What you’re about to read is the diary of a man named Edward who is presumed to be missing. He once told me that he was going to start writing one for an entire year after he lost a bet. We both hated each other’s guts, and it was only after his disappearance did I genuinely start to miss his presence.
He never got very far in writing his diary, but I did find it one evening at the store we were working in, right after he disappeared. It took us a while to figure out his password, though. His diary was written online in real time.
I don’t think I got everything down, but I did get the bits and pieces that I ought to share. Besides, nobody really knows if Edward is already dead or if he is still alive, but I still have hope that he isn’t dead.
Day 2 (06/25/2022)
Loud and inconsistent heartbeats, a profound migraine that never seemed to go away, beads of sweat tracing down the body, copious amounts of blood leaking out of the nostrils, as well as abominable chest pains that felt like they could cause an inevitable heart attack.
The same kind of symptoms that my brother once manifested…
He wasn’t exactly what you might’ve called a normal person. He was always a bit of a masochist who got euphoric off of physical pain, specifically pain that was inflicted on him from his partner. A revolting fact that he once told me without shame.
But following my brother’s return after his anniversary celebration with his fiancé, something about him completely changed.
The first to notice what was wrong was my brother himself, followed shortly by his partner. It all started days after they occupied a well-built cabin out in the middle of the woods. I know how cliché that sounds, but believe me. It’s true.
He never explicitly told me or our parents about his decision to live in the cabin, probably because he knew that they would most likely turn him down.
I haven’t seen them much these days ever since I bought my own house with my brother, but I have said before that both of them were pretty cautious people and had once inhabited the cabin as well just a year or two ago on a date. They weren’t particularly fond of it despite how nice it looked. My brother couldn’t care less about their opinions, however.
I found it especially strange because he said he was gonna leave and joked about never returning. My brother was always a mischievous one, and he grew up being called a loser by his awful classmates for much of his school years. He made up for this by working out a ton until he was able to develop a decently toned body. Eventually, he started traveling the country with the very money that he worked for until he was finally able to meet the love of his life.
For a while, I was jealous of my brother. Jealous of the fact that he was able to completely turn his life around for the better while I sat there at home with him, doing almost nothing noteworthy in comparison to what he was able to accomplish without any of my help.
Then I met his partner for the first time. From the moment I laid my eyes on her in person, I could tell that there was definitely something a little different about her. Maybe she was able to fool both my brother and my parents but not me. There was just something about her that only made me want to protect my brother more fiercely than ever.
That is, until today. I heard a phone call from her after she used my brother’s own phone to call me. She told me something urgent relating to him.
After arriving back home in the afternoon, I immediately took note of my brother’s appearance. He looked like a complete and utter mess. It was like seeing someone have all their energy sapped away from them. His fiancé was freaking out and she told me that she came to me with him because she didn’t know if she should go to the hospital at first and tell my parents beforehand.
As I stared at my brother extensively, I too became just as apprehensive as she was. I eventually asked her what was wrong with him, and she ended up confessing to me about almost everything that happened between the two of them, starting with them getting a hold of the cabin.
She told me that things were going smoothly until my brother started feeling off one evening. He had told her that he was feeling like absolute shit, but that wasn’t what made her so worried. It was only when his nose began bleeding profusely like waterfalls did she begin to panic.
She even insisted that they go to the hospital to diagnose what was wrong with him, but my brother laughed it off. He said that there was nothing to worry about as he did not want to ruin their anniversary, but this did not go over well with his fiancé, who constantly reminded him that there may have actually been something much more serious going on.
What was supposed to be another lovely day ended up starting off as a rather quarrelsome morning over his worrisome health. It only stopped when his fiancé noticed how bad things would’ve escalated had she kept pushing.
And as the arguments about his health subsided for the time being, my brother, who on the 4th day had been functioning rather normally, suddenly started having a panic attack out of nowhere in the middle of the night, covering himself with his own bedsheets. He was heard crying like a child.
She said that it was extremely strange for my brother to be acting like that, and I thought the same thing. He wasn’t exactly the type of person to show his vulnerabilities, not unless that person was me.
Nevertheless, this led to his girlfriend attempting to comfort him, and it seemed to have helped out for the most part, as it eventually calmed him down and they both fell asleep without any worries.
The next few nights, however, were just as awful, if not worse. After spending the whole day jovially, with nothing hinting at anything wrong with his demeanor, my brother would once again have terrible episodes, night after night, all of which would usually last around 5-10 minutes before he promptly fell asleep, as if a switch within him had been flicked off.
But push eventually came to shove and on the last day of them staying there, my brother would remember everything during his panic attacks. He’d somehow lose his memory in these incidents for an unexplained reason. But once everything came back to him, he began behaving extremely differently.
It was as if he had lost the will to live. It was like seeing what would’ve happened had he never decided to toughen up that one day. He was utterly depressed. Broken, rather. All according to her words.
As his fiancé attempted to strike a conversation with him, he would mumble something in increments. It took her a bit of a while to decipher his whispers. And when she did, she was left to wonder if he had truly gone crazy.
“It’s here. It’s coming. It’s here. It’s coming. It’s here. It’s here. It’s coming.”
As she finished telling her side of the story, with heavy tears streaming down her pupils, I could tell how bad she must’ve had it during the past few days. It was not easy dealing with something as ridiculous as this situation.
Looking at her with fearful eyes, my mind went almost blank for a few seconds. Thankfully, I was able to quickly recover from my stupor. I then made what may have been the easiest choice of my life. I told the both of them that he needed to be taken to the hospital.
But before I could do anything else, my brother grabbed me by the arm for what may have felt like an eternity. His eyes looked almost devoid of life.
“I don’t… want to die,” he said.
I was surprised for a few seconds. I could see it in those eyes– how desperate he was to avoid a certain place. But I ignored his demands. There was no way I was gonna let him get his way again.
As we left to go to the hospital, I could hear his many pleas. He’s done this before. I knew how much he hated going to the hospital, let alone a doctor. He always told me how terrifying it was to have to visit such a place.
His fiancé also knew of it; she only agreed with me. There was no way she was gonna do nothing and let him continue to suffer like this, and I knew that. We both did.
In the end, we made it all the way to the hospital after I drove them there, and as much as I hated hearing him protest, I hated seeing him look and feel miserable even more. I made sure to tell everything to my parents as well, including the fact that my brother decided to live in that particular cabin in the middle of the woods to celebrate his anniversary with his fiancé.
Once everybody was there, things went quiet. I wanted to tell my parents more about what happened to him, but I didn’t want to spoil the mood even further. As we sat and stared at his unconscious body, I couldn’t help but feel even worse for his fiancé. To think I’d been secretly resenting her…
Time passed and we eventually left the hospital, but the only one who stayed overnight was her. We all knew how important it was for her to be there, and the doctors even encouraged that someone important to my brother stayed with him.
Day 3 (06/26/2022)
Getting home was surprisingly easy, but my evening had already been ruined. Eventually, I fell asleep at midnight, well past my bedtime. It was only for a brief period of time, however, as I suddenly got a call in the middle of the night. It was approximately 3:30 A.M. A real bad time to be awoken. The call was from none other than her.
She told me that my brother’s condition had worsened, only for it to suddenly return to normal despite him still being asleep. The doctors scrambled to figure out what was going on, but she was able to convince them to be alone with him, seeing that he was fine for the time being.
Her reason for calling me was simple, really. She said she wanted to tell me something important while I was there, and unfortunately for me, my desire to figure out what was going on got the best of me. I told no one else but her that I was going to go and see them. I didn’t want to worry my parents any more than they already were.
By the time I got to the hospital, the situation was more or less the same. My brother was still quietly lying down unconsciously, and she looked rather happy to see me.
We conversed for a while, as I asked her for a few extra details about what ended up happening to my brother. She said that he almost flatlined, but it was only when she touched him by the hand did his condition slowly begin to stabilize. She informed no one else but me about the incident. She even admitted that she really trusted me, clasping at my hands as a sign of affection.
I felt relieved. Maybe she wasn’t so bad after all. But the reason why I came here wasn’t for her. I needed to look after my brother. I needed to guard him as if my life depended on it. It was the only thing I could count on to turn my life around for the better.
After I finished my conversation with her, I shifted my gaze to my brother and inched closer to him. I wanted to get a better look at his face and apologize to him directly.
However, before I could say a single word, my brother suddenly woke up.
Without hesitation, he lunged at me fiercely, like a fish jumping out of water. I was greatly startled and instinctively moved back. He only stared and grasped at me with both hands, until he whispered something to me. Everything happened so quickly that I barely had any time to react.
“I told you. I told you. It’s coming. It’s coming. It’s coming…. It’s…. Here….”
My brother’s voice was clear but also soft and hoarse, and just when he finished uttering his last words, he once again fell asleep, like a light switch being flipped off…
However, as soon as he lost consciousness, I immediately checked to look at his status through an electric monitor, but as I did, a flatline had already been registered. That didn’t look right…
There was just no way. I didn’t want to accept it. I couldn’t accept it.
Then I heard the familiar words of someone next to me. As I stared at that person– no, she was more like a stranger. She only looked like my brother’s fiancé from before. She was someone who I had never seen in my life.
I distinctly remember saying these exact words to her.
“What the hell is going on? W-who are you!?”
But before the stranger could answer my questions, I suddenly felt a series of familiar yet completely unfamiliar sensations. It came out all at once, and it was the only thing that occupied my mind.
Loud and inconsistent heartbeats, a profound migraine that never seemed to go away, beads of sweat tracing down the body, copious amounts of blood leaking out of the nostrils, as well as abominable chest pains that felt like they could cause an inevitable heart attack.
The same type of symptoms that my brother once manifested…
And before I could do anything else, the last thing I remembered was me losing consciousness.
***
Day 4 (06/27/2022)
I woke up in bed at my own house, writing down everything that had happened just the day before. I can only assume someone drove me here after I passed out. It’s strange. I remembered pratically everything that happened. I remembered just enough to write it all down. It’s still pretty early in the morning.
I just heard what sounded like knocking on the door a few minutes ago. I have not responded to it. I’m scared shitless. I feel like I’m on the verge of suffering a mental breakdown, phone still in my hand as I’m writing this. I don’t know what to do.
I think I might have to stop at a much shorter point than usual. I’m sorry.
Day ? (??/??/????)
My memory was fading. I was beginning to forget who my brother was. I was beginning to forget about my parents. My brother’s fiancé, my brother’s face. My whole family. My own name. My–
No, none of that mattered anymore. The only thing that mattered was listening to its words.
I heard its words guiding me to somewhere far away from here, somewhere to go, somewhere to stay in.
A place where I could find comfort. It was important. I needed to follow its instructions.
I finally arrived. No one was there. The door was locked, but that didn’t matter. I could just kick it down until it opened, which I did. I needed to open a hatch from within the place. It was hard to open and very hard to find.
But it had already told me where the hatch was and how to open it.
What was inside of the hatch smelled fine, even if it was full of other bodies at the bottom. The only thing I needed to do now was join them.
I needed to rest.