Jack dreamed he was back in the office. The place smelt of ink and burnt coffee. A rattling fan hung above him, the lights flickering and buzzing.
He was at his desk, just staring ahead blankly. He tried to remember why he was here. It was important, he knew it was. He just had to remember.
The writing came slowly at first. He pressed the keys hesitantly.
We had a mission. Observe and report back. In an out.
His memory got clearer. His writing got faster.
None of this is real. We're being manipulated. The town is twisted, mutilated, cruel-
A shadow covered his desk; someone was behind him. He looked behind him and saw another Jack. It was dressed like him, had his slightly disheveled hair, but his smile was different. It was empty, hollow, like the townspeople.
"You're ruining it," it told him, slowly walking forward.
"We need to know the truth! I have to write this; I have to remember!" Jack yelled.
"But they're all so happy. Look at Elliot," it said, still smiling. "Don't take this illusion away."
The other Jack lunged at him. Jack's face slammed into the typewriter. Once. Twice. Three times. His skin tore, leaving chunks on the keys.
Blood splattered onto the page, a single crimson line smeared along the page, cutting the page in half.
The last thing Jack heard was the ding of the typewriter before he died.
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Jack sat up with a gasp. He hadn't had a nightmare in a while. While he couldn't remember what it was about, it must have been an intense one. He looked around his room, searching for comfort.
The room was as bare as it had always been, though he could have sworn that desk once had a typewriter.
He must have still been out of it after that nightmare.
He felt something trickle down his face, blending into his tie.
Huh, a nosebleed. That's odd.
He got ready and walked down the stairs, ready to start the new day. The fridge was nicely stocked with fresh food, and he helped himself to an apple.
"Mornin'," Dane called out to him from the dining room.
"Hey, Dane. Sleep well?" Jack asked him.
"Slept like a baby," Dane chuckled. "Got any big plans today?"
"I need to head to work," Jack told him. "My boss wants to catch me up on what I missed."
"Yeah, I've got to go as well." Dane grumbled. "Pops needs me at his shop. It seems a lot of people need help fixing their engines."
"Well, have fun with that." Jack told him, taking a bite of the apple before heading out.
Along the way, he greeted everyone he passed by. School was out, so the kids were taking advantage of their newfound freedom. Dozens of cars drove by with all of them honking their horns in greeting. It was a picture-perfect morning in Suburbia, Yudror.
It was a pleasant walk, and Jack was almost sad to have it end so quickly.
He entered the office and took everything in. The smell of cigarette smoke mingled in the air, mixing with the subtle smell of paper and ink. That scent was the most intoxicating one in the world. When Jack pictured the perfect lover, this is what they smelled like. A home away from home and the refuge of truth.
"Hey, Halden! Enjoy your trip?" his coworker Daniel called out to him.
"I did; it was exactly what I needed."
"Good to hear!" Daniel smiled. "You mind helping me finish up this story?"
"What story?" Jack asked. Daniel always had an investigative mind. Any story he caught the scent of was worth Jack's time.
"We've got some pranksters going around town spraying graffiti." Daniel said. "Probably just some hooligans messing about, but it's good to stay wary."
Jack was hit with a sense of déjà vu. This… felt familiar. Jack remembered a similar situation. A man he worked with was writing a paper about graffiti around town before…
He couldn't remember. But it felt like something important happened.
"I'd love to join the search!" Jack exclaimed cheerfully.
He followed Daniel back out of the building and into his little car. It was a seafoam green convertible; the body was a neat chrome with sharp tailfins in the back. Jack was envious.
"When did you get this?"
"Oh, I bought it from Elliot's dad while you were gone." Daniel said. "Got a great deal for it, too!"
Jack always wanted a nice car. If he got a good one, he'd be able to take all his friends around town. Maybe they'd go to one of those drive-in theaters he'd kept hearing about.
"So what's the first stop?" Jack asked Daniel, eager to get going.
"It's Eddie's house. Apparently, someone keeps writing on their side wall."
"That's terrible!" Of all the people to suffer from this, Eddie and Mr. Danvers should be the last. They were a staple of the community and disrespecting them was akin to disrespecting the whole town.
But… it's just graffiti. Why is he having such a strong reaction?
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Back at home, Sky was having a minor meltdown. Nothing made sense in this town, not even their teammates.
It all started when Sky attempted to mirror Mr. Danvers. As the first person they met, Sky wanted to get a first impression of the town through Mr. Danvers' eyes. But all they saw was madness. Sky could see people walking around, but in Mr. Danvers' eyes everyone looked like Eddie. His thoughts were chaos incarnate, and all he thought about was his son.
When he invited them into his house, Sky was very hesitant to follow, and for a moment it seemed like Jack was too. That gave them hope that maybe someone else saw through everything, but Jack gave in and began talking to Mr. Danvers like an old friend. Any attempt Sky made at mirroring their teammates made them feel like they were slipping away into the illusion. It made Sky hesitant to mirror.
When they went to eat, everyone kept on referencing Eddie, but there was just an empty seat. Elliot kept dropping food into the seat, and the others laughed at jokes that were never made. Sky tried to shake them awake, make them see some sense, but they couldn't. Whenever they tried, an invisible force stopped them. It wasn't like a noose, but a father's chastisement to an unruly child. They were filled with fear, as if ignoring that rule would lead to punishment beyond what Sky could handle.
It somehow got even stranger when they were dropped off. Everyone was acting like they'd lived here their whole lives. How the fuck did Eddie and Isolde integrate into families here? None of this made any fucking sense! Earlier this morning, Sky had been downstairs watching their teammates when they saw Jack open the fridge, swipe at the air, and later pretend to take a bite of an 'apple'!
Dane and Jack had gone to work, and neither of them acknowledged Sky's existence. It was like they had disappeared from the narrative. They couldn't find Annie, either. Sky knew Annie's whole thing was turning invisible, but where could she have gone?
So Sky was messing with the radio, trying to find a way to contact the outside world. They didn't have much technical knowledge, but it was either that or leave on foot, and they didn't want to abandon their team.
They'd been flipping through different radio signals, hoping to find something useful. All they'd found so far was various 'modern' music channels that played songs from twenty years ago. It wasn't until they were ready to give up that they found a channel that only played static. They listened for a moment, curious at the new sound. After a few seconds of nothing, they began to switch to a different station when they began to hear a voice.
It was Mr. Linscott's. They struggled to make out the words at first due to the static. They began to look around and found a journal. They didn't know who it belonged to, but it didn't matter.
Sky began to write down what they heard, and bit by bit the horror was formed.
A broken man begged for his son, and The Father answered. It feeds on them like a parasite. It gives them what they crave, a family. But it takes and it takes till nothing is left. Break the narrative. Reveal the truth.