START_RECORDING_2025
"Hello. My name is Larry Davidson." The camera points upward, then slowly begins to adjust to the bright morning sun. "And this..." Spoken with light-hearted suspense and a slight quiver in their voice. The camera finally adjusts. "..is what remains of Oakside Park."
The camera darkens as it focuses onto the land. The ashes of the damned blow in the end. The burnt corpses of thousand year old trees are the only few trees still left standing, at least on this side of the mountains. A few barely standing partially melted metal and brick buildings can be seen in the far, far distance. Birds can be seen in every direction, except in the direction of death unending.
Walking down the charred gravel road, Larry looked around slowly in every direction. They try to walk past a busted jeep found down the hill, the second one they've past.
Look inside lOOK InSIDe LOOK INSIDE LOOK inside inside inside inside INSIDE LOOK INSIDE Look inside lOOK InSIDe LOOK INSIDE LOOK inside inside inside inside INSIDE LOOK INSIDE Look inside lOOK InSIDe LOOK INSIDE LOOK inside inside inside inside INSIDE LOOK INSIDE Look inside lOOK InSIDe LOOK INSIDE LOOK inside inside inside inside INSIDE LØØK ĪÑSĪDË
Larry took a few steps back, shaking their head as they almost lose their footing. Everything quiets as Larry takes a deep breath, now standing in front of the broken burnt window of the car. Inside, there is only one thing that survived The Great Burning, one dangling golden cross necklace. Larry grabs it, despite the hot metal burning their palm. Larry raises their arms to put on the necklace, camera in one hand.
GLITCH
"This damn camera." A few slaps to the side, and it starts recording again.
"Weird, where'd the dark clouds come from? Anyway, you all back home might be wondering why I escaped that corrupt ass 'MenTaL HeAlTh HoSpItAl' just to run away across the country to a burnt down national park where my mom was last seen. To that I say, use some common sense."
Larry shows the view in front of them; just a barren, smoky, dead ground. Only the brick walls outlining an empty yard a couple feet in front of her can be seen through the fog.
"I wonder how big my house used to be.. hey what the?" Through Larry's sorrow, the camera van to glitch and static. As Larry attempts to slap some sense into that damn camera, something comes. Voices. Voices whispering. Whispering everywhere. Whispering nothing. Whispering everything. Concern. Anger. Regret. Carnage. Rag. Anguish. Sorrow. Hate.
"TurnaroundturnaroundtTurnaroundTurnaroundTUrnaround TURn around TURN around TURN Around TURN AROund TURN AROUnd TURN AROUNd TURN Look inside lOOK InSIDe LOOK INSIDE LOOK inside inside inside inside INSIDE LOOK INSIDEOUND TURN AROUNDTurn around turn around tTurn around Turn around TUrn around TURn around TURN around TURN Around TURN AROund TURN AROUnd TURN AROUNd TURN AROUND TURN AROUNDTurn around turn around tTurn around Turn around TUrn around TURn around Look inside lOOK InSIDe LOOK INSIDE LOOK inside inside inside inside INSIDE LOOK INSIDE TURN around TURN Around TURN AROund TURN AROUnd TURN AROUNd TURN AROUND TURN AROUNDTurn around turn around tTurn around Turn around TUrn around TURn around TURN around TURN Around TURN AROund TURN AROUnd TURN AROUNd TURN AROUND TURN AROUNDTURN AROUNd TURN AROUND TURN AROUND." The voices disappear the moment Larry moves to turn around, and suddenly Larry gasps. The forest...is back. Larry turns back around.
LEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAVVVVVVVVVVEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!
The air, becoming fearful, throws Larry back towards the gravel, their camera cracking as it hits the ground, Larry still managing to hold on to it.
"WHAT THE Fu......"Wish disbelief, Larry sits up, and turns way from the sudden forest, to see their mom's house standing, her estate plaque restored on the clean brick wall. It's as if The Great Burning..never burned. And as Larry stood up, seeing the home in camera view, the front cracked open. "....Am I seriously considering this? There's no way I'm going in there. It's clear my mom did some silent hill type shit here and maybe she left me across the country for a reason."
And so, Larry turned around, then stopped. In view of the camera is The Dead Forest, and The Empty House. Larry thought about just running back via the gravel road, yet there is no gravel road. Only forest. No birds. No animals. No insects. Only forest. Only The Dead Forest. The more Larry stared into its darkness, the more Larry understood. No living thing will ever leave those trees. So, facing a choice between being in the dark and escaping through the darkness, Larry stepped towards the cracked open front door.
"Fuck it we ball." The final words recorded by the camera, before the moon awoke and the camera went silent.
Larry slowly stepped inside, hearing dead wood creak and the wind stop. Three steps in, and Larry jumps at the door slamming itself shut, turning around. Larry then sighed, and turns around to finally see inside the house her mom wanted to raise her in.
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She gasped, then arose, opening her eyes, as Sara nearly jumped out of bed. Rushing from down the hall, Harry slams open the door in sheer panic, only for his panic to quickly soften into annoyance.
"Damn it Sara, stop waking up the dead over the same nightmare." He left without closing the door.
Sara sat up in bed as she checked her phone. Still no calls or texts from Larry. Sara managed to resist the initial urge to cry, as she got up and got dressed. Yet, as she crossed off yet another X on yet another day on the calendar hanging from her door, a single tear managed to escape, falling onto dead wood as she walked out her room. She walked down the hall sluggishly, when suddenly she smells the best pancakes and sausages and eggs to ever exist.
"If we get another complaint, you're dealing with it this time." Harry spoke with annoyance in his voice, yet his tone was soft and tender.
"Oh shut up, just make me my plate already." Sara tells herself she wouldn't deal with such a jerk ass roommate if it weren't for Harry being the best at cooking everything ever. The auroma and smells that leak from their kitchen torture their entire dorm floor with cravings, especially Sara.
"That's why you ain't eating shit." Harry snarked back as he finished cooking a meal fit for queens. Yet not even a moment later his eyes open wide.
"OH SHIT MY CLASS STARTED 30 MINUTES AGO!" And with that, Sara got yet another free meal.
As Sara got done eating, she left all the dishes in the sink for Harry to clean, and left for the living room. She checks the time, and it's only 8:12am. She has time. As she entered the living room, she turned off the TV and rolled out a board labeled The Missing Links. Article, some from the 1880s, some about Russian holes and bleached killers, and one about tapes on the dark web called 'Marble Hornets', are all thumbtacked across the board. In the middle, stapled, is a missing persons poster dated six months ago, for a person named Larry Davidson.
