The Truth, Part 3

Thank you, Shaun, for being overdramatic and telling everyone your version of the story without sparing any time to really learn the details.

First off. Yeah, I have a deal with David. Did any of you really think that I managed to keep Hope slenderfree without something like that? Lets start off by all being honest. No one wanted to ask-and anyone who did ask, got the truth.

No, I'm not handing Stalked over to get killed. Anyone who has left here knows that I make a point of not asking where they're going. I deal in information, and I do my damndest to not inform on anyone that's been under my protection-I can't tell them where you are if you don't tell me, you know.

No, it's not perfect, yes someone could get killed because of my information, but let me ask every last one of you something. If I'm saving all of these lives, if people are staying here and being safe, given some semblance of a life back, and I'm giving information on maybe one person a month? Not even one person a month dies, just one person a month is informed on. As of right now there are six truly permanent residents of Hope-a family. Two of the forest kids, one of them currently incapable of running because of the trauma sustained while there, and a family. A mother, a father, a six year old little girl, and an infant. How many others get to live that much longer because they've spent some time here to get the heat off, to recover and get some proper meals and full nights of sleep and hot showers?

Look me in the fucking eye and tell me all of these people aren't fucking worth it.

So yes, I made a deal with the proverbial devil, but that's for your benefit. Every last motherfucking one of you has a place here if you want it. Because I don't fucking want what happened to Emma and Star and Cam to happen to anyone ever again. You all deserve fucking better, and I've made it my mission to give it to you. If that makes me a bad fucking person, so be it. I'll be here, doing what I can to keep everyone safe.

Rescue Time!

As I mentioned in this post, Konaa realized that something needed to be done about the 23s kids and recruited Shaun and I to help. So that's what we've been up to. Driving to Canada to brave a bigass forest of death. Sounds like something out of a comic book-maybe that's why Konaa was so hyped.

We met up with Konaa in town and took a little while to get the introductions and reunion shit over with, but none of us were really much in the mood for that. It was good to see him again, but what we were about to do kind of put a damper on things. I'll be honest, we had no plan for how to get out, we just knew we had to try. I thought there was a fair chance I was going to die there.
But, well worth it. These guys needed my help, and I wasn't going to leave them be. Not anymore.

After meeting up, we all headed for the forest. I was struck by how utterly normal the place looked. When I was a kid I used to love playing in the woods. Cam and I spent a lot of time there. Which, I guess is part of why...
Off the point..
The point is. The forest looked normal, not threatening or foreboding, and the only thing that made me uncomfortable is the fact that Canada is fucking cold.

One last kiss, then we headed in. It seemed normal from the outside, but the fuckery set in pretty fucking quick once we started onto the path. It went all dark and foreboding, and as we went on, the little noises started. Rustling in the brush, crunching of gravel. All to get us turned around and spooked.
Easy enough to ignore, after the first few times. We remembered the place is designed to fuck with us and kept going.
Next, we saw a person on the path. Just for a moment, he spooked and ran off when he saw us. Worked out fine for us, though. He led us to the right path to get to the camp-after passing through several types of hell, we made it to the area that was theirs. Sewn together tents strung up in trees made a roof, sewn together... I don't even know made a floor. It was big-way bigger than needed for eight kids, and there was too much stuff around, as well.
It was... a reminder. Of how many we had failed to save. How much these kids had already lost. More important on a practical level, it was empty. We set to searching the place, hoping that we weren't too late. Found a lot of random things about, all seeming to have their own sad stories, but no sign of life. Till Shaun found a set of dogtags.
Let me tell you, it's not the most promising start to a rescue when the first time you meet the people you're trying to save one of them has a knife to Shaun's throat. We got it sorted, though, with some introductions. The guy with the knife turned out to be Richard, the guy from the path turned out to be Lyle, Elliott and Alex were off to the side nearer to me, Suze... raged at them from a little further back, and there were three others whose names I'm sad to say I didn't get.
There was talking, a lot of calling us crazy, a lot of us acting tough and capable so they'd trust us to come with. Then... a flash of red. Red hair. Green eyes. Giant curled grin.
Writer.
Next thing we know, one of the girls grabs her torso and it just... falls out. Terrible and disturbing, obviously not fixable. I grabbed the kid closest to me-Elliott, as it turns out, and Shaun, and start to run.
We're not even out of camp when Richard starts yelling at us to stay still because 'Cheshire' as they called him (Which chilled my blood for other reasons) only went after moving targets.
Cue a discussion on our four parts-four because Elliott grabbed Alex's arm-on whether to run or stand. Meanwhile, Konaa was arguing with Richard and Suze and Lyle-none of them wanted to leave. I wanted to help, but there wasn't time. If I went to intervene, we might've all died. So we started running. Just in time for slendershit to come out of the forest behind us and start wrecking things.
The four of us were running hard and fast-not least because Writer was still following us- when Elliott starts telling us we're going the wrong way. Apparently he had a vague idea of where the exit was from his time with Harper, AKA the Collector. It was while we were trying to catch our bearings that Harper found us and started telling us to get out while we still could. He was... defending us. Drawing Writer's attention, telling Elliott how to get out.
I really... as much as I'd like to think otherwise, I don't think Harper made it out alive. But there's no questioning that he saved all our lives.
Elliott led us the rest of the way out, and we found Richard there, just outside the forest, laughing and crying with relief and probably a hundred other things. Konaa... tried to go back in-but Writer wouldn't let him back in the loop, so he just wandered around for a bit before we all cut and run.

I'm glad to be fucking out of there. It was... bad. We were in there for a couple hours, and... well, it was so... still and quiet and disturbing that I'm pretty sure it kicked my imagination into overdrive.  I saw things that... are impossible. It's all mind fuckery. This shit can't actually be real, there's just no way. But tricking us into thinking it is... well, that's easily done in such an environment. I can't help but wonder if perhaps that's all it ever was. Mindfuckery.
Not to take it lightly. That shit is more terrifying than any weapon, harder to resist than a good poison. It's just...If that's what it was, then I'm honestly amazed at how well Richard and Elliott are doing. How solid they seem, in spite of the horrors they've faced.

At this point, it's a race back to Hope-I'm hoping we can get home before the proxy kill squads find us. I expect Writer has some groveling to do for letting them escape-if this... whatever it was was important enough for all of this madness, I'm guessing he's going to get some serious flak for letting it fail. I'm more worried about random goons-not because we can't take them, but because I honestly don't want Alex and Elliott's first days out of the forest to be marked by fighting. They've done enough, they deserve to rest.

Road Trip

Firstly, my apologies to anyone whose blog I drunkenly commented on the other day. I still haven't found all of them, I expect, it's been a busy day and I haven't had much of a chance to look. I assure you, I'm back to sober now-it's a brief slip, not a return to my old ways, and I made sure that others were watching Hope during my binge.
Just as they are now, actually. Shaun and I are on our way to help in the rescue of the remaining forest kids. Konaa was right, we've been ignoring this tragedy for way too long, and I'm not going to let them die without a fight. So we're driving to Canada. Hang in there, you fuckers, we'll be there soon.

In my absence, Tia and Lis are running Hope. I trust them implicitly, Hope is in excellent hands.

Other than that, I don't have much to say, I just wanted to update everyone on the current state of affairs.

Lockdown Successful

The only way I can really start off this post is by saying how much I adore the outrageously fancy electronic lock system Cam bought for Hope.  Without it, the events of yesterday afternoon would've possibly ended much worse than they did.

We've had our first incident at Hope(I'm not naive enough to not expect more down the line), which was dealt with quickly and decisively. Michael, like so many of us Stalked, has a bit of a problem with going slendercrazy. So far as we can tell, he wasn't actually around, but it doesn't exactly go away. Some of you will know that firsthand.
He describes the lead up better than I could, not being in his head for it, but the long and short of it was that Shaun and I were watching a movie when Michael peeked in the door looking spooked and darted when he saw us. I was understandably concerned and when to chase him. As it turns out, Joel had chased him from when he ran away from their door. He told me what had happened, and the three of us chased Michael downstairs.
I... took a minute to lock down the gate so he couldn't get away-he clearly wasn't in his right mind and I wasn't going to just let him leave.
We found Tia and Lis there, outside. I sent Lis inside and locked down the entire place(Like I said, I /love/ this security system). Tia stayed, she's almost as good as I am in a fight. The four of us went after him. When we found him, I lured him into attacking me, Tia and Shaun subdued him, and Joel and I made sure there were no unpleasant surprises about.
Michael's pretty good with that stick of his, so there's a few bumps and bruises, but we're all okay and Michael is under pretty strict supervision.
He's back to himself, came out of it as soon as he woke up, honestly, but I'm keeping him secure for a day or two just in case.
As much as I hate to see this happen to a friend, it's nice to know that my plans and security measures are working so far. Score one for Hope!

In other news, TMV arrived Wednesday. He's settled in pretty well, it's nice to have him here. Kind of a strange reversal of the old days, when I stayed with him. Hopefully no one's getting stabbed this time.

Also. I've put it off long enough. I've been spending a lot of time looking through Cam's notebook, his papers from the old apartment... and I need to share what I've found. I think it's important. Expect pictures soon.

A Day of Peace

We have another new arrival today and I have to say, he's probably the one I've been most excited about. Shaun's here, and it's completely insane and completely wonderful. He's just looks so fucking happy to be here. I'm glad I could do this for him. He's my oldest friend among the runners, and I really honestly never expected to get to meet him. And yet. Here he is. I'm excited to have him here.

To add to the general air of excitement and good cheer, Joel's back! Not Wolf, not that weird halfway state, but Joel. Lucas has been floating on air all day and I can't honestly say I blame him. It's good to have my friend back, and at this point I know too well what it feels like when a lover goes over...
But Joel's back and smiling and they're billing and cooing again like they always used to. I swear, there's something in the air here at Hope, everyone's being all couply.

So, tonight Hope celebrates. Because apparently, sometimes things really do work out.