Chapter Text
June 3, 1999,
It's been exactly three years since Alice told me to stay in the house. She's still saying that she'll let me go outside one day, but that it's still not safe.
Mom and Dad never call anymore. They haven't since before the accident.
Eventually Alice destroyed our phones, in fear of someone finding me. She says that if someone saw me, they would kill me.
She tells me how everyone outside is insane, which is why we stay in the cabin. It's not far from town. Alice leaves for groceries every Monday.
Mom and Dad were gone when the accident happened, only Alice was there to help me remember everything. I remember the day I woke up just like it was yesterday.
Alice was shaking me awake, and my only thought when I woke was, "She looks familiar". Those words still swim in my brain to this day.
She told me I hit my head and I asked her who she was. She said, "Monica, it's me, Alice! You're sister!" That's when some of it started to come back.
She told me I'd gone to stop the insane people and I fell against a guardrail.
It was after that day that Mom and Dad stopped calling. I would ring them every now then, leaving voicemails and texts. But there was never a response.
It was the day someone new texted me that Alice chucked our phones. I never even got to see the message.
All Alice had said was, "The insane people are looking for you," and then she stomped the phones into bits and tossed what was left in the trash.
The insane people terrify me. Alice says that they're always after me and that they're always trying to follow her home to me.
Alice says-
•••
A knock caused my head to jerk up and away from my journal. I whisked my head toward the door of the room. My twin, Alice stood there, leaned against the doorway with a warm smile on her face.
"Journaling?" She asked. I nodded.
"Yup, I forgot to write yesterday, so I'm trying to make up for it by writing more than usual." I said. "Today marks three years since the accident you know..."
Alice hummed. "Yeah. Don't worry, when I get the money, we'll be out of here, Mon', alright?"
I nodded. "I know, and there's no rush! I like the cabin, Al," I said, returning to my journal.
She smiled. "You always have liked rustic homes," she giggled, turning away and going off to probably watch Peter Pan again. It was our favorite VHS tape out of all of them. Though, sometimes I worried about her.
Sometimes, I would get up in the dead of night to get some water or use the bathroom and she'd just be sitting on the couch, hugging her knees, and staring as Wendy and Peter spared through the night sky and "You Can Fly! You Can Fly! You Can Fly!" played in the background. Her eyes were so dead in those moments. I'd tap her on the shoulder and her head would snap so she could look up at me, that terrifying look in her eyes. But her face would soften as she got a better look at me.
"Sorry, Mon'..." She'd say. "Just a little tired..."
"Then go to bed."
"You go to bed."
"Alice."
"Monica."
I would sigh and continue doing whatever I emerged to do and return to our shared room.
Normally, she would be in bed by the time I woke up, unless she was getting groceries or tending to some other business in town.
Most days I would watch movies and eat ramen. We didn't have cable, Alice said they'd find me if we kept cable.
So the VHS was what we settled for. We had lots that Mom and Dad had left us.
Most days I would watch Die Hard or Cinderella.
Sometimes Alice would bring home new tapes for me to watch. One time she brought home Dune. That movie had been... interesting to say the least.
Alice stumbled back to the doorway.
"Almost forgot," she said, slightly out of breath. "I have errands to run, you'll be alright for about four hours, right?"
I smiled. "Of course I will. Always am!"
She chuckled. "Alrighty, I'll see you later!" She waved before disappearing down the hallway. Within a few minutes, I heard the jingle of car keys and the front door creak open and shut with a thud.
I had other means of entertainment. I had books, sketchbooks, bouncy balls, and some old camera with nothing recorded. It never saved anything I tried to record.
I think an hour had passed when I found the other camera.
I was playing with one of the rubber bouncy balls, throwing it to the floor at an angle in which it would hit the wall and return to me. I'd spent about ten minutes just doing that when the ball hit the floor weird and shot under Alice's bed.
"Well, dang it," I muttered, sliding off my own bed. I pressed my chest to the floor, twisting my head to look under the bed. The bright red ball stood out in the shadows and I reached under the bed, grasping for the ball when I felt something else.
A handle.
I grabbed the ball and rolled it across the room, not caring much about it anymore. I reached under the bed again, feeling for the handle. I tried pulling it, and whatever it was attached to opened, but it swung upward.
I backed away, hauling myself to my feet. I grabbed the bed posts of Alice's bed and slid it across the floor.
Underneath the bed was a small door, almost like a cellar door. I crouched down, grabbing the handle once more and pulling the door open.
A camera.
I lifted the camera out of the hole-like think the door had been covering.
I hummed, looking the device over before finding an "On" button. I pressed it and a small light lit up at the top of the camera. The screen on the back lit up as well, showing a history of one recording. It was labeled, "Mandela County, May 29, 1996".
I navigated the buttons to choose the video, and played it back.
Whoever was holding the camera must have been nervous, because the camera wasn't very steady. All I could make out was the pitch black of the night.
"You sure your parents are alright with this?" A boy's voice sounded through the camera's speakers. The camera spun around, revealing a girl with short hair that was dyed a bright purple.
"They won't even know! They're off visiting some friend in another state, it's not like anyone's waiting for me to come home!" The girl said. I narrowed my eyes, bringing the camera closer to my face. This girl in the video was me. That was definitely my voice. But I don't remember ever having my hair dyed at all.
And I certainly didn't recognize the boy's voice.
•••
"Whatever you say..." Andy muttered. He turned back around squinting his eyes to peer through the darkness. "You sure the lady said this was the address?" He asked me.
"Yup, 56 Talka Drive," I said, looking down at the GPS I'd snatched from my parents' closet. "This says it's just up ahead."
Andy stared into the darkness for a moment. "Are you sure we should be doing this, though...? I mean, everyone is supposed to stay inside-"
"We should be helping people, Andy!" I snapped. "I don't care what those idiotic broadcasts say, people need help. And this lady said she's heard noises in her attic for a week now."
Andy gulped. "I agree, the broadcasts are stupid, but I just don't want us getting ourselves killed."
"We're not going to die," I hissed. "All we're doing is checking this lady's attic out. Who knows, it might just be a mouse or something."
I held the GPS close to my face and shoved past him in the direction the GPS said the house was. Andy sighed and followed behind me.