File 15 and File 16

Hey everyone, Elise here once again. There’s not much change in Daniel from yesterday, though he did hand me a scribbled on piece of paper, I’ll have to transcribe that later. But not yet.

Nothing I tried worked. I tried straddling him, kissing him, even giving him a full-body hug, which he usually really enjoys. One thing I’ve noticed, he doesn’t write down a lot of the times he flies off the handle, because he does so a lot. That hug usually stops him, but…eh, whatever, forget it.

Before grabbing my gear, I went to Daniel’s Mistress to inform her on what happened. Here were her exact words. “Well……..fuck. Looks like you’re on your own there. Remember, it’s Daniel’s job, so if it doesn’t get done, he’s the one who takes the fall.” Her eyes glinted dangerously. Well, she wasn’t going to be much help.

As I went getting my things together, Daniel handed a piece of paper to me from the bed. It was very crumpled, had holes punched through it in some places, and to a normal eye would look like a bunch of messy scrawls, but I could read it. I’ll transcribe:

File 15: The Grotesque

Alternate Names: PRE21, Fossil-Type LOTOPHAGI, The Reverie, Subject Golf Romeo, Dream, The March Hare, Somnivore, The Eternal Walking, Morpheus

Attitude Toward Humans: Hostile

Control Over: Dreams, Nightmares

The Grotesque is a being that may or may not exist. Some people says it does, others say otherwise. Whether it’s a being that is actually hostile and out for death or just more of an infectious nightmare, The Grotesque is something to fear. If that doesn’t already scare you, just keep in mind that it will trap you in a nightmare made of your own worst fears. You can learn a lot about the mind of a person from their own fears. It could be snakes, spiders, death of loved ones, death of themselves, etc. The Grotesque will exploit to get the most amount of terror possible from them. Often times the victims will be traumatized for days, unable to move. One of the key defining factors of The Grotesque will be a very out-of-place circus where everyone has the same face. Even the animals. There is no way for you to wake up, just hope your screams are loud enough to wake someone else up. That’s one of the reasons they love targeting Runners, as they often live by themselves in the woods. Where no one can here them scream. Then it hits you. The Grotesque doesn’t mess with people because it needs to to live or anything, or even because it has to to function correctly. It plays with them. It doesn’t care about you, it just wants a bit of fun.

Yeesh….that was a little on the harrowing side. How does he write all this stuff every day without going insane? Oh, wait a sec….never mind.

So afterwards, I walked outside, trying to figure out where to go next. I recall us trying to make it to the Mother of Snakes last time, and ending up with the Cold Boy, which was not the intent at all. So I decided to find the car. I failed horribly and ended up tripping on a rock and falling through a door. I guess I’m kind of useless without Daniel. Who the hell trips on a rock anyway?!

Either way, I sat up, trying to figure out where I tumbled into. Flowers. Nothing but flowers as far as the eye can see. So many flowers. The Door I fell through was gone, not somewhere I couldn’t see, just GONE.

I stood up and obfuscated a shotgun, just in case. I didn’t want the Mother of Snakes eating me alive, if that’s what she does. I walked and walked, and didn’t come across much, except more flowers. Now the daffodils I was walking through are Roses, and the Roses to Tulips, and Tulips to Sunflowers, it never ended. I kept walking and walking, not taking a break. I didn’t want anything to catch up to me.

After a long time, I finally broke into a full-on run. I was terrified, and I didn’t even know of what. I think that was what scared me most of all. I was alone. Daniel wasn’t there. He may be a vengeful, anti-social, batshit insane little smart-ass, but there’s something so comforting about having him around. I think it might be the reason that even when he’s terrified, he can still put on a brave, confident face, like in the battle with the Cold Boy two days ago.

I kept running and running and running, and I began crying. I didn’t cry since I lost my family to…….you know what, that’s a story for another time. Either way, I eventually tripped and fell. I tripped over a tree root. What is it with me and tripping today?

While I was getting myself unstuck from that, I came face-to-face (if you could call it that) with HIM. He had long, shaggy, orange hair, and a grin too big for his face. It hurt to look at his eyes. It hurt so much.

He just stood there, grinning at me for a long time. “You have such pretty eyes…” He grinned, holding up a very clawed hand. “They’ll make such a lovely addition to my collection.” I have heterochromia, by the way, not sure if Daniel mentioned that.

Then I did it. I held my shotgun up to his head, and fired. The blast knocked him backwards a bit, but I knew I didn’t have long . Moving strategically rather than quickly, I got out of the root. Stumbling to my feet, I dashed out of there as fast as I could. I could feel him chasing me, displacing the air behind me. I didn’t want to turn and look. If I did, I would be finished.

I turned a corner in the field path, and he was right behind me. Then I saw it. A Door, sitting out there. I knew why it was there. To get victims into the field for him to kill. But it was serving a bit of an alternate purpose now. I ran through it, ending up in the City, slamming the door shut and locking it behind him. I heard him crash into the door and begin slashing at it. I got out of there as fast as I could.

File 16: The Smiling Man

Alternate Names: PRE22, Fossil-Type RICTUS, Rapturous, Subject Sierra Mike, Smiley, Mr. Smiles, The Man in the Corner, Carrot Top, The Gardener

Attitude Towards Humans: Hostile

Control Over: N/A

The Smiling Man will stalk you. That’s what he’s about, stalking. He will follow you forever. Days, weeks, months,it doesn’t matter, he’ll find you and kill you. Or just gouge out your eyes if he’s feeling particularly merciful that day. There are no Runners from the Smiling Man. You either don’t find him or you do. The only survivors are other Proxies, because they get protection from their masters, as they would be pissed if the Smiling Man were to attack them. He has long claws, and he uses them to gouge eyes out. Apparently he keeps eyeballs ina jar somewhere, and he has thousands of them, all pickled, in one jar. One person who saw it called it “Eyeball Stew” and proceeded to vomit all over the page they were writing on. The Smiling Man has servants called “Rose Brides” but they usually don’t last long. He usually gouges their eyes out. He’s a bit of a crazy one.

So I got back to the Screaming Tower, finding the car on the way back, fortunately. Daniel was doing far better, and able to talk, just not willing to write tonight. Tomorrow, he should be back to posting as normal. Now I’m writing this down with him next to me, and I’m essentially recapping what happened today. Either way, I’m tired now, so I’m going to bed. Goodnight.

~Elise out.