re: something strange
Jessica Cain
Archeology and forensics aren’t all dig sites, ruins, corpses, and artifacts. Sometimes something as small as letters can provide vast windows to entire cultures and events. A single word carved on a palisade being the only thing left of a vanished settlement. Scrolls sealed into jars, hidden in a desert cave for centuries. Final letters written by soldiers before they fell on battlefields from Gettysburg to Gallipoli.
This story that very much lives up to its title is one such window, following an exchange of e-mails and phone calls piecing together what happened between two people, what might have happened to them, and what may yet happen to the rest of us.
***
something strange
Cassidy R
To Daniel
Oct 21, 2022, 5:04 pm
in your neighborhood . . . who you gonna call . . . DR. DANIEL HART!!
haha jk i know you hate that song
soooooo hi dan! hope you’re doing well. god, how long has it been since we talked? forever?? i called your office but they said you were at a conference in philly right now. hope you’re conferencing well!!
lee called and said she’d seen you around and you were looking good. atta boy! stay hot dude. ▢ ▢
also how is kaitlyn? we all should get together sometime when we’re both back in boston and do dinner. my treat!!
okay so you might be wondering why i’m writing. well, like the title says there’s something strange going on. not going on exactly, but like i found something strange? i think? i’m at the farm just going through papers and things and i went walking this afternoon and i found some kind of wall behind the house, back in the orchard. well it’s more like part of a wall. it was hanging out behind this bush and it came up to about my waist. the weird thing is 1. it’s not made of stone but some kind of purple metal?? and 2. there’s some kind of writing on it that’s kind of like egyptian hieroglyphs but not really. it’s hard to explain. since you are the anthropology expert and what not i wondered if you could help? i kind of want to know what it is.
thanks a bunch and talk soon! ▢ ▢▢▢
cass
ps- i didn’t send a note yet but thank you for the flowers. mom would have appreciated them. i know she liked you a lot.
re: something strange
Dr. Daniel P. Hart
To Cassidy R
Oct 21, 2022, 5:26 pm
Hi Cassidy,
Nice to hear from you. Yes, I’m currently attending a conference at the Hilton. It’s going well.
The piece of wall you found sounds unusual. Send me a picture and I’ll tell you what I can.
On the subject of Kaitlyn, she’s fine. I’m going to be very frank and say I don’t think us having dinner together is a good idea. Not right now, at least.
You’re welcome re. the flowers. Your mother was a lovely woman. Again, my condolences.
Lastly, please stop trying to send emojis in your e-mails. For whatever reason they never come through and all I see are boxes.
Daniel
re: something strange
Cassidy R
To Daniel
Oct 21, 2022, 5:41 pm
okay fine. i was just trying to be nice about dinner but that’s fine.
i took a few pictures on my phone and i’m attaching them to this e-mail. i got some shots from every side so you can see it all.
let me know what you think
cass
re: something strange
Dr. Daniel P Hart
To Cassidy R
Oct 21, 2022, 5:45 pm
Hi Cassidy,
I think you need to upload the pictures again. I clicked on the attachments and all I saw was white space. Is something glitchy with your phone?
Daniel
re: something strange
Cassidy R
To Daniel
Oct 21, 2022, 5:47 pm
WTAF??
okay i took the pictures again and looked and they’re all white?? then i took a picture of my feet and that one came out okay, so i don’t think the problem’s my phone. like i don’t think i can take a picture of this thing. this is freaky.
can you call me? i’m a little freaked out.
cass
re: something strange
Dr. Daniel P Hart
To Cassidy R
Oct 21, 2022, 5:49 pm
Hi Cassidy,
I’m going to ask this once and only once: are you playing games to get my attention? I don’t think we should talk on the phone right now. I don’t want you to get overexcited.
Now if you’re serious about this and there really is a wall that cannot be photographed, write me back with a detailed description of it. I’ll do what I can.
Daniel
PS- I don’t mean to be rude, but could you please try capitalization? It would make the reading process much smoother.
re: something strange
Cassidy R
To Daniel
Oct 21, 2022, 6:22 pm
OKAY I’LL CAPITALIZE EVERYTHING FROM NOW ON
Lol jk jk
Okay I took a tape measurer with me to make sure, so here’s what I can tell you. The thing is 2 feet and seven inches tall, I think that’s pretty close. I also think it looks kind of like the Washington Monument. You know the pointy building?
So it’s a Washington Monument made of purple metal. The purple is like a dark purple, not a bright one. It’s more purple bluish. It’s weird, because it seems pretty shiny but you can’t see your reflection in it. You ever see water with some gasoline in it? You know how it gets that sort of gleaming rainbow color that keeps shifting? That’s sort of what this looks like. Like I said, weird.
Okay, now the pictures.
Some of them are things that look like letters but I’ve never seen them before in my life. Like maybe they look like Chinese, but not really? One of them looks like if someone drew a stick figure camel and then turned it on its side. Another looks like if you took a bunch of chicken footprints and then mashed them all together. Some of them, I am not kidding, I cannot even begin to describe what they look like. Like, there are shapes I’ve never seen before. I can’t even say ‘it looks like a rectangle and a triangle had a baby’ because that would mean SOMETHING looked like a rectangle or triangle. It doesn’t. It looks completely new to me.
I’m freaking out in case you couldn’t tell.
The biggest picture is kind of in the center. It looks like some kind of figure. It’s got two wings, that much I can tell. They look more like dragonfly than bird wings. I think the figure also has long hair because it has, like, long curly things flying off its head. There’s something under its feet that looks like either an upside down J or a candy cane with a weird hook on the end.
When I first looked at it I thought ‘this isn’t human but it is alive and watching.’ Like it was a voice that popped into my head out of nowhere. Fucking. Scary.
I think maybe I’m gonna get in my car and drive back to town for the night. Farm life is weird, yo.
Okay, let me know what you think
Cass
re: something strange
Dr. Daniel P Hart
To Cassidy
Oct 21, 2022, 6:29 pm
Hi Cassidy,
Please take your medication. I know that you’ve been under a great deal of stress between our break up and your mother’s passing, but going off your medicine cold turkey could cause severe side effects. I am afraid you’re going to hurt yourself. Please get in the car, drive to town, refill your prescriptions, and e-mail me when you’re with someone. If Lee’s home for the weekend, go to her. I can call ahead of time if you like to let her know you’re on the way. Again, I know what happened between us is painful, but I meant it when I said I’d always care about you. This is an example of me keeping that promise.
Get in the car, get safe, and take care of yourself.
Daniel
re: something strange
Cassidy R
To Daniel
Oct 21, 2022, 6:35 pm
FUCK. YOU. FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU
WHY THE FUCK DID I EVEN THINK YOU’D GIVE A SHIT ABOUT ME
you know what no more caps lock for you ever
i got in the car btw and the engine is dead it is completely dead and i’m sobbing rn because now i can’t get out of here and it’s almost dark and that thing is still in the orchard and you don’t give a shit
the car shouldn’t have died btw there was nothing wrong with it but now i guess there is and you know it’s ten miles before you reach anything so i guess i’m trapped here now
not like you care
i’m gonna go out and hang with my new washington monument friend i gave him a name i’m gonna call him yiyath so yiyath and i are going to have a party and you’re not invited. suck it bitch.
▢▢▢▢▢▢▢▢▢▢▢▢▢
if you can’t see this is a string of shit emojis
[Phone records show that Daniel Hart called Cassidy Randall’s cell five times over the next twenty minutes. Ms. Randall did not respond.]
re: something strange
Dr. Daniel P Hart
To Cassidy
Oct 21, 2022, 6:57 pm
Cassidy I want to know you’re doing all right.
Also, where have you heard Yiyath before? Why did you call the figure that?
Please call me back as soon as you can.
Daniel
[The following is a phone conversation between Dr. Hart and Ms. Randall begun at 7:09 pm]
Daniel: Cassidy? Hello? [muffled sounds] Hello, Cassidy?
Cassidy: Dan? What the hell, I’m eating dinner.
Daniel: Okay. Well, you sound okay. That’s good.
Cassidy: Yeah, like you care.
Daniel: Did you get my e-mail? The one about Yiyath? [more chewing noises] Stop eating!
Cassidy: I did not read your e-mail, O god of anthropologists. I silenced my phone and heated up a pizza. It is just, like, full of pepperoni and other shitty food, which I know you love.
Daniel: I don’t want to—[something indistinguishable, might have been “fuck’s sake”] Where have you heard the name Yiyath before?
Cassidy: Um. You mean the made up one?
Daniel: It isn’t made up. That name belongs to a six-thousand-year-old indigenous cult figure.
Cassidy: Excuse me?
Daniel: Please just think. I must have mentioned it at some point when I was with you, right? But no, that can’t be . . . It’s been six months since we, ah, and the first discovery was three months ago, so—
Cassidy: Dan? Hello? The hell are you saying?
Daniel: Sorry, I’m getting sidetracked. Is it possible those dragonfly wings you saw might have been eyes? Because that would be in keeping with the other descriptions we’ve received.
Cassidy: Others? There are others of this thing?
Daniel: So far, they’ve found steles dedicated to this same deity in the British Isles, Mongolia, Iran, and Ethiopia. Last week, we got word they might have made a discovery in western Australia as well. The structures all appear to have been constructed between four and six thousand years ago, at roughly the same time.
Cassidy: Doesn’t that seem kind of, y’know, weird?
Daniel: Weird is the exact word for it. So far we haven’t been able to determine how all these vastly different cultures separated by such enormous distances could have adopted the same cult deity at the same time, let alone what purpose the steles themselves are meant to serve. We theorize they might be funerary markers, but haven’t discovered any human remains nearby. Dr. Yeung left his classes behind to take a sabbatical just to be on hand with the excavations.
Cassidy: Is that a big deal?
Daniel: He’s seventy-eight and the department chair.
Cassidy: Wow. You Harvard guys are serious business. Um, I don’t remember ever hearing the name Yiyath from you, for what it’s worth.
Daniel: How did you think to call it Yiyath, anyway?
Cassidy: I don’t know? It just kind of popped into my head? Wait, how do you guys know what its name is? That stuff that’s written on it is, like, not English.
Daniel: The word was found carved in a nearby rock at the Scotland and Ethiopia sites. It may be the name, though we can’t be absolutely certain. It could be a prayer, or an invocation. You’re sure you didn’t see it carved anywhere?
Cassidy: I could check again, but I don’t think so. Weird. So do the other things, I mean, are the other whatever-they-are purple and metal, too?
Daniel: No. Every other discovery we’ve made has been stone. I don’t know how your mother could have lived on that farm as long as she did and not notice something like that sitting out in the orchard.
Cassidy: I mean, she was kind of out of it the last year. And we didn’t go back there a lot of the time. I don’t know. Weird, am I right? Freaky.
Daniel: Are you okay?
Cassidy: At least now I kind of know what it is, so I’m better. None of the other Yiyaths have, like, exploded, right?
Daniel: No. I don’t think you have to worry about that.
Cassidy: Yeah, I think I just needed to eat something. My blood sugar’s kind of down, what with everything. Sorry if I freaked out on you earlier.
Daniel: I’m sorry I didn’t believe you. I just had no idea what to think. I didn’t make a connection between the steles and what you found. Your description didn’t match any of it.
Cassidy: I’m kinda bad at describing shit. I guess that’s why I’m an out of work bartender instead of a fancy anthropologist.
Daniel: Well. You can pour a mean drink.
Cassidy: Yeah. It took a couple of stiff ones before I got you to loosen up and talk to me.
[silence]
Daniel: That was a strange time in both our lives.
Cassidy: Yeah. Strange. Sure.
Daniel: Listen, about earlier. I—
Cassidy: Shhh. You hear that?
Daniel: What?
Cassidy: Listen.
Daniel: What?
Cassidy: You really don’t hear that?
Daniel: I don’t hear anything.
Cassidy: It kind of sounds like “whub whub,” you know, like it’s a spaceship kind of noise you’d hear on Star Trek or something? [whispers] Okay, it stopped. Um. That’s kind of freaky.
Daniel: Are you sure I can’t call Lee for you?
Cassidy: Ugh, no. I’ve been bothering her enough lately. So. Yiyath? That’s wicked crazy, man. Maybe I’m psychic. Maybe I have a special connection with the thing. Maybe I’m the only one on Earth who can, like, talk to Yiyath and learn the secrets of the universe and shit.
Daniel: At this point, that would not surprise me.
Cassidy: So. Anyhoo. Kaitlyn, is she still working for the symphony, or—
Daniel: I, sorry, I just, ah, don’t think we should talk about Kaitlyn. If that’s all right.
Cassidy: Yeah sure, that’s fine. I’m just, like, being nice, y’know?
Daniel: Yes, you are. I’d feel more comfortable not discussing her, that’s all.
Cassidy: Yeah. Guilty conscience and what not.
Daniel: No. Not guilty. [sighs] So I’ll lob a call in to the department tomorrow morning and get someone out to the farm to examine the object. Is that all right?
Cassidy: Sure! Are you gonna come by, too?
Daniel: Probably not.
[silence]
Cassidy: Well, I need to go before you talk my ear off.
Daniel: Ha. Okay.
Cassidy: Bye.
Daniel: Goodbye. Cassidy, let me know if you notice anything else. I’ll be gone for a few hours for dinner, but I’ll check my e-mail.
Cassidy: ’Kay. Will do.
[call ended]
re: something strange
Cassidy R
To Daniel
Oct 21, 2022, 8:21 pm
hey!
so i got curious and went out with my flashlight. i was heading down to the steely thing (?) or whatever it’s called when i noticed some kind of glow off behind the barn in the opposite direction. guess what i found?
if you guessed ‘a purple box thing that glows and has all the same weird yiyath writing on it as the steely’ then congrats, you win and i am losing my absolute shit, dawg.
i took my tape measurer and it’s about the same height as the washington monument back there. the yiyath thing is almost the same, but there’s one big difference. you remember i said there was an upside down J with a weird hook on the end beneath its feet? on this one, it’s a straight line. i never know how to describe these things but i looked it up and i guess it’s a horizontal line, not standing up straight like the other. ALSO, there are hooks on either end. so. WTAFFFFF
i also tried to start my car again. hooked up my battery charger and everything, and it says, get this, that the battery is charged. there’s gas in the tank. the car JUST WONT START.
this is going to be a ridiculous story, frfr
cass
re: something strange
Cassidy R
To Daniel
Oct 21, 2022, 9:49 pm
Wish you’d call me back because something else is happening.
I tried taking pictures of the stele and the cube and now there’s a third object out behind the fence in the pasture. It’s an orb, the same height and size as the other two. All the hieroglyphs and Yiyath inscriptions are the same, but this time the horizontal hooked line is different yet again. This time, it looks like a proper J. Why does this one image keep changing?
I also had to shut the blinds in the house because the moonlight is growing so bright outside that I can’t think straight. That strange, pulsating noise is getting louder, too. I almost cried, but then it stopped and I felt better. What if there’s something wrong with me? Did they discover cubes and orbs at the other sites? Why is mine the only site with this odd metallic substance covering the objects?
Please call me when you get the chance.
Cassidy
re: something strange
Cassidy R
To Daniel
Oct 21, 2022, 11:31 pm
I have walked the perimeter of the farm three times now and I have judged that the objects are equidistant. There is not even a centimeter of difference between the journey from the stele to the cube, and from thence to the orb, and from the orb back to the stele. From the proverbial bird’s eye, you will find the structures form the points of a perfect equilateral triangle. I have come to realize that the three objects were all carefully chosen, as they are the only examples of Yiyath’s geometry of which the human mind can comprehend. This is not the difference between Euclidean and non-Euclidean; this is chthonic geometry, the concept of all angles inverted and deconstructed to something more fluid and entirely more alive. The Sphinx can be said to dream upon the desert sands, but there is no fear she will awaken. But the stele, the stele is alive. It is His intent, the prick of His intent, as the cube is His body as the orb is His mind as the triform temple emerges to glow in the incandescent darkness and to summon Him from His eternal slumber.
Beyond the boundaries of the triform temple the images of His reality ripple and shift like a mirage. The structure of the city is indescribable, the pathways to it unwalkable. They bend in impossible patterns, and when you set your eyes upon them they revert to lines that are so straight that they bleed the vision like a razor. Many go blind as they walk to Yiyath, eventually crawling upon the paths that are not paths, rooted to earth by the inescapable gravity that does not exist. Those that please Him especially give over their laughing faces, so that Yiyath may look mirthfully upon His designs and see that they are good.
The stele has grown, scraping the sky at over six hundred feet. The incantations inscribed upon the expanse of it glow at staggered intervals, each pictograph referencing another aspect of His intent. The translators, Keepers of His Temple, they will be given the job of interpreting the sigils and issuing commands to the slaves, for Yiyath can only speak through his signs. Communication of the tongue and the larynx may be observed only by the lesser forms of life. The Keepers are allowed one face each, a comely one if they perform well in His service. Yiyath will tower above the stele and watch through His many faces as His subjects perform their duties.
The scribes attend Him at the stele, and if the stele is His intent then the cube is His body and it is there that faces are prepared for Him. The surgeons, Makers of His Flesh, are not allowed faces themselves, but are given some covering in return for their service. All slaves must walk the path from the city to the triform temple, there to be shorn as sheep. They will give their faces to Him and their bodily coverings to the surgeons who will partake of His largesse. Inside of the cube, there are twelve windows spaced equally, three to a wall. Although outside the cube it shall be eternal night, within comes the light of the subterranean star that shall rotate from hour to hour about the four walls, heating the pools laid upon the floor. Those chosen in the culling will be bled there, laid end to end within the shallow recesses. It is there that their blood shall fill the pools, as the surgeons’ assistants kneel and cut deep into the shorn and slippery bodies. When the chosen are drained and the blood heated by the star, then shall the spent flesh be removed and the blood and baked skin shall feed Yiyath.
Worshippers and slaves will be guided in a counterclockwise procession, issued their directives at His intent, then feeding His body, then finally providing Him His dreams. In the first days among the dead stars, when matter was of the mind, then did Yiyath dream His physical realm into existence, and thence did He make the objects of adoration that would dream of Him in turn. There are no ink and paper libraries in Yiyath’s domain, but all that will be stored and remembered shall be placed in His dream palace, the orb. Those with the most agile minds shall be instructed to kneel and gouge out their eyes, the better to provide access to the softest meats of the brain. It is said that the youth are the best dreamers of any species, and so must the children come and kneel before His orb and offer to Him their eyes and their minds that He may dream more, that more pathways and cities may flow from Him like estuaries from a massive river, like arteries from a heart. In that way He shall make more objects of worship and they will feed Him faces and dreams. Only one may enter the orb and that shall be the Archivist and they will install within its circumference the meats and eyes to be preserved for all record and all time. The Archivist shall be given many eyes of their own. They shall have no face or flesh but many eyes and they shall be pleased with this.
Beyond the triform temple lies the city, and within those avenues of false perpendicularity there shall arise the segmented abominations of His architecture. Mortal mind cannot comprehend the jagged tessellations or most rounded peaks of the un-mandala that has no symmetry and no form and no beginning and no end. The towers will be the shape of screams, the city parks modeled after the transition between youth and middle age. All who have not given of their eyes to the orb will gladly pluck them from their head, so supreme will be the muralistic madness on display. There shall be no need of concert halls, no theaters, no museums, so splendid will be the pictures that choke the air. There will be no need to document the transition from the past to the present because all are aligned and one, past present and future, stele cube and orb, unceasing change and relentless stagnation in one. Entropy, entropy, entropy, He shall change nothing and everything, He is past present future in one, Yiyath will walk amidst the fields of His universe and all harvest shall be His all bounty shall be His all abundance shall be His.
I walk the perimeter and find that the triform temple is aglow now, brighter than the moon that shall one day burn to a cinder and fall from the sky as Yiyath wills it. The temple swells beneath the false moon, the triform luminescence a soft violet that paints the farmland and the orchards beyond. Yiyath must walk amidst His fields soon, He has waited for so long, He has created time and been slave to it so that the harvest may ripen but now it is ripe now it is ready for now the triform temple is unearthed and now the alarm is about to sound. Yiyath, He of the Eternal Faces, is summoned by the orb of His mind and the cube of His body and the stele of His intent. He will come to judge all as equal and enjoy the flesh enjoy the faces enjoy the dreams.
I have walked the perimeter of the temple three times, and now I imagine that I hear the felicitous clash of bells and ululations, the slave chants that shall be offered to the unchanging stars. Soon the alarm shall sound, and I walk these fields in anticipation and kneel before the triform temple, preparing my soul for the Resurrection.
In the first days among the dead stars, when matter was of the mind, there did bold Yiyath order up His mind and His body and His intent and from thence did He create His objects and did He entice worship and did He make the stars sing and the darkness perfect and the glow of His eyes will fall upon every last one of us in our turn. Praise Him! Praise Him! Praise Him!
re: something strange
Cassidy R
To Daniel
Oct 21, 2022, 11:39 pm
ddkkkklafja;fjakdsfjadffdsajfoaiejakfd
dddd
yiyathyiyathyiyathyiyathyiyathyyathyyaathathyyyyyiathayyathyiyathyiyathyiyath
[Dr. Hart returned Ms. Randall’s call at 11:47 pm. She did not pick up until his third attempt at 12:11 am]
Daniel: Cassidy?
Cassidy: Whuh? Hmmmf, what the fuck?
Daniel: You’re awake? Cassidy?
Cassidy: I’m awake now, you asshole. What?
Daniel: What the hell do you mean, what? What the hell were those last e-mails you sent? They scared me to death.
Cassidy: Um, the one about the cube thing?
Daniel: If you’re getting cute, I swear to God—
Cassidy: Hold on, hold on, hold on! I’m looking at—Jesus, hold on, okay?
[several minutes of breathing. at some point, crying begins]
Cassidy: What the . . . fuck? Oh my what, what the fuck is that? Who wrote that? What?
Daniel: Listen to me.
Cassidy: No, shut the, shut up! No way, oh my God. Oh my God. Who did that? Who the fuck wrote that?
Daniel: You’re telling me you don’t remember writing that?
Cassidy: WHAT DO YOU THINK “WHO THE FUCK WROTE THAT” MEANS?
Daniel: Stop yelling!
[Cassidy screams]
Daniel: WHAT HAPPENED?
Cassidy: I STUBBED MY TOE, WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK? I AM FREAKING OUT.
Daniel: Okay, calm down.
Cassidy: I’m getting out of here. I’m going to—oh shit my car doesn’t run. Um, screw it, I’m going to just run for it! I’m going to get out of here!
Daniel: Hold on! Cassidy, wait.
Cassidy: What do you mean, wait? Either I wrote some batshit poem in my sleep or someone snuck in here and, like, sent you e-mails on my computer! Neither of those is good!
Daniel: If someone else is really there, you being in the middle of the woods with no car isn’t going to help. And if the problem is you, which is much more likely, you’re safer in a familiar environment. All right?
Cassidy: Okay. Fine. Fine. So I’m reading the stupid e-mails. Oh God. You guys never found a cube or an orb, did you?
Daniel: No. That’s all new information. What about those noises you mentioned? Do you hear anything now?
Cassidy: No, just my heartbeat and you being an asshole on the phone. Sorry. I’m scared.
Daniel: I know. Now think carefully. What’s the last thing you remember doing before you fell asleep?
Cassidy: Okay, I, I remember checking out the cube. Uh, I remember writing that e-mail to you, the first one. I think I was watching some videos on YouTube, like some cat ones, and then . . . Oh shit.
[screams]
Daniel: Cassidy? Cassidy!
Cassidy: I hear it, I hear the thing! The noise, the whub, the Star Trek noise, I hear it! Can you hear it?
Daniel: Let me listen. Quiet! Cassidy, no. I don’t hear anything. Oh my God . . .
Cassidy: I think someone’s outside! Someone’s trying to get in the house!
Daniel: Hang up and call 911. Did you hear me?
Cassidy: I gotta, I think my grandpa’s old gun is in the hall closet, I don’t know, I’m gonna get it, I—[unintelligible]
Daniel: Hello? Cass, do not get a gun. Do not get a gun! I’m going to call the police for you. They’re going to come see you. Cassidy, are you—?
[call ended]
[Phone records show Dr. Hart called the Moorlock Police Department at 12:16 am. The following is a text sent to Ms. Randall at 12:22 am]
Daniel:
Hi Cassidy,
Please call when you see this. I’m worried about you.
Police are on their way. I didn’t want to get into anything specific, so I said that you thought a prowler was on the property and were too scared to call. That’s the story when they show up.
Let me know when you’re with the police.
Daniel
[Dr. Hart texted Ms. Randall again at 12:47 am]
Daniel:
Hi Cassidy,
Are you all right? Are the police there yet?
Daniel
[Ms. Randall responded at 12:48 am]
Cassidy:
yo! omfg i just saw this
you called the cops?? they never showed!!! i’ve been hiding in the broom closet for half an hour
i just tried calling the cops an theres only dial tone??!?11
Daniel:
I’m calling the police back. You may get better reception outside the closet. Has anything else happened?
Cassidy:
no it’s quite
quite
QUIET
ducking autocorrect
Daniel:
Good. Go wait in the living room until the police arrive.
Cassidy:
ugh thanks dad
still using periods in ur texts huh?
[Records show Dr. Hart called the Moorlock Police Department at 12:49 am. The following is a voicemail left for Ms. Randall at 12:57 am]
Daniel: Cassidy, pick up. Pick up. Fine, I wouldn’t be surprised if you were hiding out. Thank you so much for playing this game with me, but I’ve had enough for one night. So I spoke with the police, and apparently they are very confused. They sent a car to see you over half an hour ago, and not only did they speak with you, they said that you were pleasant and in control. They said that you told them you didn’t know a Dr. Hart, and that it sounded like I was playing a trick on them. When I spoke to them again, they were extremely annoyed. I guess they thought I was some idiot college kid pranking them or something. This is, really, this is my fault. I knew I shouldn’t get caught up in your stupid games, and I fell for them anyway. That’s on me. So, ah, I don’t like to get angry, but I don’t want to hear from you again. All right? Please take your medication and stay out of my life. If I see you calling again, I’m not going to pick up. Just . . . that’s it. Okay? I have had enough. I have spent the last six months dealing with your nervous games and your bitchy, I don’t know, I just can’t take this anymore. I cannot play your games anymore. Don’t call Kaitlyn or me ever again. Yes? Good. Go away. Go to hell. I’m done.
[call ended]
[Ms. Randall attempted to call Dr. Hart seven times beginning at 1:03 am. Dr. Hart appears to have turned his phone off. Ms. Randall left three voicemails in rapid succession. Two are completely unintelligible. The following are fragments from the third voicemail]
Cassidy: [inarticulate sobbing]
Dan . . . ? Oh God, why don’t you . . . ?
[sobbing, what sounds like pulsating static]
—ARE YOU? HUH? WHERE ARE YOU? I DON’T KNOW WHO THE POLICE SAW. IT WASN’T ME. IT WASN’T—
[another wave of static]
. . . someone’s on the . . .
[words too fuzzy to make out]
. . . okay? He’s here. Outside the house. Oh my God oh my God . . .
[unintelligible]
Help. Help me. He’s coming in. The light is everywhere! I can see the blood! It’s everywhere! WHY IS IT SO BRIGHT? WHY—
[call ended]
[Twenty minutes after this voicemail, Ms. Randall called and left another. This one was also unintelligible, but there was no static. All that’s audible is slow, steady breathing, and what seems to be a pulsating noise in the background.]
re: something strange
Cassidy R
To Daniel
Oct 22, 2022, 2:06 am
Hi Dan,
First, I wanted to say I’m sorry for scaring you earlier. Mom was just here and explained everything to me. I don’t know why I got so weird, everything makes sense. Everything’s okay now.
Mom sat me down at the table and told me about Yiyath. You guys had it wrong. The sites aren’t burial grounds, and they’re not really temples. I mean, they sort of are, but they’re more than that. They’re like alarm clocks, you know? They’re supposed to go off one by one and wake up Yiyath.
See Yiyath is the God of Eternal Faces, and He came through to our world thousands of years ago and saw that we weren’t ready for harvest yet. So He set up all these different alarms all over the world that were set to wake Him up when our planet was ready. Guess what? We are! We’re going to see Him soon, and everything’s okay now.
Mom says that before the Resurrection can begin, every alarm needs to go off. In order to do that, there needs to be a sacrifice at each site. The glowing purple metal means that the alarm is waking up, and needs the sacrifice to activate. That’s when the cube and the orb show up as well. As soon as the sacrifice is made, the alarm will go off and the next one will start to wake up. When they’ve all gone off, Yiyath will awaken and He will come to harvest and walk amidst His fields and everything’s okay now.
Mom was so nice about it that I started crying like a baby. Dumb, right? Anyway, I wanted to let you know that everything’s okay now and you don’t have to worry about me. The light is beautiful, and the triform temple is growing. Soon the sacrifice will be made, and I’ve been chosen! Isn’t that so cool? No one ever chooses me for anything. No one ever did. You didn’t, my dad didn’t, my mom only did because nobody else would, but Yiyath chose me. So many people out there and He chose me. It made me cry when she told me that.
I feel really good for the first time in my life, so I wanted to let you know that everything’s okay now and you shouldn’t worry. Get ready for the harvest! He will walk amidst His fields and all will lift their faces to Him and all will give over their faces and He will be pleased.
Everything’s okay now!
Love,
Cassidy
[Dr. Hart called Ms. Randall at 3:57 am]
Daniel: Cassidy?
Cassidy: Hi, Daniel. How are you?
Daniel: I’m good. I’m good. Is your mother still there?
Cassidy: Oh no, she couldn’t stay. I’m sure she’ll be back later. Do you have a message you’d like me to give?
[no response for a moment. Dr. Hart cries.]
Daniel: Um. I called Lee. She wanted me to say hello.
Cassidy: That’s so sweet! Thank you.
Daniel: Yeah. Yes. She’s getting the first flight she can. She should be home by tomorrow afternoon at the latest.
Cassidy: Oh, she didn’t need to do that. I’m fine. Yiyath’s keeping me company.
Daniel: Is he? Oh God, um, can I talk to him?
Cassidy: No, he’s walking outside right now and I don’t think he wants to talk to anyone else. He’s been really fun, though. He’s shown me all his different faces. He has so many of them. Sometimes he’s me, and sometimes he’s Mom, and sometimes he’s Lee and sometimes he’s you. It’s not totally him yet, of course. He’s still waking up. But part of him’s already awake, and he’s taking me through everything. He’s so nice.
Daniel: You sound okay. You . . . [sobs] Sorry, you sound calm.
Cassidy: I feel so good right now. Yiyath told me all about the sacrifice I need to make, and I’m ready.
Daniel: No! Cassidy, please don’t hurt yourself. I want you to, shit, please just go sit down and wait while I call 911. Okay?
Cassidy: Why would you do a thing like that? Why do you sound so upset?
Daniel: I, uh, fuck, I want the ambulance to come and . . . and . . .
Cassidy: I don’t need an ambulance, Daniel. You sound upset. I feel like you’re not happy that Yiyath and I are hanging out together.
Daniel: That’s not it.
Cassidy: I think it’s really unfair that you could go off and dump me for someone else and then when I find someone I like being with you act possessive. It’s not even like that with Yiyath. This makes me not want to talk to you anymore.
Daniel: Okay. Okay. Sorry. I won’t call 911. Okay?
Cassidy: Good.
Daniel: Listen, I . . . Cassidy, I’m sorry. Okay? [crying] I’m sorry about your mother, and I’m sorry you’re alone right now. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about Kaitlyn sooner. I, I’m sorry that I made you feel stupid and annoying. You were right, I was the one who asked you out in the first place. I know, I know we’re not good together but it was something that I really needed at the time. I think you needed it, too. We never made sense but you helped me, and I’ll always be grateful. We’re friends, right? We can be friends. I’m here for you, and I don’t want you to hurt yourself. Okay?
[Lengthy pause]
Cassidy: Thank you for saying that. I appreciate it.
[call ended]
[Dr. Hart contacted the Moorlock Police Department at 4:10 am, then the local hospital, Ms. Randall’s psychiatrist, Lee Williams, and Kaitlyn Donovan.
Dr. Hart then called Ms. Randall again. When the call was picked up, she did not speak. A metallic grating noise was heard. It continued for forty-seven seconds while Dr. Hart cried before he hung up.]
[EDITED TO ADD: Our lab has tried to analyze the voicemail. Every agent who has listened to it for a sustained length of time has required medical leave for nervous hysteria.]
re: something strange
Dr. Daniel P Hart
To Cassidy
Oct 22, 2022, 5:57 am
I called the police back. They say that they checked the property again and found nobody there. I managed to speak with your doctor, and he’s adamant you shouldn’t be alone right now. Lee is on her way back to town. I’m getting in the car right now and I’m driving to you. Google says I should be there in just under four and a half hours. I should be pulling up by ten thirty.
I hope you’re all right. I’m not going to abandon you again. Whatever’s happening to you, we’ll get through it. You’re not alone. I’m sorry if you ever felt alone. God, I’m sorry about everything.
I’ll see you soon.
Daniel
[This is the final communication. No one has heard from either Dr. Hart or Ms. Randall since this e-mail was sent.]
[EDITED TO ADD: We have received information from the Moorlock Police, which we are adding to this file.
Ms. Lee Williams arrived at the farmhouse that afternoon at 12:42 pm. She immediately called the police.
Dr. Hart’s Toyota was found parked beside Ms. Randall’s car. Both the vehicle’s front doors were open. The keys were still in the ignition. Dr. Hart’s phone was lying in the mud outside. We’re unsure if he was trying to call someone, or if he was attempting to take a photo. We will likely never know, as the phone is dead and nothing can be retrieved from it.
Dr. Hart’s car was unable to start, though the battery was charged and the tank still half full.
The only footprints we discovered belonged to Ms. Williams. Neither Dr. Hart nor Ms. Randall left any prints outside, despite the recent rain. In addition, no fingerprints were discovered anywhere. Though Ms. Randall had been living in the house for over a week, the entire area was clean. It was as if no one had ever been inside the house.
A thorough inspection was made of the grounds. There is no sign of any stele, cube, or orb. There is no indication any such objects ever existed.
Though there was no evidence of physical wrongdoing at the farm, police and our agents were disturbed by one additional finding. All fifty-seven trees in the orchard are dead. No one is certain how or why this occurred.
This concludes our file on the Randall/Hart disappearance, though our investigation into the origins of the Yiyath cult is ongoing.
Caspar Nilsson
Director of Operations
International Institute for the Study of Preternatural Ethnohistory (IISPE)
cnilsson@IISPE.org]
[EDITED TO ADD: We have received word from colleagues in New Zealand. Apparently a small monument has been discovered twenty miles from a Norwegian scientific outpost in the Antarctic. It has been described as a purple obelisk covered in strange pictographs. Report to follow.]