January 29th, 2019Michelle Brooks304 Walnut PlaceSyracuse, NY 13244The Hampton Chronicle75 Main StreetWesthampton Beach, NY 11978To Anyone who can help,My name is Michelle Lal\sdale. I'm currently a junior at Syracuse University in upstate NewYork. My mother Christina Brooks, aged 48, an employee of Southampton Town Hospitaland younger sister Allison Lansdale, aged 17 a senior at Westhampton Beach High Schoolhave been missing since December 13th 2018. They were last seen at our home. 58 Cox's CurveSpeonk NY 11972. I've enclosed copies of everything I've been able to gather,including: email correspondence, text messages, handwritten notes and transcriptions ofvideo chats, as they might offer some clues as to their whereabouts or what might've happened.I've already shared all of this information with the town and county Police Department but sofar they have made little progress and for some reason seem reluctant to share any factsrelated to the case with me.I must mention that some of what you are about to read, may seem ridiculous or even madeup but I have come to believe that what my family experienced is real.I know that each hour, each day that goes by the chances of finding my mother and sistergrow smaller but I won't stop until I find the truth. They're all I have. I hope in writing toyou and sharing this information that I can keep their story alive and with that, the hope thatI'll eventually find them.I can be reached via email XXXXXXXX.com or cell 917-5XX-XXX.Sincerely,Michelle BrooksEnclosureSent September 7th 2018 9:36pm(transcribed from MarcoPolo App chat)Hey mom. So, I had this great idea. l'm going to do these little video journals and tell you all the cool stuff about my day and send it to you so you know what's going on and then maybe you could send me one back? Deal? Alright,deal. I downloaded the app for you yesterday and you'll get notifications every time I send you one. 1 know you can"t really look at stuff while you're at work but it'll be waiting when you have a sec.First week of school's been ok. My Humanities teacher, Ms. Schultz is cool. Everyone else's kind of meh... "Give it time" I know, you' re right and it doesn't really matter anyway since I'm out of here in a few... Oops did J say that?Oh, left you a form on the kitchen counter. It's from the school office. No biggie, just about applications and testing stuff. Have to tum it in tomorrow, though and need your signature.Maybe wake me up before you leave...if you want. Can't wait for the weekend so we can hang.Ok, love you. Bye.September 13th 2018 10:08pm(transcribed from MarcoPolo App chat)Yo. Left my calc homework out. Can't figure out the last problem. l'm going over Liz's house after school tomorrow. I'll probably eat there. Please message me back. C'mon, even you can figure it out. Literally tap and talk. Please! Oh, also, sorry I didn't fold the laundry yesterday. My bad. Loves you.Date: September 14th, 6:35pmFrom: Allison BrooksSubject: Good tidingsTo: Michelle BrooksDearest Michelle:Warmest greetings from 58 Cox's Curve. I trust the crisp Fall of the northeast is agreeing with you and that you're finding all the colors of Autumn quite resplendent.Ok I can't...Hey sis. l tried you over the weekend but you didn't call back. Guess you're too busy doing college things you don't have time for your little sister :( All good here. Got an early start on my applications. Only doing one back up. Mr. Ornstein thinks I should do at least two but my grades are better then. yours and my essay kicks ass so far so I think it's a lock next fall we're riding up together!Mom's ok. Her new schedule sucks. Never see her except fox weekends and it's weird coming home to nobody. So quiet in the house, kind of lonely honestly. Sometimes I just sit and think about crazy things we did and I hear your stupid laugh and it's not so bad. Don't worry. 1 don't complain. I know mom's got enough to deal with and I actually am helping out. I was going to work a few days at Main Street Books but she said it's more important I focus on school. I think she's nervous I won't get that scholarship and then... I will be working at Main Street Books. She's amazing though. Probably should tell her that once in a while.Anyway, miss you. Call me!L.AlSeptember 15th at 8:37am(transcribed from Marco Polo App chat)Ok, this is recording...Hi baby, it’s mom. Guess you figured that out. How tired do I look? Oy. Sorry it took me a minute to send you one of these. I’ve loved getting your messages. Guess what we’re doing this weekend? Nothing. Nada. If you talk to your sister, ask her if she’s coming home for that long weekend in October? I don’t think I can make it to Parent’s weekendand...We need a few things before the weekend, left some cash and a list in the usual spot. Just make sure you go before it gets dark. Or ask Liz’s mom for a ride. Alright. Have a great day in school. Learn lots. Love you.Hug, kiss, squeeze and a bite.September 15th at 6:28pm(transcribed from Marco Polo App chat)YES! You did it! Next time try and stand the phone somewhere, looked like you were in an earthquake. Gotta shower and finish homework. I know you won’t but wake me up when you get home.H-K-S and B.Recorded September 15th 10:15pm(transcribed from Allison’s personal video log)Ok, um, so... I decided to start doing these as kind of a record, like evidence but more of an account or...chronicle of events. Smart. Just for me now, not gonna send to anyone yet but I need to talk about it and since I’m alone in this freakin’ house all the time, seemed like my best option. It started a few days ago, wasn’t sure but tonight...Ever have that feeling that someone’s watching you? You can sense it, kind of feel their eyes? Yeah, I’ve had that a few times this week. Shit. I just creeped myself out. Nobody’s here.Motion activated lights never go on so no one’s outside. Because of course, they would never not work. Farrel’s are right next door and Sasha hasn’t barked... so whoever or I guess whatever it is, is inside the house.Reminds me of that creepy poem you used to read us Mom: Antigonish ... The Man Who Wasn’t There or whatever it was called... Halloween tradition. How’d it go?...“Yesterday upon the stairI met a man who wasn’t there,He wasn’t there again todayI wish, I wish he’d go away...”Ugh. I was like, five! What the hell were you thinking? You do know Michelle used to lock me in the bathroom and not let me out until I recited it three times in the dark! Tip of the iceberg...Anyway, nothing bad’s happening, it’s kind of just been a feeling. But tonight I saw whatever it is. It was behind me. Could see it out of the corner of my eye. I kind of froze, didn’t turn right away. It was like a person but different. I don’t know how to describe it. And it waited, like it knew, that I knew it was there. I don’t know why I didn’t scream.Michelle you totally would’ve screamed. For some reason, it didn’t feel threatening but it wanted me to know it was there. Like it was revealing itself. So I just stayed quiet, isn’t that what you’re supposed to do if you run into a bear...terrible analogy... After a minute, it came closer, maybe a couple of feet away. I turned...but it was gone.But it wasn’t. It just didn’t want me to see it. But I swear it was still there. Looking at me.What up bro? Buddy? Pal? Ace? Chief? My dude? Going to workshop the shit out of this. Antigonish...I met a man who wasn’t there... Fun fact, poem was named after a ghost rumored to haunt a house in Antigonish, Nova Scotia. Now who wasn’t paying attention?!Maybe...Tig...Yeah, Tig. That might work.Isn’t there some old school, mystic power in naming something? Gain some control over it? Earthsea. Wizard of Earthsea. You were right M, it would come in handy some day.Wow. I’m just killing it right now. You don’t need this mom and M you’re six hours away...This is so stupid.Hopefully this is the last one of these I do and I’ll show it to both of them and we’ll all be together one of these days and laugh our asses off.Al out...September 28th, 7:32pm(voicemail)Hi, sorry, I know you said not to call unless it's an emergency and it's not an emergency but it's kind of important. Did you move my science binder? I don't think you did, I just know I left it on my desk yesterday and now I can't find it anywhere. If you know where it is, call or text me. Thanks.September 28th, 8:17-8:3pm(text messages)Mom: Hi, got your vm. Didn't touch anything on your desk.Allison: K. Sry I called.Mom: Check around the lazy chair.Allison: Bingo. Must've missed it before. You're the best. H,K,S & B.Recorded September 28th, 2018 11:05pm(transcribed from Allison's personal video log)Ok, I should totally be in bed but ... we have contact. I go to the bathroom and come back and all my pillows on my bed are gone. Found them in the kitchen, stacked on the counter. I didn't move them. No one else is here so that leaves ... Tig. It stuck.Oh, Tigggg? You there? I think so. Tig's a little shy I think so here's the plan. Note to the viewer, I know how crazy this probably sounds but give a girl a break and work with me here ...So, shot in the dark here that Tig knows English or even what the hell writing is. But my working theory is that its been watching me for a while, so maybe it picked up some of the stuff we can do, like words. So, I'm drawing a little smiley face on this pad right here and I'm going to write "Hello." Simple. Either I'm going to singlehandedly discover that we are not alone, or this will be the first piece of evidence introduced in the case to send me to a mental institution. Alright, sleepy time and let's see if you come through for me. Night Tig ...Note:Hello :)Recorded September 29th, 2018 6:03am(transcribed from Allison's personal video log)Nothing. Nada. Zilch. Zero. Next stop, mental institution.Recorded September 29th, 2018 5:58pm(transcribed from Allison’s personal video log)Things just got interesting. Seems Tig has a sense of humor and...it can read and write. So freakin’ cool. I want to call everyone I know and...but I won’t. Tig was fairly explicit :)This is insane. Shit, maybe I’m insane.More soon...Note:Don't TeLl ;)Note:Where are you from?EvErYwhEreNote:Can I see you?yeS. doNt TelL. ;)November 28th 2018 9:45pm(transcribed from Allison's personal video log)So its been a little while. Been busy with school stuff, getting all my applications in and... let's be honest got a little too deep in the old supernatural rabbit hole. No one's ever seeing any of that shit. Wasn't planning on talking about Tig but... It left me a note. As much as I don't want to admit it, was kind of comforting so, thanks buddy.Maybe I was going about it all wrong? Wtf, not like there's a "how to be friends with an inter dimensional thing" handbook. Actually you can probably google search that shit. I mean, I did. Found some stuff about these creatures of beings called "Watchers." They kind of just watch and observe us. Been popping up in different cultures for thousands of years. Who knows...Anyway. Night. Sweet dreams. You too, Tig.December 12th, 2018 at 7:15pm(transcribed from Marco Polo message chat)Hey Mommo. Just a heads up that there’s something I need to talk to you about. It’s nothing bad but... it’s kind of important. I’ll try and stay awake but make sure you wake me up when you get home. Don’t forget.December 13th, 2018 at 6:42pm(voice mail left by Allison on Michelle’s cell phone)Hey, ummm, you hear from Mom? Hospital called and she didn’t show for work this morning. She wasn’t here when I came home from school but her car’s in the driveway. Keys are on the counter., her purse, phone, all her stuff’s here so...I don’t really know whatto do. Just call me as soon as you get this. Bye.Date: December 13th, 2018 at 8:03pmFrom: Allison BrooksSubject: URGENT CALL ME!!!!!!!To: Michelle BrooksTried you a bunch and left you a vm. I don’t know what to do. Mom’s missing. It’s all my fault. It told me not to tell but I did. I know how to talk to it so maybe if I just ask and I'm sorry it’ll bring her back. I need you M, call me asap.Date: February 4th, 2019 2:35pmFrom: Michelle LansdaleSubject: UpdateTo: [Julia@hamptonchronicle.com](mailto:Julia@hamptonchronicle.com)Dear Julia,Thanks for your call. As I mentioned the police haven't returned the hard drive but I will send you the video files of what I was able to retrieve myself.I'm taking a leave from school and heading back to the house. Perhaps we can meet up in person while I'm in town.Whether she knew it or not, I think Allison left us plenty of breadcrumbs and they all lead home. To them.Thank you for believing.Sincerely,Michelle BrooksP.S.I thought you should know. She got in...February 3rd, 2019Ms. Allison Brooks58 Cox's Curve, Speonk NY 11972Dear Allison:It is with great pleasure that I write toinform you of your early acceptanoo to Syracuse University andof your eligibility to receive a Syracuse UniversityExcellence ScholarShip. Each year students who have distinguished themselvesthrough outstanding academic achievement and personal excellence are chosen from the entering class toreceivethis honor.Please accept my sincere congratulationson your selection for this great honor. We genuioetylook forward lo your joining the SyracuseUniversity community.Sincerely,Jeffrey CraneDeanTolley Administration Building/Syracuse, New York 13244-1100Admissions: 315--443-3611 I Email : [ORANGE@SUADMIN.SYR.EDU](mailto:ORANGE@SUADMIN.SYR.EDU)February 6th, 2019(Michelle's journal)I'm going to keep this journal. Document everything. So it's undeniable. So they have to pay attention and believe...whatever I find.Chief Halsey said I can get into the house tomorrow. He said they've been through it a dozen times and there's nothing. No forensics. Like they just up and vanished. Fuck him. They missed something . They had to. People don't just disappear for no reason.Everyone in town has been nice. I've asked around but no one has any answers or if they do, they're keeping them to themselves.I was going to keep staying at the Inn on Main but, I need to go home. That's where I'll find you....February 7th, 2019(Michelle’s journal)I forgot how cold the house was. Had to borrow your monster foot slippers Al. It’s so quiet. Needed to hear your voices so I dug out our old videos. Damn, we had a lot of fun.I don’t understand. Everything’s here, where it should be. Except the two of you. Chief Halsey told me again, they tracked all your credit cards, bank accounts, mom and there’s been no activity. Phones were still in the house. They tracked every call the night of. There’s been nothing. Nothing, since...“It told me not to tell but I did.” Did you find something Al? “It.” Wtf does that mean? Who is “Tig”? I don’t understand.2:47amCan’t sleep. Been staring at the ceiling for two hours. That damn face we drew ten years ago is still there. Mom, you gotta look up once in a while, see what nonsense your kids are getting into...I don’t know how you did this every night Al. Alone. I’m sorry I didn’t email you back. I’m sorry I didn’t call. I’m sorry I wasn’t here. You needed me, your big sister, and I wasn’t here.And it’s not your fault mom. I know what you did so I could go to school. I know what you’re doing so Al can too. If I can be half the woman you are... I’m going to make it. I swear I’m going to, so you can rest.Count backwards from one-hundred, right? Always works...February 9th 2019(Michelle’s journal)Spent the last day going through everything. Every drawer, cabinet, closet, the basement, garage... Looking for some clue. Some arrow to point me in the right direction.I met a man who wasn’t there...Can’t get it out of my head. Can picture us squeezed onto your lap, Mom, bundled up, listening to you recite it.Did you know, Mom? Did you know there was something all this time?And then I remembered our spot, Allison. Under the shed. That’s where you kept your secrets.What did you do, Allison? What did you do?Allison’s Hidden Journal(October 15th 2018)Ok, so let me break it down. This is kind of what’s going on. What I think is going on:It’s not a vengeful ghost or some poltergeist or haunting or shade, specter, wraith, phantom, spirit, apparition, phantasm... It’s ALL those things. All those names and labels. Societies pathetic attempts to make sense of something that didn’t belong, something we couldn’t understand. Except we were WRONG. Tig is real. Very real. Material and tangible. It can feel and touch and probably smell and taste. And watch. It’s always watching. Observing. Studying. And learning.Maybe Tig’ll let me take a picture at some point. I tried but it didn’t like it. It’s human- like in shape except it’s a blank canvas. Basically featureless but I think it can make them. Mold a face or what we think of as a face, the way it wants to. It started to last time I saw it. And that’s just it. Tig isn’t human. So why would it look or act in a way I think it should? It’s trying though and I’m helping I think. Trying to become...one of us.Tig lives in the “in between.” That space between here and somewhere else. And yes, there is a somewhere else. I mean, doesn’t there have to be? It’s so close we miss it I think. Another working theory but, I think Tig can only spend a certain amount of time here before it has to go back. Wonder what it looks like on its side of the fence? I want to find out.Coining a new term here: “reality chameleon.” I think it can literally hide in plain sight, bend our world around it. Kind of its superpower. And then it chooses to reveal itself.But it’s cautious. Always cautious. Maybe it’s vulnerable here? “Don’t Tell...” I won’t. It’s our secret Tig, for now.I don’t know exactly what it wants. Maybe it’s just lonely? I know I was...There is something strange when Tig reveals. I don’t know how to describe it. It’s kind of like things momentarily go out of whack. It doesn’t last but it’s like hanging upside. The down on a roller coaster. But it feels kind of good. I don’t know...We have some kind of connection. Doesn’t sound as crazy as it used to...(November 9th 2018)Something’s wrong. Feel like I’m less than I used to be. Like there’s part of me that’s slowly slipping away. I can’t go back there.I think I need to stop.Feb 9th, 2019(Michelle's journal)Fuck it. I'll follow your breadcrumbs...Note:Hi, my name is Michelle. I'm Allison's sister. I would like to meet you, Tig. Please write back.February 10th, 2019(Michelle's journal)Ok. So left that note and came back from the store and there was a response on the kitchen counter. This is what you found, isn't it Allison? This is Tig. And now I can feel it watching. Studying. Like I let it back in. It's in the room with me, right freakin' here, hiding in plain sight but I can't see it. Come out you fucker. Show yourself!Note:tIG ;)February 11th 2019(Michelle's journal)Checked the computer and someone logged on a few minutes ago. I was outside in the back...I don't know how... But you were right. Tig is learning.EMAILDate: February 11th, 2019 3:15pmFrom: Allison BrooksSubject:To: Michelle LansdalehElLo MyCHELLe I aM ine. It is NOiCE hErE. tIg iS Gud. I miss you viry mooch. ReMEMBER DoNt tElLaLlisUnFebruary 12th 2019(Michelle's journal)I thought I saw you today Al. There was split second when it was you. It had to be you. You were here and...But it wasn't you.It was Tig. It tried to talk to me from something that wasn't a mouth. With a voice that wasn't a voice. It was wearing your clothes...February 13th, 2019(Michelle’s journal)If anyone finds this, it means I haven’t come back. It’s some kind of in between that’s all around us. Maybe it’s always been there. Maybe things like Tig have always been there. Watching. Studying. And they don’t want us to know they are. They covet that secret more than anything and if you violate that pact they take you...But I’m not afraid. I TOLD. I’m coming Mom. I’m coming Allison.I’m ready Tig. Come and get meNote Discovered inside the Brooks home Feb. 15thI aM AlLisOn. I aM MiCheLe. I aM cHRisTinE. I aM tIG.March 3rd, 2019The Hampton ChronicleAttn: Editorial Page75 Main StreetWesthampton Beach, NY 11978LETTER TO THE EDITORThere’s a small house near the end of Bruenor Road. Its backyard is bordered by Howell’s Wood. You used to see two girls playing outside, sisters so close in age and appearance many thought they were twins. Hide and Seek and Capture the Flag became wild parties and midnight visits from Chief Halsey. Ten speeds became an old Volvo with a bad paint job. And all that time, their single mother loved them from afar, sacrificing moments and being present, working her fingers to the bone, enduring endless shifts at the hospital so her girls could grab hold of an opportunity she never had. The older sister shipped off to college, the younger destined to join her in less than a year.And then, they all were gone.Taken.But the story of the Brooks girls hasn’t really been told. Not like it should be. They deserve that at least. A proper reckoning no matter the consequences.Everything I’m about to tell you, I’ve relayed to the police. And everything I’m about to tell you I believe to be true. You’ll judge for yourself and come to your own conclusions but I want to give a voice to those girls. There’s so much more they still have to say.And fair warning, some of what you’re about to read, may disturb you. And frankly it should.It began on a quiet night like any other in this small town. Allison was home alone, her mother Christina had left for another night shift at the hospital. But Allison wasn’t alone. She likely hadn’t been for a very long time. She would later confide she always wondered why that night of all nights. Maybe we’ll never know.She wasn’t sure how long it’d been there before she saw it. Or why it chose to reveal itself at that particular moment - but it did. The being or creature that she would name “Tig” made contact that night.It chose her.In my research I’ve come across similar accounts in many different cultures, throughout recorded history. They describe mysterious beings often glimpsed at night typically standing in in some commanding position such as a hilltop or a tree or building which gives them an overview of human activity. Their dark forms, more or less human in outline remain motionless as they watch intently. It’s been theorized that these beings chronicle the sins and follies committed by mankind after dark but no culture has been able to sufficiently explain their purpose or motivation and it seems to be a myth that has slowly faded.Something like this cries out for explanation and I believe humanity has an innate, nearly insatiable desire to understand and quantify, locate and label, drill down and categorize the unknown, rendering it known. Make it digestible. Make it safe.But what if there’s something that defies those standards? An invader to our Material Plane that rejects the very notions of our natural world because it exists OUTSIDE them?Not what we might refer to as a “ghost” or some malevolent force or energy like a “demon” but something else entirely -An ABERRATION.A creature from somewhere else, some other space and time that bumps against our own, what Allison referred to as the “in between.” That phrase she coined, “reality chameleon”, chew on that for sec... It’s hiding in plain sight. In the fabric of our reality,like some sinister version of Where’s Waldo. Something whose very presence disrupts our natural world and all its forces and supposed laws. Basically, it takes everything we think we know, violates the hell out of it and blows it into a million pieces.This is what chose to reveal itself to Allison.Was she the perfect target because she was alone all the time? A lonely, latch-key kid, longing for the companionship of the sister she idolized, the touch of a mother who sacrificed everything for her? Or did, as Michelle suspected, her mother know about Tig? Had it made contact with her long ago and did she heed its warning and not tell, to protect her children?It’s a fools errand to wrestle with the why. We’re dealing with a cold, alien intellect that doesn’t subscribe to any of our logic or motivation. This isn’t black and white. It’s not good and evil. It’s grey and murky. And that’s what makes it so dangerous and frankly, terrifying. It’s not playing by our rules. It’s not governed by human emotion or physical pain. There’s no bargain to strike or argument to make. It just - does.So we look to the what. That’s where the beginnings of some answers may lie.And it’s hidden in the electronic trail Allison and Michelle left behind. Every time I study it, I can’t help but feel a sense of wrongness slowly bleeding in as Allison and Michelle’s world, OUR world, what we think of as reality is impinged upon by this other. This Aberration.It showed Allison its side. It’s home. Bit by bit. Piece by piece. Until she craved it. Like a kid with candy, chasing that sugar rush.Tig had one simple rule. Don’t Tell. A basic promise. A covenant. Had Allison heeded that warning, perhaps things may have been different. Perhaps the Lansdale girls would still be here.But she didn’t.She broke that promise. Violated that covenant without realizing the dire repercussions. I think she was blinded by her strange new, not-so-imaginary friend. A peculiar breath of fresh air in an otherwise lonely existence. It showed her its world, fed her more each time until she craved it.It had to keep its existence a secret. It covets that more than anything. Perhaps as the sisters believed it’s vulnerable here and needs to attach itself to us to anchor it in our world. And it has to protect that secret, whatever the cost because if no one knows or believes it exists it can continue to watch. And study. And learn.This is a thinking monster. I hesitate to use that word because it doesn’t quite track, but... It has an interest in us. An attraction. And we have no idea how long it’s been watching. What it’s learned.And perhaps the girls were right. It got a taste of humanity... and it liked it. It decided it wanted to try it out. Live in our skin. Become us.I’ve overheard a few late night conversations at the Dodger about what happened. Ruth Walpurg thinks Christina finally won the lotto she plays every month and just got up and left. Vic Booth thinks that good for nothing ex husband came for his family. But Judy Gibson said the other day, she saw all three of them, Christina, Allison and Michelle near Howell’s Wood. They were together and they looked happy...That wasn’t the Brooks girls. I know it.One night a monster revealed itself to a lonely girl and it was fun. The monster made her promise never to tell anyone about it and for a while, the lonely girl listened. But one day, she didn’t, she told her mother. And then she and her mother were taken.The lonely girl’s older sister embarked on a journey to find them. And unfortunately for her she did.Now they’re all gone. But the monster...The monster is here.- Anonymous via /r/nosleep https://ift.tt/3l9hZSF
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