Lydia's Dead

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I went to the beach at about 4 AM to beat the crowds that come in early every morning to watch the sun rise.  I wasn't entirely sure what I was looking for, but I knew there had to be some sort of clue there.  I brought my flashlight, my raincoat, and, in case of danger, one of Trent's guns.  Since he's never home anymore, I doubted he'd miss it.

The beach was still when I arrived.  Even the gentle lapping of the waves seemed to have paused, a grim anticipation.  The breeze that was in town did not extend out here.  The picture felt frozen.  It felt as though someone had forgotten to switch the "on" button for nature.  And then I saw a figure at the edge of the water, wearing a ranger's vest.

I ran over to it and saw Lydia.

I called the police at once.  Some officer I've never seen before arrived.  I asked for Trent, but he told me Trent's too busy to come right now.  They couldn't find Lydia's wallet or ID, so they "Jane Doe"d her, despite my insistences that I knew who she was.  Apparently, she'd been stabbed in the throat and dropped into the water.

God, I feel sickened.  If the police weren't keeping this all hush-hush, maybe people would have known to keep their eyes peeled.  Maybe this could have been prevented.  The cops seem to be keeping this murder under wraps as well, so I'm going to have to double-down on my efforts in this blog to make people aware of what's happening.

I've got to go.  The forest service needs me.  Update later.

Dreams, and I Found Lydia

 I've been having a recurring dream lately.

It always starts the same way.  I'm running through the woods, being chased by... someone.  I don't know who but I know that if they catch me I'm going to die.  I see this hotel in the distance and I run to it.  It takes an absurdly long time; sometimes it feels like an hour, until my body feels like it'll burst apart.  But I make it, get in, and shut the door.

At the reception desk is the dead woman.  She turns to me and smiles.  "Welcome home", she says.

Then I wake up.

Last night, Lydia was the receptionist.

Today, she called me.  She seemed to be missing time; when I told her it was Wednesday she literally gasped.  She had quite the story.

She told me that she'd been in that hotel in the woods.  That she'd entered it in a dream and woke up in the forest, lost, when the dream ended.  She said her dream was identical to mine.  She saw herself as the receptionist.  She said it took her almost half a day to leave the forest, which is impossible.  It's not that big.

Something's going on here.  I don't like it.

I found Trent as well.  He's been pouring over his work and ignoring me entirely, it seems.  Another officer told me that he's been sleeping at the station.  He said he's concerned about him; that he doesn't seem to be taking care of himself.  I tried to see him but he refused to see me.

I'll be going to the beach this week.

Sorry Y'all

 Just another brief update.  I apologize for not going to the beach yet.  I've been very distracted by Trent and Lydia's lack of contact.  I can't shake the feeling that something bad is happening to one of them, maybe both.  I feel so alone right now.  I can't do this, I know I can't help.  My heart wants to rip itself from my chest in desperation and I realize that this is what all of this is about.  I want to rip myself out of a scenario that doesn't make sense, a nightmare that's haunting me.  I want to escape the fact that there is a killer in my community and that the victim was an awful lot like me and that I have no network, nobody to account for me and protect me, even my own cousin on the police force won't help.  I thought "Oh maybe if I solve this I won't be the perfect victim anymore" but that's no good because now Lydia's missing and Trent's gone and god knows who else might be killed because I was SELFISH.

KILL ME.  KILL ME.  KILL. ME.  KILLME KILL ME KILL. ME.

So Far

 Okay, so here's what we've got so far.

1.  A woman is murdered.  Her body is found on the beach by Lydia, who is experiencing some form of hallucination in the woods beforehand.  This woman is not identified and the police mostly seem to have forgotten about her entirely- in less than two days.

2.  Lydia and I have both seen the hallucination in the woods.

3. Trent, my cousin, is desperately trying to get me to stop investigating.  Unlike the other police, he doesn't seem to have forgotten anything.

The vision in the woods is a dead-end.  While there's still a lot to uncover there, I don't know how we're going to go about uncovering it.  I still need to go to the beach.  And I also intend to talk to Trent.

I haven't heard from Lydia or Trent in over a day.  I guess I just have to wait until they get back to me.  I have no idea where Trent is at all.