The Journal of Darren Waters
Notice: This story is based off of Sonic.exe Round 2. This story is essentially a take on Round 2's general plot and setting if it was framed as a semi-self-aware comedy horror. You don't need to read Round 2 for context, but it would probably be helpful.
written by Tamano and Minervo Ionni
7:30PM September 15th, 2012
Happy birthday to me!
Chloe got me this notebook for my birthday, to be honest I have no idea what else to do with it, so I'm just gonna write in it. My memory isn't very good usually so maybe this will help with remembering stuff. Or maybe I'll just write in it for fun, who knows. Oh, yeah, name's Darren Waters! Me and my sister are detectives.
11:32PM September 30th, 2012
Okay, so I haven’t really had too much to write about for the past couple of weeks. Not too much happens here to be honest. But something really cool is about to happen… me and Chloe just ordered a pizza! For the record, my preferred toppings are:
-sauce
-pepperoint
-no cheese
-ABSOLUTELY NO pineapple
It’s actually been quite a while since I had pizza, I’m honestly excited. Especially because that means Chloe and I get to eat it together. She kind of likes to keep to herself most of the time, so it’s always nice to see her.
11:22AM October 24th, 2012
Wow, pretty interesting way to start off a murder case, on Halloween of all times...haha. Boss told us something bad happened down in the suburbs, so we're being assainged to it. We're heading over to check it out now, I'll report back when we scope out the place.
1:32PM
Ok, first of all, sorry for spelling assigned wrong. Secondly, wow, this place is a mess...I wonder what could've happened here.
1:33PM
Goodness gracious I was not expecting this. It literally looks like something tried to reach inside the victim to pull their insides out, and it did a hell of a messy job at it too. Their jaw is hanging off the bottom of their face, their throat looks completely scalded, he doesn't even have a tongue...weirdest of all, there appears to be a crude "1" carved into the victim's chest...
One of the cops outside the crime scene told me the kid was like this for a couple days before the parents found him like this. Can you believe that? Two days? From what I heard they only found the kid because he was starting to decompose...it's like they were doing it on purpose, but, I dunno.
Anyways, Chloe (that's my sister!) found a clue: The victim owned a computer. Only issue is, it's completely destroyed. Me and Chloe came to the conclusion that either the killer or the victim destroyed the computer, but either way it's been collected as evidence. Time will tell, I guess.
7:34PM
Ok, guys from the lab have their report.
They told us the computer is COMPLETELY destroyed. Like, inside and out, it’s totally fried. Along with that, all of the data on the computer is wiped, which sucks. Well, all except for a file called "sonic.exe", but even that was entirely corrupted, apparently. Kind of a weird coincidence, huh? However I got word that there was ANOTHER body found since I got the report! I would go check it out, but to be honest I'm kinda sleepy...I'll check it out tomorrow with Chloe. Goodnight!
4:32PM October 25th, 2012
Got in a lot of trouble with the boss...I'm not going to sleep early again, haha. Anyways, horrible news, another murder definitely happened here. And the victim appears to be in the exact same shape! It's not even been 2 days and this killer already struck again! His computer looks destroyed like the last one too, we'll be sending it in for testing but I wouldn't be too shocked if there's some data from the same "sonic.exe" file on it.
7:33PM
Just got word from the guys, yep, it's the same deal. I'm noticing a pattern here...Anyways, Chloe needs me for something, gotta go for now.
5:17PM November 13th, 2012
Oops, I forgot about this book for a while. Anyways, a few more murders have taken place these past few weeks, so me and Chloe have sure been busy. It's all the same thing though, but it looks like the killer is getting better at it each time. The last couple of times, their jaw looked fine, so I think that counts as improvement? The numbers have kept going up too, "3", "4", "5", "6", even "7"...is he keeping track of how many he's killed? Guess so, but I still don't get what's up with the computers being destroyed. Me and Chloe are pretty sure that the killer is the one destroying them, but why would he do that?
8:33PM
Had dinner with Chloe! We've been brainstorming over this a lot, really strange that the victim's computers are all destroyed like this. It honestly feels like the killer wants us to keep finding data from that "sonic.exe" thing. Is it a game?
Does "sonic.exe" relate to the Video Game Franchise? I remember playing some Sonic games with Chloe when I was younger, but I don't know what a Video Game of all things would have to do with this...it can't be different Sonic games, the data is always the same, but it's always too corrupted to actually get anything out of the file, from what I've been told.
It's just so weird...
3:54PM December 2nd, 2012
Another murder, big surprise. This one was number "8", me and Chloe are absolutely sure that the game and the murders are connected. Maybe the killer made it as his calling card? That's starting to seem more likely, especially since this victim's computer was actually mostly in tact! Not really usable, but maybe we can get something from it? More importantly, the killer is getting better with how he's killing his victims. Honestly, this one wasn't even that gruesome, aside from the fact they were decomposing it was actually pretty hard to tell they were dead. Weird, huh?
7:22PM
Autopsy came in, this is starting to get even weirder. Nothing really wrong with this one besides them being, y'know, dead, so the guys decided to try taking a look inside, and what they found was odd. Their brain looked like it had melted! When I asked them how this would even happen, they said they had no clue. Things are getting even weirder...
Chloe told me this was some of the most unsettling things she's ever seen, and I have to agree. What could even cause something like this? On the bright side, there's been good progress on the recovery of the latest victim's computer. Hopefully we can figure out what's in that "sonic.exe" file.
4:43PM December 5th, 2012
Merry Christmas! Except it's not very 'merry' since someone died. We're up to number "9" now, which, to be honest, is kind of impressive considering its only been a couple months since this murder spree started. Unfortunately this victim's computer was completely burnt up like the rest.
More importantly though, we're getting pretty close to getting the "sonic.exe" file functional again. Yippee! The chief is telling me that I'll be getting the game ASAP for research, since he trusts me and Chloe with things like this the most. That's kind of nice, I guess.
4:52PM
Also, oh my God, really hope that the chief choosing me for this means he's thinking about me. He's like, completely out of my league, but still.
2:21PM December 6th, 2012
Not much happened today, got called to another murder scene, number "10". There's not much to note about these anymore but the numbers carved on their chests are starting to look better. Me and Chloe are getting kinda tired of this though, it's basically the same thing every time. This guy has to mess up eventually, right? How is he even getting away this much, so easily...we don't even have any fingerprints!
1:33PM December 7th, 2021
We got a copy of "sonic.exe"! The chief left us a disc with the file on it this morning, in the mail box. Honestly was hoping he'd give it to me personally, but whatever, we have it now! I'll check it out later.
3:23PM
Alright, time to check this out. I'll be writing down my thoughts here as I look through it.
First of all, after putting the disc in, it automatically started installing the sonic.exe file. It was done basically instantly, and the icon was just a ring from the classic Sonic games.
So I clicked on it.
It quickly opened up with a title screen that looked identical to Sonic 1's. So I was right about it being a game of some kind, cool! Honestly I was kind of excited, at least until I hit start. Quickly that excitement was replaced with dread as the title screen, if only for a split second, became something rather disturbing. The blue and clear sky turned black, the waterfalls looked red, the mountains looked jagged and rough, even the ring surrounding Sonic looked rusty and decrepit. Sonic himself looked basically the same though, aside from his eyes being blacked out and his pupils replaced with simple red dots.
Anyways, it then cut to the save select. I didn't think Sonic 1 had a save select but I can let it slide since I was assuming this was a fan game of some kind. Although it looked kinda odd, there were only three save files, and they each had a certain character assigned to them. In order, there was Cream, Tails and Amy...which is odd, since none of those characters were even IN Sonic 1, two of them weren't even in the old Sonic games! Kind of odd...
Tails and Amy were both locked for some reason, so I just chose Cream out of force. A weird laugh sounded off, and it didn't really sound like anything from a Sonic game, but whatever.
The level opened with a titlecard that read "SAFE ZONE".
The level itself looked like a large field of flowers, very nicely drawn with a peaceful blue sky alongside it. It's worth noting the art not only looked great but also similar in style to the rest of the classic Sonic games. Cream's sprite looked exactly like something out of the old games as well, if you didn't know any better you could mistake it for being official! Whoever made this must be pretty talented. Cream didn't run when she moved, rather she just walked peacefully along the level. There were no enemies or anything, aside from some butterflies floating around that only acted as decoration.
Then, a butterfly fell. And then another...and another...
When the first one fell, Cream's smile faded. And each one that died made her look more upset. As I got further into the level, the grass started becoming more yellow and dead until the field was nothing but a graveyard of grass. What happened to this place? Butterflies stopped appearing althogether and were only found in piles of butterfly corpses that littered the landscape, to the point that the ground was starting to be entirely covered by the butterfly bodies. By now Cream was reduced to a sobbing mess and had slowed down considerably, and after a bit she simply collapsed onto the ground, and for what felt like an eternity she didn't do anything but cry. Then she stopped shuddering, and stayed completely still.
The ground suddenly split open, and she fell in screaming. The scream didn't sound like anything from a Sonic game, it was bloodcurdling honestly. As the scream faded out, a strange silhouette appeared on the ridge to her right, almost looking like Sonic. But before I could take a better look, the screen cut to black, accompanied by the same laugh from earlier.
Then, some text appeared. It looked cut up, like something out of a ransom note. "WelCOmE tO MY WoRLd".
Another level card appeared. I guess I passed the level? The name of the level was simply "SACRIFICE".
There was a resounding thud as Cream fell from the top of the screen and landed on the cold hard floor. The location was a stark contrast from the last, it was a church of all things. Again, lovingly drawn and detailed like the field. The hall she landed in was lined with paned glass windows, with intricate designs all making up the letter "X". Statues on pedestals lined the background, all representing a strange, almost demonic looking entity that almost resembled a feral hedgehog. Cream looked anxious, and she seemed to be limping as she walked.
Kinda interesting so far, gotta go to the bathroom though, give me a minute.
4:47PM
Alright, back! Anyways, I continued playing the game. Cream had an idle animation where she fell asleep, that was neat I guess. She walked really slowly, much slower than in the field, holding her arm as she limped forward. Unlike the last area, this one had music, being some weird choir music I don't think I've heard before. As I moved forward the music slowly became louder, and the light that came from the paned glass also became dimmer, like the sun was setting. After a few minutes I reached what I assumed was the end of the hall.
By the time I reached the end, it was almost entirely dark. The final room had light coming from the ceiling, flickering almost like a dim light bulb. As Cream reached the light, she suddenly collapsed, clearly exasperated. And for a few seconds everything was, thankfully, completely silent.
Footsteps echoed through the room, causing Cream to suddenly look up. As they got closer, the figure became clearer...it was Sonic! Cream looked relieved, as did I, but something was wrong. His eyes were shut, and he too was limping a bit, but not in the "I just fell down a pit and broke a few bones" way and more in the "I'm just learning how to walk" way. Anyways, as she stuck her hand out, and then he opened his eyes...
His eyes were completely black, with red pupils, and his eyes were bleeding. Just like the title screen! He quickly grabbed her, holding her up in the air with just one hand. A demented grin was painted across his face, Cream looking absolutely terrified. Before anything could happen, the screen cut to black this time, the scream from earlier sounded out albeit a little different. I hope she's ok...
It cut back to the save select again, although this time where Cream once was, now had a big red X painted on it. In the monitor was Cream staring straight at the screen, she looked grayed out, like someone took all the life out of her. Her eyes were sewn shut as well. I guess she's not ok...
Anyways, Tails was unlocked! I'll try him out later though, I need to take a nap.
7:22PM
I’m back, sooner than I expected too. I had a weird dream. Sonic killed me. I’m still kind of tired but I guess it’s better than sleeping as long as I usually do and getting back to it tomorrow.
Anyways, time to try Tails out. He was always my favorite. When I selected him it played the laugh like from before, which...is starting to get kind of annoying to be honest.
The level-title-card thing read "HILL ACT 1". It was just Green Hill Zone like in the original game, albeit it was mostly just a flat plane. Not a lot was happening honestly, far less pretty or interesting than Cream's level. Things got slightly more interesting when I was faced with a slope, but that was also kinda boring. As I climbed the hill however, the music started to slow down. It was gradual, but it felt like every step I took made the music slow down just a bit more. And as I climbed, dead bodies started to appear.
There were dead animals all killed in different, brutal ways. Some were hung using their entrails, others were skinned, sometimes whole chunks of their bodies were gone. Plants started dying as I climbed, the sky turned yellow, the grass looked like it was dying. This all hit its peak as I finally reached the top of the slope, and after walking a little more I finally found him. I was gonna try and attack him but the game just locked me into a cutscene.
The music had completely stopped, his eyes were closed and he had his back to Tails. Tails cautiously walked up to him, but as he got closer, I could hear faint static growing louder. And right before he was able to touch Sonic's shoulder...the screen cut to black. And then a message appeared, in the same style as the one in Cream's stage.
"hELLo. dO YOu wAnt To pLAY WItH ME?"
I actually did not want to play with him considering what he did last level.
The next level began, the levelcard reading "HIDE AND SEEK". Tails looked more scared than usual, and when his idle animation played he pointed to the right, urging me to keep going. The background was a forest on fire, like in Angel Island, but the fire looked more like an actual fire than a sprite, which is weird considering I don't think the original game had a background like that. Actually, hold on, let me check...
7:55PM
Yeah, just watched a playthrough of Sonic 3, the background is definitely different. I wonder how they managed to pull it off. Anyways, like the rest of the levels, I just kept holding right. For a while nothing was really happening, until a bunch of images of that weird bloody eyed Sonic started flashing across the screen. Honestly it kinda hurt my eyes, I looked away for a moment and when I turned back, "Sonic" was chasing me! He wasn't running though, just floating slightly above the ground, his arm reaching out to grab Tails.
The drowning music started playing as Sonic started closing the distance in on Tails. As the song reached its climax it was clear I was not going to outrun him, and once he finally touched Tails he just...disappeared. Tails collapsed on the floor, sobbing. Is this where the actual hide and seek game was going to start?
Suddenly, Sonic appeared, looming over Tails. The fox looked up in fear before being picked up. Suddenly, a scream rang out, sounding like the one Cream used, which was kind of weird since Tails is a guy. I didn’t know he had such a feminine scream. Anyways, the screen cut to black after Tails screamed, and then some more text appeared like the last.
"YOu'RE ToO SloW...WAnt TO TrY AGAin?"
I guess I could've made it somehow? I probably could've gained more speed near the start I guess, I was going to try again, but like Cream any character I finished became unplayable, so sadly I can’t. Tails was in the monitor now, looking grayed out like Cream. Thankfully the only character left was Amy, then I ‘’’,
4:43AM December 8th, 2012
Oh no! I’m sorry! I fell asleep! I'm back though, and I’m ready to play Amy's stage. Although it’s still night…I’ll be able to make up for it later.
I selected her level, but this time instead of the laugh I had heard previously, there was a raspy, almost exhausted sounding growl. Did I make him angry…?
The level didn't start with a title card, it just appeared in a special stage from Sonic 1. At first I was excited, because I love those! But unfortunately it was just a hallway that I was stuck falling down. Also, Amy looked like a recolor of the regular jumping sprite that Sonic had, but it was just pink. And the background looked like Sonic 1's special stage as well. Weird, when Cream's level was almost entirely made of unique assets…
This went on for minutes though. Every once in a while there was a turn in the corridor, but besides that there was nothing. As she fell though, the background began to change. Normally you can see the background turn into stuff like birds and fish, but it started changing into things that were weird. The fish became heads, then hands, eyes, screaming faces, the sky turned redder and redder as Amy descended. The clouds sped up as well.
All the while the music in the background, being the regular Sonic 1 special stage music, began to speed up. I thought it was funny (at the time…). This continued for another few minutes before Amy abruptly fell into a GOAL ring. Normally the camera would start spinning and it would cut back to the regular game, but something strange happened instead.
The game almost seemed to lock up for a few seconds, the graphics corrupting as Amy screamed. Her scream seemed to be caught in a loop as the game froze, displaying a string of text in the upper right corner reading “ILLEGAL INSTRUCTION”. Why did it say illegal? Did I break the law?
After this, the game cut to black for an uncomfortable amount of time. I was expecting to see credits, or be taken back to the save select, or something. But after a bit though, some text appeared, cut up like the rest.
"i'M DOnE WAitINg."
It cut to a view of an empty room with a checkered floor, under a dim light. In it was a 3D model of Sonic. It looked rather detailed as well, but my train of thought was caught by the fact I hadn't had any breakfast yet. Chloe was probably up by now anyways. But as soon as I turned away…A loud snap rang out from the speakers, and when I looked back, wounds were starting to form over Sonic's body. Like little paper cuts that slowly grew in size.
His arms began to stretch, each bend causing them to crack and pop. Bone protruded from the twists and turns his body kept making, almost like whatever was inside his body was outgrowing it. I don't know when, but at some point it stopped looking like just a 3D model. As weird as it is to say, it looked almost real? Like I was looking through a window? The entire time it was smiling right at me, a wide stretched grin with putrid yellow teeth. Every crack and bend of its body made that smile grow even wider, like it was enjoying this far too much.
The dim light above the room in the monitor flickered slightly before going out, making me realize how familiar I was with it. An uncomfortable silence followed, and after everything I wasn't sure how to react. The darkness of my own room wasn't helping with the feeling either, so I leaned up in my seat to turn the light on.
But then…something grabbed my arm…
The grip was firm. It felt cold and wet, but what hit me first was the smell. It was putrid. It smelled of death. Not unlike the corpses I’ve grown used to seeing throughout this case. I quickly looked back, and the arm was coming from the monitor itself somehow. But I didn’t really have time to question it because it was probably trying to kill me, so I quickly tried to rip my arm away from the gloved hand. The grip was so tight I had to use my free arm to rip it off. Surprisingly it actually worked, but I fell back along with the flimsy office chair I was sitting on.
I ran back against the nightstand and I checked my pockets for something that could help me, trying not to take my eyes off of the arm in the screen. There was nothing in my pockets, nothing under the bed…I never kept a gun on me at home, at least not in my room. By this point the thing reaching through the monitor had another pair of fingers reaching out of the computer, and something was slowly becoming visible in the center. I'm not sure if I could call it a face, it was more like a black hole. A head split down the middle, filled with little hands and eyes, completely incomprehensible. My body froze up, I tried and failed to scream, and I couldn't take my eyes off of whatever was looking at me.
I fully believed I was going to die. Maybe even worse than die, actually. But my attention was finally taken off of the thing climbing through the monitor when my bedroom door swung open. It was Chloe! She looked like she had just gotten up, probably awoken by the loud crash the chair made. The limbs outside of the monitor flinched a bit as the door hit the wall, and without skipping a beat she went for something in the pockets of her pajamas. Which turned out to be a gun! And then she immediately unloaded what was probably a whole clip into the monitor and PC.
As the screen shattered, the arms detached and fell. They made a wet thud as they hit the ground, and in a matter of seconds they withered away, melting into a puddle of black goop. (This stained the floor, by the way! And it still smells really bad!!!)
Me and Chloe just looked at each other.
7:03AM
Um…so we called off work today after the incident. Breakfast afterwards was a bit awkward, but I think what happened helped with the investigation. We're basically 100% certain that the game has something to do with the murders. After everything that happened, Chloe insisted on destroying the hard drive completely, which I was fine with. However I really don't think that stopped whatever was trying to get me. Whatever it was certainly wasn't human, so in all honesty I don't know where to go from here...this case might be tough.
Thankfully we managed to get a bit of whatever that black goop was into a container. I don't think we can just tell them what happened exactly, they would probably think we're crazy! Maybe Chloe can think of something since I’m not really good at lying…
3:22PM December 10th, 2012
Not much has happened in terms of the investigation, thankfully there hasn't been any more murders in the past couple of days, but I won't hold my breath on that. We're waiting to send the sample in, not sure what to do in the meantime though. Maybe I'll try and look for anything related to Sonic.exe on the Internet.
4:55PM
Okay, I searched a bit and I think the best place to start is on something called a Forum. I found one related to Sonic and made a post asking about the game. If you’re curious, here is what I wrote:
“Does anyone know about Sonic.exe? Recently there have been murders in my local area that seem to be related to a Sonic game for computers called Sonic.exe. My boss gave me a copy of the game to investigate (I’m a detective!) and I can confirm that the game was related to this Sonic. It featured a bunch of characters walking through empty levels before they were killed by a bloody Sonic. I’m curious if anyone here might know more about it since I’m not very familiar with the Sonic community. I thought maybe it could be like an inside joke in your community or something. Any information will be extremely helpful in this case. Thank you.”
I’ll write back if I get a response.
6:54PM
Wow, someone responded! Someone with the username "Sonicfan36", but he called himself Tom. It sounded like he also had the game. The best part? We agreed to talk about it over Skype later! Hooray! We might finally have a lead after all this time!
Well, that’s for another day. I’m going to bed now. I don’t want to be late for the funeral tomorrow.
3:22PM December 9th, 2012
Okay, I have a couple things to report on.
First of all, me and Chloe brought in the strange substance to the lab, and she made up a quick excuse about us finding it at one of the previous crime scenes. The guys seemed sort of confused and like they didn’t believe us, but they took it in anyway. And while they were on that, I went to the funeral! I mentioned that last night, remember? I’ve been attending most of them throughout this case out of respect for the victims. But…something weird happened at this funeral.
For one of the first few funerals, someone came up to me and we talked for a while. She said her name was Sarah Warden and that she was the owner of the funeral home. We’ve started doing that ever since for every funeral. She always has interesting things to say about her life. She’s kind of like a funeral friend!
But today, when we met up, she told me something peculiar. She had mentioned before that being the owner of the funerals wasn’t her only job, and today, out of curiosity I asked her what other jobs she has. And she told me…she runs a cult, called The Cult of X! And she asked me if I wanted to be a part of it with her! I couldn’t believe it! I had to turn her down but I wished her the best with her line of business. She seemed to be sort of annoyed with me for that though. I hope we’re still friends…
3:45PM
Oh no, I almost forgot! The results from the lab said that the substance somehow wasn’t linked to anything at all, whatsoever. How is that even possible??
8:57PM
Please proceed with caution when reading this next entry.
We ordered another pizza today. I was so happy until I found out that Chloe ordered a Hawaiian pizza. I became worried, but thankfully she’s okay. I can’t say the same for myself though after she offered me to try a piece. I can’t even describe it. I can’t describe how much I HATE it! It made me throw up and it hurt! I FUCKING HATE pinapple on pizza! Not mixing sweet and sour foods is one of the most IMPORTANT unspoken rules of cooking, and yet there is a subset of people who think this is the one exception. IT’S NOT! It’s literally not! How can you say that? It’s a rule! And you know what the most ridiculous part is? The name isn’t even ACCURATE! It wasn’t made in Hawaii, it was made by CANADA! Seriously! I’m not even racist, but…I hate that they did this! They invented the worst food on Earth and ruined the reputation of an innocent island with their horrible taste! I thought KETCHUP CHIPS were bad! These people can’t get anything right! The only good thing to come out of them was maple syrup, and they managed that before I was even born! Do these people know how to do ANYTHING right anymore?
I literally can’t even remember how it tasted…I’m crying so hard my mind blocked out the memory of the event. I’m sorry…I need to go to sleep…
11:23PM
Good morning…or an hour away from that anyway. I didn’t mean to write another entry tonight, I feel really bad, but I’ve been having these horrible dreams about that weird Sonic saying mean things about me and my family for the past couple of days, and it’s bothering me.
To be honest, after I got up I started thinking my family in general after what he said. I’ve been through a lot. I came out to them when I was a teenager and I only survived because Chloe left with me. A lot of things happened after that, and I don’t really want to write them down, but we’re still here. And eventually I was able to take a few years of training and I managed to get my dream job! A detective!
Though, I don’t think Chloe likes that this is what I wanted to do. I also think maybe this is why she doesn’t really like to be around me most of the time. We’ve been through a lot together and I hope after all this time she still cares about me, but…the evil Sonic doesn’t seem to think so. I don’t really like him.
8:34AM December 10th, 2012
Me and Tom finally talked over Skype! Going to write down the conversation we had below.
DWaters (that’s me!)
Hello, Tom?
Sonicfan36 (Tom)
hai
who is this? :?
DWaters
It's Darren. We just talked. :)
Sonicfan36
oh yeah!
so what did you want to talk about?
i forgot :/
DWaters
Well, first of all...
Are you okay?
Sonicfan36
i am literally in hell right now, so not really?
i'm safe though, I guess :3
what did you want to know? o-o
DWaters
Oh, so that's how you're still alive. Huh...
What is it like to be in Hell? What does it look like?
Also, how are you able to communicate here?
Sonicfan36
basically, I got kidnapped a few days ago by sonic (the hedgehog :>)
although he wasn't really sonic, he just looked like sonic with weird eyes...
he was gonna take my soul or something? but he remembered my name because i think we talked on the fourms for a bit
honestly he was nice, I didn't expect him to be a demon :(
he gave me internet access because he felt bad and he kind of just keeps me around to talk about sonic stuff?
idk what the outside looks like but the room he keeps me in looks fine. he gave me a bunk bed but I just sleep on the floor since theres no a/c ><
also I hear screaming and crying constantly from the other rooms, that makes it harder to sleep...and sometimes the walls bleed a bit too :(
DWaters
You were kidnapped by Sonic?
Sonicfan36
i mean, you got the disc, right? :? that's how he found me :/
DWaters
Disc?
What disc?
Sonicfan36
i got a disc from my friend (kyle :3) with a weird sonic game on it. you've seriously never seen the disc??
it literally had "sonic.exe" written on it o_o
kyle told me to snap the disc, i probably should've, but in all honesty I don't know why he didn't just snap it himself :/
DWaters
That's interesting.
We haven't found a disc at any of the murder scenes at all. (I work for the police.)
And there's been around 10 of them now...
Is your friend Kyle there?
Maybe he could make this investigation easier if we had a chat. Does he also have a Skype?
Sonicfan36
oh yeah I have literally no idea where he is, I should probably ask about that :3
DWaters
Oh. Who are you going to ask?
Sonicfan36
the guy who kidnapped me. he just looks like sonic but his eyes are black, and bleeding, and stuff. idk i asked him about it, its genetic. i feel bad for him :(
DWaters
Wait, what? Sonic is there with you? Right now?
Sonicfan36
oh no he just comes by sometimes, he just brings me food and stuff. i think its mostly just frozen meals tho
most of the time we just talk about sonic lore while i just kinda eat? it's sort of awkward but I have nothing else to do ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
DWaters
Oh, my God.
Do you know anything else about him?
Sonicfan36
he told me his name is EX once (pronounced X but he specified that it was spelled like that). sometimes he likes to go by sonic.exe.
i have no idea what he is but he honestly seems alright, besides the whole like, running hell thing that he does :/
that's the other thing, I'm pretty sure he just tortures people for fun or something, which would probably explain the screaming and the bleeding wall thing which scares me a bit honestly o_o
DWaters
EX!?!?!?
Sonicfan36
yeah his name sucks XD
do you know him?
DWaters
No, I don't...but I heard about a local cult called The Cult of X.
Do you think they might be connected?
Sonicfan36
you might be onto something :3
idk why he would need a cult, but like if he runs hell, i guess it makes sense 0-0
DWaters
Wait, he runs Hell? EX is...the Devil?
Sonicfan36
i don't think he's the actual devil
i mean why would the devil like sonic and not mario :3
DWaters
Hm.
Well, all of this information has been very helpful. I will be sure to tell my sister and my boss what you've said.
Thank you, Tom.
Sonicfan36
okie! have a good one then! shakes your hand
4:02PM
Yikes! Me and Chloe got laid off the case…
We got dragged into the office by the Chief and we went through this really awkward conversation that almost felt like he was coming up with it as he went along? He told us that we were being reassigned to another case because we “weren’t capable enough to handle it”…not going to lie, I personally felt incredibly offended by this…how could someone as nice and adorable as the chief tell me that…
Just for that, I’m going to do everything I can to stay committed to this case! I’ll make him so impressed…I’ve gotten by it before anyway, it shouldn’t be too difficult.
12:52PM December 11th, 2012
Holy moly…I got here just in time! There was another murder just as I was having lunch, I had to rush to the scene. Doesn’t seem like anyone has questioned me being here yet, haha. Though there’s not much about this body that I can really say that hasn’t been said about the other bodies, so…hm.
1:10PM
Um. So me and Chloe were stalked and ambushed on our way home. At first I thought she was just being paranoid when we saw people walking behind us, but we got assaulted. And at Walmart no less! One of them jumped us on our way home and I think they tried to kidnap us or something? And…I might’ve had to dislocate their arm while trying to escape.
I feel bad though because I didn’t want to do that. I really wouldn’t have, but that person didn’t give me much of a choice. If you’re somehow reading this right now, I’m super sorry I did that man, I was just really freaked out. I hope your arm gets better soon!
3:44PM December 13th, 2012
Um…this is going to sound scary but I think Chloe and I have been stalked by the same people, maybe even more of them, for the past couple of days. We can’t even go out to get food or anything! And the last pizza we ordered ended up being stolen!!! I’m glad the pizza guy was okay but who does that?
They leave weird notes under the door too, and sticky notes on the windows. Most of them are weird symbols I don’t recognize in the shapes of x’s and stars, and stuff, but sometimes they leave us actual messages! I saved a few, here are what I think they say:
“YOUR TIME OF RECKONING IS NEAR”
“THE FLESH SLOUGH OFF THINE OWN FLESH”
“EVEN DEATH WILL NOT SAVE YOU”
“EX COMES”
“YOU’VE BEEN INVITED TO AN INESCAPABLE FATE”
They’re kind of hard to read, so I might’ve misspelled a few? Maybe I’ll try asking one of them later just in case.
3:43PM
I felt inspired to check the cult’s website that they have, and…my friend Sarah has a testimony on it! I was so shocked! But I guess it makes sense since she said she was leading a cult…either way, it talks about how bad her early years were. Her entire family was MURDERED! She had to hop trains across state lines until she landed in Louisiana. I feel so bad for her…
I wonder if there’s anything else I can find out about her at the station, but I’ll talk about how that goes tomorrow, I’m going to go to sleep now.
5:13PM December 14th, 2012
I got Sarah’s criminal record! It was not illegal.
At first I was concerned over it being here, but thankfully most of it was just minor offenses. Stuff like breaking & entering, robbery, and shoplifting. I can’t even blame her after what she’s been through (her family was murdered). I hope she’s moved on…
9:44PM
Just got done talking with Tom again! If what he’s saying is true, then this could be getting really serious…
DWaters
Happy birthday!
Sonicfan36
it is not my birthday but thankies anyway :D
DWaters
Sorry, just a bit of humor to lighten the mood. Haha.
I think I'm being stalked. :(
Sonicfan36
oh no...whats been happening to you?? :o
DWaters
Uhhh...well we (me and my sister Chloe) have been jumped by weird guys, one of our pizzas got stolen while it was being delivered, and they've been leaving weird sticky note messages under our door and on our windows too! It's really freaky.
Sonicfan36
maybe they're scared of you :? things have been getting tense here...
DWaters
Tense?
Sonicfan36
i think EX is getting closer to uh, "crossing over", i guess?
wherever i am isnt really earth, or your reality, or something ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
its weird o_O
DWaters
Crossing over?
Wait, is he trying to come HERE?
Sonicfan36
basically, yeah :(
i would've told you sooner but he only told me like, last night
if he attacked you like you said, then he must really not like you... '^^
DWaters
Why hasn't he come here sooner?
I mean, he can travel through people's computers somehow to Earth, right?
Can he not just escape that way?
Sonicfan36
he told me needs a tether to your dimension, otherwise he just gets pulled back, but he came up with a solution
he created 7 'gaurdians', each one represents an emotion o_o
when they all eventually cross over, then he has something finally tying him to your reality, or something
thats how he explained it to me. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
DWaters
Hm.
Do you know anything else about them?
Sonicfan36
all of them represent a different character for some reason. i think he gave me a list of names too. like, he wrote it down for me
actually let me just get it hold on :3
DWaters
Alright.
Sonicfan36
Kito – Prayer (Cream)
Aishu – Sorrow (Tails)
Gekido – Rage (Knuckles)
Kirai – Hatred (Eggman)
Kofuku – Happiness (Amy)
Kyofu – Fear (Silver)
Yukubo – Desire (Rouge)
i think tails is the only one left, so it probably wouldn't be good if he crossed over.. :o
DWaters
Wow!
So you're saying all of them are here on Earth?
Sonicfan36
6 are, yeah. at least i think so? they might be around the same local area you're at, but they could also be anywhere else o-o
i have no idea what they do. from how he described them, im pretty sure theyre basically just walking corpses? its really weird
DWaters
Did he explain to you how they cross over to Earth?
Maybe there's some way we can prevent it from happening!
Sonicfan36
uh, i think he told me that they cross over from the origin disk, aka the first disk that was made for him. i think that was the disk that was sent to me actually :/
if kyle was right, you can probably just snap it, and at that point he's probably screwed :3
DWaters
Oh, hm.
Sorry for the late response, I was just getting ready for bed.
Sonicfan36
oh that’s okie!
so um. how much do you know about the sonic series actually? are you a big fan :?
sorry if that’s random but i kind of just want to talk to anyone about it that isn’t EX :3
DWaters
Oh, well, I mostly played it as a child.
I still keep an eye on the games themselves from time to time, and I’m familiar with some of the later characters, but I haven’t really played any of the games.
They don’t really interest me that much.
They should add a Gay Sex Zone…
Sonicfan36
uhhhh, aren’t most of the characters underage? o_O
DWaters
Oh no! Sorry…
Sonicfan36
aw, its ok :3 pats your head
DWaters
Oh by the way, one last thing. Where do you think the disc could be?
Sonicfan36
i would assume that its in the hands of the cult leader, or someone close to EX, if people have died after me. :(
DWaters
Alright. Got it.
Well, I'm going to go to sleep, I have a funeral to go to.
And after that, I'm going to get that disc from the cult!
We're going to end this once and for all.
Thank you, Tom. Good night. :)
Sonicfan36
no problem, good luck though
stay safe.. :3
6:32PM December 12th, 2012
I got kidnapped.
7:22PM
Alright, I finally finished eating dinner, so I have time to talk about it now. I keep a tape recorder on me in case something bad happens at one of these funeral parties, which I had running the entire time, so thankfully I can just write down what happened.
0:02-1:24 - Mostly silence, I was being dragged across the ground I think. You could only hear some scraping noises for a while.
1:32 [???] - "Wake him up. Now."
It was around this point that I got some water splashed on my face, or at least I think it was water? I opened my eyes and noticed I was in a church of some kind. The paned glass was what caught me first, it kind of looked like the windows in Cream's stage when I played Sonic.exe. The whole place was barely lit by candles laid throughout the building. I was sat in a wooden chair with my hands tied, really poorly tied for that matter. I could've easily broken out, but I was busy trying to figure out who and where I had been taken to in the first place.
I noticed I was placed in the middle of the nave, the seats looked mostly full, filled with those hooded figures that kept stalking me and Chloe. Was I in the cult? A clunky looking CRT computer was sat on a table on the altar, the bricks behind it were all painted a dark shade of purple. And standing next to the computer was...Sarah???
1:44 [Me] - "Sarah? Sarah, what are you doing here? Can you help me? This has to be a misunderstanding-"
1:49 [Sarah] - "Silence, you fool."
I was shocked, honestly.
1:51 [Me] - "I…hey! That was rude! I thought we were friends!"
1:55 [Sarah] - "No we are not, animal. We wasted our time on you on behalf of each other, our family The Cult of EX. We know everything about you; your home, your job, your family. You thought we were in your hands, but it has always been the other way around.”
2:11 [Me] - "What? So all the time we spent talking to each other? Talking about all the personal stuff? I thought you trusted me, I thought that…maybe you had gotten better after your family di-"
2:18 [Sarah] - "SHUT UP! SHUT THE FUCK UP YOU IMPURE BASTARD!"
2:25 [Me] - "I-I…I’m sorry! I didn't mean that in a bad way…all I'm saying is I thought you were on my side…"
2:34 [Sarah] - "That was a ruse, dumbass. We wanted you as close to us as we possibly could get, because against ALL odds you've done so much to ruin our God’s divine plan. You have made a mockery of his likeness and even attempted to ruin it. Our family is unhappy with what you’ve done and we will show you the consequences of your actions.”
She pulled a clear disc out of her trenchcoat, with "SONIC.EXE" written on it in pure black sharpie. The disc Tom told me about…
2:48 [Sarah] - "And now that we’ve finally captured you, you will suffer his wrath. Say hello to your suicide and murder!"
2:49 [Me] - "What??? Why are you even doing this? Isn’t EX trying to kill everyone?"
2:55 - [Sarah] "You don’t understand EX. Under his wing he will bring us, and carry us to salvation. He will show everyone the ultimate potential of man, we will find a life of purity and forgiveness! A safe zone! He understands what he's doing, you do not, and we all have faith in him! If we must perish to reach enlightenment, then so be it. I made that decision for myself long ago. But there is something wrong. You. You are unclean, your blood is tainted, and must be severed from our perfect world. You and your family will be damned for all eternity, trapped in an endless night, never to see each other again. Your sister should be thankful. She’ll never have to deal with you again. She will be free. As will everyone else, from YOU, ever having to RUIN another life again! Now, EX! Damn him to-"
4:01 [Me] - *gunshot*
I almost forgot how badly the ropes were tied because of how much she was talking, but thankfully I remembered just in time before she put the disc in…I had to shoot her with a Derringer I kept in my right boot (I put it in after I almost got attacked when playing Sonic.exe). I was hesitant because I cared about her but…she left me no other choice.
4:02 - Sarah falls to the ground, screaming
At that point the cult just kind of stopped paying attention to me and went to help Sarah. Which, I don’t blame them, I would have too. While they were distracted though, I managed to quickly stomp on the disc since Sarah had dropped it.
After doing that, the few dozen cult members turned to me again. I expected them to start rushing me, but they just stared, almost looking shellshocked. It was scary. After that I ran out of the room as quickly as I could, it was sort of hard to leave because the building was massive and empty, but I found my way out after a few minutes.
I stopped the tape at 8 minutes and 42 seconds after I escaped the church.
I’ve been thinking about these events and relistening to the tape recording all day. I don’t know how to process this. I can’t call this in, it honestly feels like the whole department was in on it or something, especially with the Chief. I mean, how else could I explain being taken off the case like that, especially after what she said?
Me and Chloe are gonna need to move somewhere else for the time being…they know where we live, and I don’t think they’ll be happy with what I did.
I’m sorry, Sarah. I wish I could’ve helped you.
4/18, 2013, 6:22AM
Hey. It’s been months since I last wrote here. Um. Well, to put it simply, things have been very hard. We’ve mostly been on the run. Like old times, haha. I had been meaning to go back here and write about what we’ve gone through, but we’ve been putting effort into keeping ourselves alive constantly. There’s been no time. I’m sorry.
I haven’t heard much about the cult, or any more murders. Though I guess I haven’t really heard much about anything, at all. Being as far from my old home as possible. Chloe suggested we try to get ourselves into Canada or something, to start a new life, but I will never step foot in that wretched country. We settled on Alaska. It seems like a better place to be anyways…without people that make horrible pizza.
You know, I think I really did stop them somehow. And I really wish I could be happier about that, but. I’m not. Because I hate what it had to come to. I hurt my friend. I ran away from my only home. I’ve probably hurt my sister so much throughout all of the time she’s spent with me. I can’t not believe what Sarah said. It’s something I can’t look past.
All that is to say, I can’t keep being a detective. Not like this. I don’t know what I’ll do, but after what happened I can’t just trust I won’t put us in danger again. It’s not fair to Chloe. And maybe it never has been.
And…unfortunately, I’m writing this in the last page of my journal. And so…I guess this is goodbye…I’m not really good with goodbyes, but I can’t deny how much it helped me writing this down. Reading over everything these past few months has really put everything in perspective. Well…gotta go.
Thank you, Chloe. Happy birthday.