"Are you alright?" Liam asked. 

Gagging a moment, Caleb brought a hand to his mouth. Not answering until he was sure the contents in his stomach stayed where they should be, he briefly doubled over. Then, surprising both of them, he began laugh. 

"Am I alright? I'm standing in my living room with my dead husband, whom I just got back with after stomping around the creepy ass forest he died in that's in the middle of a deserted industrial complex, where we found out our best friend was just yesterday, and his phone which has a fucking recording on it that looks like something from The Blair Witch Project! No, I am not fucking okay, Liam!"

With that, Caleb spun on his heel and propelled himself as quickly as he could to the bathroom. He dry heaved for minutes on end into the toilet, the only thing coming up a sour clear liquid. When he began to hyperventilate, his vision becoming blurred with every heave, Caleb forced himself to calm down. His sides hurt, and his eyes watered from the retching. 

After a few moments of still being hunched over the toilet, Caleb allowed himself to collapse back against the wall. With a grunt he stayed there, vaguely cognizant of the fact that Liam was standing in the doorway. Caleb sensed Liam was there protectively, and it helped calmed his nerves. 

"Technically the industrial complex isn't abandoned," Liam said, mischievous connotation coating the words. "That dealership is still open."

Caleb snorted, not opening his eyes. "Fuck off."

It was only when Liam took a step forward and squatted next to Caleb did Caleb open his eyes. Even so, he stared dully ahead. In a manner that was Liam, through and through, his husband began to fuss over the hair along his ears. It was a nervous, mother-like fixation Liam did whenever he was worried about Caleb. 

"I've never seen you like that," Liam said, barely above a soft whisper. 

Caleb didn't reply. 

"When was the last time you ate?" Liam asked, eyes scanning over Caleb's face. 

Caleb merely shrugged. 

Getting into a more comfortable position, Liam sat next to his husband. A time passed where they didn't speak. Then, in an almost shy manner, Liam slipped his hand into Caleb's. When Caleb didn't pull away, Liam rested his head against his shoulder. 

"You can't do this to yourself," Liam told him softly. 

Caleb closed his eyes again. 

"It's killing you, Caleb."

"I'm fine."

"But you're not. You just, I don't know, had a mini-breakdown, or a panic attack or something." 

"I was worse," Caleb whispered. 

"Worse?" Liam cried indignantly. "How could you have been worse than that?" 

"I wasn't eating. I wasn't sleeping." Caleb looked at Liam with steely resolve. "Your mom finally convinced me to go to doctor Henry." 

Liam refrained from asking how their family doctor was. 

"He gave me some sleeping pills. It helped, but I still wasn't eating." Caleb looked away, for the first time, looking ashamed. "So yeah, babe, I was worse." 

Liam gave Caleb a tight hug. Then, in a jovial manner, he got to his feet, held out his hand, and grinned. "Well, c'mon then! Lets figure this out!" 

Caleb looked up at him as though he were crazy. 

For just a flicker, Liam's smile fell. But then he plastered it back on. "C'mon. I loathe seeing you like this. So let's get to the bottom of everything, okay?" 

Even so, Caleb didn't move. So Liam scooped him up under his arms, literally dragging him to his feet. For a minute they stood, opposite but equal, the dead man smiling while the living looked utterly crushed. Caleb allowed his head to drop. 

"I miss you." 

Liam laughed. "I'm right here, silly!" 

"That's not what I meant," Caleb sighed. 

C'mon, this is too sad. 

Caleb peered up into Liam's face. He was still smiling. Caleb looked away, remorseful at the thought he had just overheard. "Sorry."

"Don't be," Liam replied, his forced smile losing its luster. "I just can't see you like this."

Caleb didn't move. Liam grinned again. 

"So c'mon! Let's put on our best detective hats and do this!" 

Without bothering to wait for a reply, Liam turned on his heel once more and strode back into the living room where the ominous belongings of Paul were waiting. 

It didn't take long for Caleb to emerge. Liam scooped up the phone, and then sat on the couch. "Grab me a charger, yeah? This thing's about to die."

Caleb did as he was told without asking. He then handed it to Liam, who was wearing his false grin again. "It's kinda like me, yeah? You're my charger, Caleb!" 

Caleb smiled faintly and shook his head. Jumping at even the small improvement, Liam grew serious. 

"Alright," he said, brow furrowed. "Let's try to figure out what is going on here." 

The pair sat side by side, hunched over the glowing device. Liam glanced at Caleb. "Ready?" 

Caleb nodded. So, with a trembling thumb, Liam pressed play. 

The fourteen second video didn't reveal much. It was just Paul walking, the underbrush crunching under his feet. Then he was making a startled noise, then the phone dropped and stopped. After watching it a few times, Liam grabbed Caleb's arm. "Wait—why did the video stop?" 

Caleb blinked. "Uh. Because he dropped the phone? C'mon, Liam, that's your detective hat?" 

But Liam was shaking his head. "Paul didn't press stop."

Caleb's eyes widen in understanding. After a second, he sputtered. "Uh, maybe the impact made it turn off." 

Liam frowned. "C'mon. Everyone with a cell phone at one point or another has accidentally left a recording on, or set a timer accidentally. Then you come across it the next day or whatever and it's still recording, or the timer reads like, eight billion hours." 

Caleb swallowed. Frowning, Liam poked around the phone for just a second. He then gasped softly. 

"What?"

"There are more videos," Liam murmured in disbelief. 

"What?!" 

Liam pulled up the first one. There was only three more, but they all had the same date stamp, and were in minutes of each other. The first one started with some scrapping noises, and then an image of the the forest being illuminated by Paul's cellphone flashlight. Then, Paul's voice. 

"I thought I heard something."

Silence. Then, "Hello?" 

Nothing. 

"Hello? Anyone there?" 

Silence. 

"Helloooooooo?" 

After a few more seconds, they heard Paul chuckle, and the light switched off. "This is stupi—" 

The video ended. So Liam pulled up the second one. 

"Oooooh my God," Paul was saying as he looked into the phone. "I know I heard something, and I saw some lights in the distance." 

Paul was whispering, and his chuckle sounded shaky. "This is stupid. This is totally stupid, right? I'm just recording this in case a hobo or something kills me out here." More laughter, and he spoke in a sort of sing-song voice. "I'm spooking myself out here." 

The video ended. Liam clicked the third one. Now, Paul sounded panicked. He was walking quickly, the branches beneath him snapping loudly. "Okay I definitely saw something," he said, the camera at a weird angle, catching the underside and cheek of half of Paul's face. "I found this path, and it's like, running along the tracks, but it's heading towards the river. So long as I stick by the river I'll sort of know where I am because I have the map—" 

Paul froze. Evidently he had a flashlight with him? Because now he held up his arm, the beam of a flashlight evident. Paul looked scared now. 

"What was that?" he whispered. "Was that—was that an animal, or—fuck, I just saw something flicker. Oh man. Oh man oh man oh man—" 

Paul started walking again. After a few seconds, Paul whispered, "Okay, I'm by the tracks where they found Lia—HOLY FUCK!" 

Everything moved in a blur. Paul dropped the flashlight, turned around, and took off running. After a few moments of this, the video ended. Caleb and Liam looked at each other, shocked. Without a word passing between them, they both looked down at the screen to watch the weird video again.