to Alex. "How so?" I think back to what I could show them to convince them. The symbol.
"This." I get up, walking over to my computer. I open up Google, and type in a description of the symbol. The "X" that crossed through an "O". "You've seen this thing before, haven't you?" Alex looks down towards his feet.
"Yeah. It seems to show up in some of the places that we film at frequently." I click through the web results instead of images.
"It says it's some kind of cursed symbol. It means "death" and seems to be connected with strange creatures..." I broke off, trying to not mention the Operator.
"I didn't think you were superstitous about this sort of thing."
"Well, I am. And I'm still out." I shut off my laptop, leaning back in my chair, and turned to face them.
"Well...maybe it would be a good idea to stop," Alex said, slowlying uncrossing his arms.
"Alex, really, you can believe this," Tim said incredulously.
"Tim, I'm the director of this project, and if I want to stop, then we stop."
"But this is complete and utter shit--"
"Tim," Alex warned. "That symbols has been in most of the places we filmed at. Look at me and say you are the teensiest bit superstitous about all this." Tim stared at Alex for a second before turned his head to look at me.
"Maybe a little bit."
"See? You're starting to feel it too, aren't you?" Alex turned back to me. "Jay, I think you're right. Maybe we should stop." I couldn't help but give a lopsided smile.
"Thanks for believing me." Alex nodded, and motioned for Tim to follow him to the door.
"I'll send Seth, Brian, and Sarah a message explaining what's happened."
"Alright, but maybe leave out the symbol business. Don't want to get them afraid," I added quickly, hoping to put off anything else that could happen. I didn't want to drag people into this if something did happen, and I couldn't stop it.
"Yeah, you're probably right," he said opening the door before turning to look back at me. "What are we going to do with all these remaining tapes? They're just gonna end up laying there."
It took me a minute to think of a suggestion before a thought popped into my mind.
"Burn them."
It was several days later that Alex brought over 2 bags of tapes, all filled with the Marble Hornets footage.
"Here's all the tapes. Are you seriously going to burn them all?" Alex asked.
"Yes," I replied a bit too quickly, "though I think I'm gonna watch a couple of them before I do."
"Suit yourself." Alex smiled, before walking out the apartment. "Have fun," he called out, shutting the door. I snorted, and began to take several tapes out, and began to watch.
I was finally onto the last tape. I'd watched every single tape that was in the bag, and I was finally at the last tape. Everything was as it should be. There was no Operator, no visual tearing, audio distortion, nothing. I finally felt relief for the first time in a very, very, long time. All the nights of hoping it was just a dream, wishing. And it finally was. I put the last tape into my camera, and pressed play. It was the entry that I had originally posted as Entry #13.
"...if not, the trunk..." Alex was saying to me. I had had to grab another battery pack or a new tape, I couldn't remember. I walked off, and Alex had continued walking further into the woods. He had scuffled around, coming across the symbol again. The "O' with the "X" crossing through it. My stomach flip-flopped, but had to remember to stay calm. Alex continued to walk. He had walked further enough to find a cement building, and a fence. I nearly jumped when the audio began to tear.
"No."
Alex was running now, and the audio went away.
"No," I repeated again as I kept watching.
He had finally returned to a walk at the cement building, and was walking along the walls. There was still no audio. He continued feeling along the walls, and turned a corner, the Operator standing right in front of him. He tilted his head, and Alex turned and ran in the other direction. The tape cut.
"No!" I stood up from the table, taking the tape out of my camera. I threw it into the trash can, dousing the tape in more gasoline than I had with the others, and tossed a match in. The tape caught up in flames as I stared at the mess, the plastic beginning to peel and shrivel. It was too late; I'd seen the tape, seen what was on it. And me and Alex didn't fucking remember.
I couldn't stop this.
The Operator already had his grasp on us.