THE FOLLOWING TAKES PLACE SOME TIME AFTER THE EVENTS OF THE PREVIOUS FILE, PAST THE CHURCH. WHAT WAS SAID BETWEEN FILES IS UNCERTAIN.

  --File 055: Return to the Lake--

  When the video begins, the group is trudging through the woods. It is unclear how long they have been walking, but the silence is still heavy. Blaine is recording; Bartosz and Anders are silently leading the group through the woods, and Alex is bringing up the rear, alone. Emma is walking close to and beside Blaine.

  Emma takes notice of the camera first. When she talks, she keeps her voice quiet.

  Emma: "Recording?"

  Blaine: "We're almost at the lake."

  Emma seems surprised by this.

  Emma: "How can you tell? It just looks all the same to me, right now."

  Alex: "He can tell because he can feel it."

  Blaine doesn't respond, but Emma just sighs.

  Emma: "Alex, look. I can't begin to guess what you're feeling right now, but infighting isn't going to fix things."

  Alex: "I'm not accusing him." Alex pauses. "This time, anyway. I know because I can feel it, too."

  Ahead of them, Anders and Bartosz slow down, turning to look at them with concern. Apparently, they were only pretending not to listen.

  Anders: "Sorry, what are we feeling?"

  Alex: "I don't know what Blaine's feeling, but I've got this heavy dread that's increasing with every step we take."

  Bartosz: "Kid, that's not a super power-"

  Alex: "No, you don't get it."

  Alex struggles for a minute to collect himself.

  Alex: "I thought, at first, it's just because I'm anxious about... you know. My supposed impending doom. I thought it was because I'm getting nervous and scared, and obviously, I don't want to die."

  Alex looks directly at the camera- or rather, Blaine.

  Alex: "That's not it, though. And I bet it's different from what you're feeling."

  Bartosz: "Why would you two be the only ones feeling shit? Why not us?"

  Emma: "I don't feel anything."

  Alex: "I feel like every step is getting harder to take, physically, literally. Like I'm pushing through a swamp that's getting higher up my calves- but at the same time, it feels like I can't go any other way. I'm stuck and I can't stop going this way. If I turn around, something else will get me."

  Blaine: "I..."

  Blaine doesn't say anything, and Emma looks at him in concern.

  Blaine: "I am... I'm not sure what I'm feeling."

  There is a long, pregnant pause following this. It is very obvious that Blaine is lying, and from his stand point, Blaine captures everyone's reactions. Anders and Bartosz immediately glance at each other, the former looking defensive, the latter very pointed. Alex narrows his eyes and looks away, shaking his head.

  Emma looks directly at Blaine and gives a tiny nod of her head, looking grim. That is her only response.

  Anders: "Look, whatever it is you lot think you're feeling, we won't know we're close until Bartosz says we are."

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  Bartosz: "You're all in luck, or crazy lucky, or just insane. We're pretty damned close."

  He turns to stiffly lead the way through the trees, and sure enough, after just a few more minutes of walking, they arrive at a shockingly similar spot to where the kids had walked up to previously.

  The small dock is more noticeable at this time of day. Immediately noticeable is the sudden silence that sits, ironically, very loudly in the area. It's like the absence of sound is a sound in itself.

  There is something inherently wrong about the lake, but it is unclear what, immediately. Because it is broad daylight, in the very far distance, at the other end of the light, one can just make out the shape of the Grantham house.

  Bartosz: "I know we already nixed the boat, but-"

  Emma: "No. No way. We're going around."

  Bartosz: "Kid, it's already past midday. If we want to reach the house before it gets dark, we need to cut down our time by-"

  Blaine: "Shut up. Listen."

  Everyone stops moving; there is a faint sound similar to the aforementioned glass euphone instrument, but it is distant. As they stand, the surface of the lake suddenly moves, but it doesn't move like the surface of water. The crackling of broken glass reaches their ears, and a single long, tentacled arm made of shimmering glass briefly breaks the surface.

  Just as quickly, the heavy silence falls on the entire area once more, and the surface of the lake becomes abnormally still once more.

  Bartosz immediately begins gesturing sharply; he motions for the group to stay silent, and then to back out of the area of the lake, which they all do as silently as possible. It isn't until the heavy silence fades and the lake is no longer in view that he stops the group.

  Bartosz: "The fuck was that?"

  Alex: "We told you everything about that night."

  Emma: "That's the thing that's supposed to kill Alex. It almost succeeded last time, but Blaine saved him."

  Alex: "Wouldn't expect it to happen twice."

  Blaine: "Look, point is, that thing is not safe. We need to go around the lake, and I'm getting the sudden feeling that it does not like sound. Was the lake always like that?"

  Alex: "What? No. I told you, Father Perez and I used to use that boat to cross the lake all the time, to try to look around the Grantham property. None of this happened before. Father- Father Perez openly stood against the cult, and was openly looking into what had happened fifteen years prior. We didn't find out much, granted, but no one ever did anything to stop us. Not until you came."

  It's not to Emma, Bartosz, or Anders that he directs this accusation, but to Blaine.

  Blaine: "Ah. I get it. You're blaming me for Father Perez's death."

  Alex: "Blaming you? It is your fault. The second you showed up, everything changed!"

  Emma: "Alex, hang on-"

  Blaine: "No. Emma, take the camera. Come on, Alex, let it the fuck out."

  Alex: "This is your fucking fault, and we're all acting like we're not walking around here with a literal smoking gun!"

  Blaine: "That's it."

  Anders: "Hang on-"

  Bartosz: "Don't. Kid's right. It's gotta happen."

  Alex: "We KNOW you're a murderer! I know it! He knows it! Your biggest defender knows you're a ticking time bomb, and don't you fucking deny it! Weiss is excited you're here because you are the signal for everything to kick off!"

  Blaine: "Yup. That's me, ain't it? Glad you got it all figured out."

  Alex: "You're fucking right I do! I'm not going to let you kill Emma!"

  Blaine: "Good! That's the whole fucking point, isn't it? Not to kill Emma? That's what this has all been leading up to, right?"

  Alex: "No! Because no one will listen to the warnings being screamed at us! I brought that journal back to warn us about you, and no one is listening! She's acting like you're a fucking saint!"

  Blaine: "That's right. Because if you'd figured this all out, if everyone would just listen to you, right? Everything would be fine. But it's everyone else's fault. Not yours. Except you're not that big of a help at all, are you?"

  Emma: "Blaine-"

  Blaine: "No. He needs to hear it. He's a liability right now. He's done fuck all, apart from bring you the journal. He can't remember shit, except for a few nightmares that are all he's decided he needs to have the answers."

  Alex: "I do have the answers, asshole! You're going to get us all killed! You're not like us! Weiss said it himself- 'born of suffering'. You're just another serial killer waiting to hatch, waiting to wake up and kill us all, aren't you? You fit all of the fucking signs!"

  Blaine: "Then DO something about it! Remember something! Do something! The fuck did you beat that bullshit game for if you aren't going to come out of it with more than just a few fucking nightmares?! How are you actually helping Emma apart from just whining like a little bit-"

  Blaine doesn't get to finish. Alex roars and leaps at Blaine, swinging, and lands a good hit in Blaine's jaw, sending the two of them to the ground. Emma yelps, starting to move forward, but Bartosz manages to stop both her and Anders from reaching the two boys fighting it out on the ground.

  Emma shouts again, the camera slips from her grasp, hits the ground, and rolls across the dirt behind her. It points toward the lake, upside down, and displays, for just a moment, a widely smiling Weiss standing in the shadow of the trees. As the sounds of shouting and fighting continue, Weiss steps back toward the lake, turns, and leaves.

  Of its own accord, the camera shuts off.

  --END TRANSMISSION--