Work Text:
Statement of River M. Berwood regarding how she drowned. Statement originally given March 7th, 2015, audio recording by Jonathan Sims, head archivist of the magnus institute, London. Statement begins.
I don't know why- or how- i'm still breathing. i shouldn't be. i drowned. But somehow- someway- i'm alive. So this is my statement. make of it what you will. i was not under any substance, drugs, alcohol, nothing. I don't even smoke. And i have no history of "hallucinations" or "schizophrenia" in my family. plus, this all felt way too real.
I work as a swimming coach, it's a fairly normal job. I just teach kids, and sometimes, adults, on how to swim, so obviously the question rises "how did i drown if i'm a swimming coach" Well, I was given the night shift, which meant teach some kids, wait until they go home, and lock up. So i did so. After the kids were gone i went to get changed. Once i was in my regular clothes, i took my bag and walked over to the door which was supposed to take me to the hallway from which i would get into the main lobby and leave. but instead when i opened the door, it was the same room with the swimming pool in it. I just brushed it off as a mistake and went to the door at the other end of the changing room, thinking surely i had just messed up my directions and accidentally went back in the swimming pool room, so i opened the other door, but there, was the same room. I started to panic, i wanted to get my phone and call someone but it's battery went dead, i wanted to cry- to scream, anything. but i knew no one was here so no matter how hard i would've tried i'm sure no one would've came. i looked closer at the same swimming pool room and something seemed different. it was almost as if the pool had gotten bigger. Then i spotted something. across the room, on the other side, was a door. a door i had never noticed before. there was nothing particularly odd about it, it had just never been there. it was white like the others. And something inside me told me that must be the exit to this- this madness... so, naturally, i walked over, opening it, bracing myself. And it was the same room. same lights, same chairs, same everything. except i could've sworn that the swimming pool was even bigger. I ran. In the other direction thinking, maybe, if i run backwards everything will return to normal. but it didn't matter, whichever direction i ran in, whichever door, it was always that same damn pool and i swear it was getting bigger and bigger by the second. I stopped in my tracks, knowing that if i continue on it'll go on until the whole thing was a giant pool. i didn't know what to do, my phone was dead, all the doors i had tried had the same room in them, and i couldn't just stand there, waiting for god knows what. I was trapped. and whoever-whatever had done this..they wanted me to die. they wanted me to run until i fall in the pool and die. I knew that for sure. But it wasn't like i had any other choice. So i went on. Every time i went through a door the pool would get bigger, and bigger, and bigger, until i was standing in the doorway to a direct fall in the pool. I could swim across but i knew that's what it wanted. it wanted me to get in the water so it could kill me. i took a step back, and even though i could've sworn the edge of the pool was at least 5 steps behind me, i was now in water, unable to breath, i tried swimming upwards but i didn't even know what direction was 'up'. I felt every second of it. I died. i knew i did. every excruciating second of it echoed through my body. i convulsed as my body desperately tried to get air but the only thing that filled my lungs was water. I felt my heart come to a whining stop, and my body go limp as it finally gave up. I died. But i woke up in a hospital, seemingly untouched and dry. The doctors explained one of my students had forgotten their bag and found me passed out besides the pool. No one believes my story. I'm sure they're planning to send me to a psychic hospital if i keep at it.. Well. this is a..peculiar one. Evidence does suggest that she was found by her student passed out that night. i have not been able to get any further information and contacting miss Berwod herself didn't give us anything new. She hasn't experienced anything as such these past 2 years and has mostly forgotten about the ordeal. What interests me, though, is what she said at the start. "I shouldn't be breathing" instead of "I shouldn't be alive." Anyway, Martin has tried, but failed, at finding anything that would really help with this case. Statement ends.
Supplemental
Martin has been acting weird, he worries about me, more than usual, i mean, and it bothers me. well, i do not plan falling for his "nice guy" sharade. End supplemental.