"I'm going to stop numbering the logs now. It's not even like you're going to listen back on it, it's more of a one-way mirror situation here."

Event's voice was shaky, but he seemed to be holding himself together. Anni hadn't bothered filling me in on anything that happened before this message, and I wasn't about to ask. The recording's quality had deteriorated, though I got the feeling that a year ago it had been clear and sharp. Event took a couple more steps, crunches some more leaves, let out an amused sigh and continued.

"It's getting really cold out here, I think it's 'bout to snow. Getting harder to use the tie all the time, I might just take it off until something really happens. I've been passing through this town and I keep hearing a weird buzzing in my ear. I-I'm pretty sure it's nothing, though."

The wind kicked itself up in volume just as he finished talking as if to prove his point that it was, indeed, getting cold. Event cleared his throat to mask a cough.

"It's nighttime right now, I..." a disturbance in the audio told me he was adjusting his tie. "I've learned not to put myself in plain sight around here, no matter how innocent I think I look. I keep getting these shifty looks from...it's kind of funny, actually, they all seem like angry parents. Not sure why they're focusing on me, but either way, I'm only going out at night."

There was a moment of pure silence, then Event started talking again.

"Okay, so I have something of an answer to the whole people keep looking at me weirdly thing."

"It's a new day," Anni muttered into her palms. I wondered if she was even talking to me.

"I've heard some rumors. Something that happened, just a couple of days ago. I don't know if any of what they said is true, but apparently some stupid kid decided to break into a church at night with a gang and...the whole building just ended up collapsing on them. Most of 'em made it out okay, save for a poor old lady that was with them for some reason. Irving, I think her name was. A shame, wasting a life like that. But she's not who I'm looking for."

The sound of stones scraping together echoed in the background, and if I had to guess, I would have said that he was trying to climb over an unstable stone wall. He landed on firm ground, dusted himself off, and kept walking.

"So maybe these people think I'm gonna do something like that. I mean, I wouldn't really put it past myself, either." He forced a laugh, and the counter next to Anni ticked up another day.

"Hey, Anni old pal, it's been a while. New town. Well, I mean, I've been through a lot of new towns. I must be halfway across the state at this point, I..."

Silence. Horrible, dreadful silence.

"Hey, do you see—wait, no, of course you don't." Event let out an aggravated sigh. "Listen, there's a..." something snapped, but he didn't seem to take notice. "...weird house, at the end of the street here. Looks vacated. It, uh, has this spray-painting on the side, I think it's supposed to be a moon?"

He hesitated.

"I'm going in. Who knows, nothing might even happen."

He definitely took his time with this one. Wood creaked under his weight, it seemed he was dragging his hand along the walls, and even his breathing slowed down a bit. At first I thought my brain was playing tricks on me when I heard a series of back-to-back clicks, but then Event started muttering to himself, "Well, these don't work." He cleared his throat.

"I don't know what to tell you, Anni. There's literally nothing here. Not even, like, a stool or a paint bucket. Nothing. This house was just...left behind, I guess—"

He was cut off by another voice. It was so quiet I wouldn't have been sure that it was real, had he not heard it too. It sounded like it'd just said, "Shit."

Then there was static, and the audio returned to normal. Event flipped what I assumed to be a light switch about ten times before gulping.

"Okay. Okay, alright, I'm getting too jumpy. Uh, so, here's the thing." He laughed nervously. "You're probably not gonna believe this, but the lights just turned on. By themselves. I shit you not, every single light this place has just turned itself on, all at once. I-I mean, I flipped this switch a couple of times, but it didn't do anything and then all of a sudden..."

He paused, then his tie shifted, causing another disturbance in the audio. After a good moment he sighed, starting up some stairs.

"There'd better be something good up here," he whispered to himself. With no indication as to why, his steps came to an abrupt halt, which didn't give me too good of a feeling about this.

"What...what are...?"

He didn't finish his sentence, and after about a minute, I heard that other voice. It was garbled, loud, almost pained. It could have sounded like a teenager, maybe a young adult if not for all the distortion.

"What are you doing here."

Event's throat contracted, and his voice shook the slightest bit. "I'm...I'm looking for someone. Someone really important, maybe you know her? Young woman, Altaris—"

Her last name was blocked out by a loud screech in the audio. He really didn't want anything to be traced back to this Altaris, apparently.

"I'll leave you alone if you don't know anything, but—"

"No. I-I mean, I can help. What's your name?"

And suddenly, the thing's voice was...normal. I heard Hodek shift in his seat and turned to see that he'd lifted his head just slightly, like he recognized something but realized he might draw attention to himself. He looked to me, then to Anni with a hint of nervousness, and continued at whatever he'd been doing.

"I don't think I can tell you. Am I interrupting something? It looks like you..." he trailed off like he'd been threatened in some way, and I heard a couple of shallow breaths before he started talking again. "Okay. Sorry. I just wanted to know."

"Why would you expect me to tell you if you won't even...whatever. Anything's better than this. So, your Altaris person. You sure she doesn't go by anything else?"

"Something close. But I don't know what it is."

"You're lying."

"What? N-no. I really don't know, if I did then I would've found her by now."

"I can see who you work for, Evan Hurley. If she was raised at your base, with no other given name, she would have stayed there. They must have given you something to work with. Wouldn't they want to make this job easier for you—?"

"How did you know that."

Event sounded afraid. Very afraid, like something more disturbing than what I heard was happening before him. Whoever was talking to him seemed to be reaching their limit.

"It doesn't—" they cut themselves off. "I mean, it doesn't matter what I know or how I know it. Just tell me what you need and get out."

"I-I don't know, directions? Home address, phone number? I just need something. You..." Event sighed. "You're right. This mission hasn't gone well at all. I lost all of my division members. Whoever they are, they didn't even give me Altaris's birth name. I..." he seemed to think, and a loud clunk muffled the audio for about a minute. I could make out a few words, spoken by both of them.

"Anniversary."

"Unfit."

"Gone."

"Useless."

"Need."

"Run away."

"Home."

Then a string of numbers that were made incomprehensible through what could have only been Event's hand.

For a moment, everything was completely silent. When Event uncovered the microphone with a shudder of a sigh, the person talking to him made no comment. Simply said, "You know, I'm not helping you further than that. You want a phone, you're going to have to get one by yourself. Go rob someone, shoplift, I really don't care."

"I didn't get the feeling that you did. Thank you, anyway."

"Uh...you're welcome. Now leave."

"Okay. Okay. Bye," he muttered, in something of a panic. I heard the creaking of floorboards as he made his way down the stairs, with much more haste than before.

"Hi again, Anni. Um. Don't worry, I wasn't talking about you," he said with a forced laugh, his words occasionally punctuated by hurried footsteps. "It looks like we're finally back on track. Or...well, I'm back on track. Let me know if the others got back safe, would you?"

I wasn't entirely sure why I didn't hear Anniversary's responses in the audio. Maybe the messages were only transmitted one way. Maybe she just didn't know how to answer him. It struck me then that there were brothers and sisters here who went on that mission with him, and they had to live unsure of whether he was alive or not. The thought made me uneasy; I didn't know if I could do with that kind of ambiguity. I looked to Anniversary, whose eyes were glazed over like she purposefully clocked out in order to spare herself the pain.

The recording's counter automatically skipped a couple of days, as if somebody had listened to it so many times that this machine already knew where to go. The audio resumed with the sound of a branch falling to the forest floor.

"..."

I couldn't hear Event's breathing anymore. After about a minute of complete silence, there was a shuffling noise as he seemed to pull something out of his pocket. A small click, and he continued walking.

"Almost there, Altaris," he breathed. His voice sounded like it had given out a while ago, though from what exactly I couldn't be sure. "It's okay. We're all gonna be fine." Even though he was clearly talking to himself, it felt as if he knew that Altaris could hear him. As if she knew he was coming.

Twigs snapped loudly underneath his feet and many times he stopped, took a shaky breath and continued, walking faster each time. Leaves rustled as he pushed his way through the woods, and for some reason I felt as if I was blindfolded in the passenger's seat of a car. A small wave of nausea hit me, causing me to lean back just for some distance from the audio. I knew something was going to happen, but Event didn't stop moving. I almost wanted to get it over with. Whatever horrible thing you're going to do to him, world, please do it soon.

Finally, he slowed his pace and coughed once. He froze, seemingly in realization.

"...ah. It's still on...Anni, if you're even listening to me anymore, I think you might wanna send backup. I'm not sure exactly where I am, but I'll find out soon. I've heard things, things about what lives here. Who, actually. Who lives here. And..."

He inhaled sharply, like some old wound had reopened.

"Um. Okay, fine, I'll admit it. I'm kind of scared. But at least I know something about them. It's not too much, but it might be enough. I'll be out of this place before you know it. Just...tell Major and the others I'm okay, will you? If you haven't already." He took a deep breath. "Alright. I'm going in."

He started walking on old, weathered wood. I could almost hear dust fly in the night air—or maybe he was risking being seen in daylight this time.

A door creaked open.

"Hello...?"

He waited a couple of seconds.

Then a new voice muttered something, much too close to the microphone.

"Hello."

Then the audio cut out with painfully loud feedback and a crunch to end it. It was as if someone had dropped the bow tie and crushed it under their foot.

The timer had stopped.