Neil (piezoelectric) wrote in shadows_rpg, @ 2017-11-02 00:13:00 |
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Entry tags: | #september 2017, alex, alex x neil, neil |
Who: Alex & Neil
What: Research
Where: The Library
When: Thursday, 9/14
Status: Complete
Alex loved the library and always had, ever since he was a child. The walls of books were an escape from everything else and the quiet always gave him the space to think. He had been to the Point Pleasant library fairly often since he moved but lately, the online databases had been easier to access from the safety of his home after a long day. But that only worked for as long as what you were searching for was uploaded to the databases. Unfortunately, a lot of the articles he needed were from the 70s and yet to be upgraded to the modern world.
Today, Alex had quite a list of articles he wanted to search for. He had written each title and where to find it in the small, worn notebook he carried with him at all times. He had managed to find almost every piece of information on his list, except one. After rechecking both the reference numbers and its supposed location, he finally gave up and headed to find a librarian.
The lady at the counter was a little overwhelmed with Alex's requests so she called the librarian who was busy with files in the back. Neil actually loved that, when he didn't have to deal with customers at all, leaving the front desk to his coworkers while he actually got some use out of his education. He grumbled quietly to himself at the summon, pushing himself heavily from his desk and heading out to the main room. At least what little he'd been told sounded interesting, history was fun and if he'd understood correctly this went pretty far back. Neil actually liked that section of the library, all those old files and retro machines he so rarely got to use. He would have been happy to have a full time job making them all available digitally but they just didn't have the funds for that to be a full time job and Neil wasn't committed enough to spend his spare time on it. Yet.
The guy who was asking stood up front and looked fairly harmless, for a guy at least, so that helped. Neil headed toward him, skipping the niceties and getting straight to the point. "How far back did you need to go?"
Alex had been standing beside the counter, just next to it enough that he was obviously waiting without holding up anybody else. He looked up as Neil approached and fought back the immediate wave of disappointment. He hadn't spoken to this staff member before but he knew him by reputation and had seen how he could be with others. Well, at least the lady seemed sure he'd know where to find the right things…
“Uh, hi, 74? I think, anyway…” He paused to check his notes. “Sorry, 1975. But if you know of anything else about it, that'd be great too.”
Today's bit of research was about the original Mercy hospital and a particular article about a redevelopment that had uncovered an abandoned basement section from when it was first opened. Specifically, he needed pictures but so far the few articles he'd found were just text or accompanied by photographs of staff, none of which he recognized from his mother's nightmares. It was a long shot but the way that there seemed to be no follow up to this uncovered section had peaked his interest.
“And anything else you have about the hospital from around then, going up to the 80s I guess. I need pictures, specifically the rooms, but most of the ones I find are of staff or equipment. Nothing that really shows the place properly.”
Neil hadn't been told the exact details of what Alex was looking for, just that he needed files from that time period. He had just waved at him to follow when Alex mentioned the hospital and Neil's blood ran cold as the one hospital that came to mind was the institute he'd been in. He stopped where he was and looked back, barely containing the abject look of disgust on his face as Alex kept talking, not realizing he was talking about Mercy. He steeled himself, swallowing dryly as he listened. 1975 was long in the past, almost thirty years before The Events happened so this could be harmless. He had a feeling it wasn't.
"Why-" he started and cleared his throat, turning to walk toward the back again. "Is this for an essay?" The guy looked like he could be in college, or he could just be snooping around.
Alex followed until Neil paused and seemed to take a personal offence to him looking for anything to do with the hospital. “Uh, no, just… just this family thing…” He hesitated before he started walking after him again. As soon as he did, he immediately thought of a better cover and mentally kicked himself for not having anything prepared to sooner. Nobody had ever really asked. “It's for a book,” he added but even he wasn't convinced. Oh well, next time.
"A family book?" Neil said skeptically. The guy sounded dodgy now, like there was a lot more to it than he was willing to divulge. "So you're an author," he added dismissively. "I'm sure there are more interesting things to write about than a hospital that's long gone." He unlocked the door to the archives as he spoke because - reluctant or not - he was still doing his job.
“Well, a book about family history. My grandmother was a nurse there.” At least that wasn't completely a lie. She had been but that was long ago and by the 70s, she was a stay at home mother. Alex followed Neil into the archives and looked around at the tall, dusty shelves. There was a secret thrill about being in there, in a place so full of history that most library patrons never ventured. He took a moment to soak it in then looked at the librarian again. “You know, I read something about a secret basement or something they found when they were renovating the children's ward. I couldn't find much about it, do you know what they ended up doing with it?”
"There are a lot of childish stories about that place," Neil said curtly, not liking this topic at all. He knew too much about that hospital and yet at the same time nothing at all. It was like remembering a bad dream, disjointed and really too fantastical for it all to be true and so Neil opted to believe that most of it wasn't. "About this town in general for that matter. People like their ghost stories and fairy tales but that doesn't mean they're true." He couldn't help but wonder if he'd known the man's grandmother - if known was even the right term for it. Asking seemed a little out of place so he focused on looking over the boxes until he found what he was looking for. "Microfilm. Do you know how to use it?" he muttered as he opened the box to verify the dates. Everything about this place cried out for better organization and technology but alas, he did not have the manpower or money to heed that call.
“Yeah, of course. You stick it into the machine and it does its thing…” Alex obviously hadn’t used a microfilm reader before but he had seen them on TV and, frankly, they didn’t look that hard. How tricky could it be? He leaned over Neil’s shoulder to peer into the box of reels. They definitely looked more daunting than any he had seen in movies. “Actually, sorry, I have no idea how to use these. Can you show me?”
"That is my job," Neil replied and shoved the box of reels at Alex's chest for him to carry it. "It's really quite simple once you've tried it once," he said as he led the way to the machine in the back, snagging one reel from the box to start setting it up. "These are the local newspapers starting in January 1975, if you need to go further back you let me know." He carefully threaded the machine as he spoke, then glanced back at Alex with some curiosity. "I doubt you'll find many pictures of the inside of the hospital. Is there anything specific you're looking for?"
“Thanks,” Alex said as followed after Neil. He set the box down on a nearby seat as Neil set up the machine. He watched so he’d know what to do next time and found Neil was right, it’d probably be easy next time. He’d probably have even been able to figure it out by himself but the archives were too important to waste time letting a noob at them.
“Not really, I’m just looking for something that matches something somebody showed me a long time ago.” He was aware that it didn’t really make sense but he hoped Neil wouldn’t ask any further questions. He had never seemed particularly chatty most of the times Alex had seen him working with others at least.
"Fascinating," Neil said dryly as it was fairly nonsensical to him but then Alex was on some silly mission of his own and Neil would probably never know what exactly he was thinking. Some people seemed to draw inspiration from the most mundane of things and maybe the guy just wanted to look at old newspapers because it was hip and cool or something. "Do you require more assistance?" he asked, stepping back once Alex was going through the slides. Those buttons were fairly idiot-proof so Neil didn't need to teach him how to use them. "I think it wasn't opened until 1975 actually, but I don't know when."
“No, I think I’m good, thanks” Alex said. He was about to step forward to work his way through the reels when he caught what Neil said. He frowned. “Uh, no, it was opened years before that…” The abandoned basement he was seeking had been made years before but only uncovered in the renovations. He glanced up at the front page headline for the first page that had been loaded. Construction had apparently just started on a new research facility 10 miles out of Point Pleasant, certainly not where the Mercy was located. He looked at Neil. “What’s the American Institute of Research?”
Neil gave him a blank stare as he tried to process that question. "Oh," he finally muttered. "You meant Mercy Hospital." It was clear the insufferable people who had been showing up in town again after all these years were getting to him. "Well, that makes more sense," he added, trying to hide how flustered he felt, crossing his arms and peering at the slide. "Since the American Institute wasn't really a hospital... It was a-" he paused, at a loss. "Institution... Scientific studies. Clearly not what you were looking for and yes, you are right, Mercy was built long before then."
Alex barely heard Neil. He had turned back to the article and was too busy staring intently at the main man in the picture on the projector. The colour had drained from his face and sweat prickled at the back of his neck. The photo was grainy but there was no mistaking that familiarity. He had seen him too many times, he had felt his mother’s fear. He felt it again now as he stared at the man with the shovel and hard hat, so out of place on a construction site with his expensive suit and clearly only there for the press. “Dr Byron Wilkes…” he whispered. “Who is he?”
A monster, Neil could have told him. Not the philanthropist everyone thought he was but a real, human-fleshed monster. "It says right there," he replied stiffly and looked away from the screen. "Some long dead scientist." His eyes found Alex and even with his limited people skills he could tell he was upset. Neil couldn't remember him from the institute or around town but that didn't really have to mean anything. "Familiar?" he muttered, narrowing his eyes as he tried to read Alex's reaction.
Until then, there had been a part of Alex that had wondered if his mother had imagined the whole thing, if her mental illnesses had mixed with nightmares of things that had never happened. He knew better now and sent a quiet apology for ever doubting her.
Alex forced himself to look away from the unsettling but innocuous image and looked at Neil instead. As discomforting as he might be, at least he didn't look like a living nightmare. “What did they do there?” He paused to swallow a lump in his throat and before he even realised what he was asking, he added,”What did they need all the kids for?”
Neil's eyes widened a touch before he could school his expression into something that wasn't shock. He was going for neutral but it ended up cold and hostile instead. "What on earth are you talking about," he asked though he knew very well what Alex had asked. What he didn't know was how this stranger knew about it if he wasn't there to see it himself. If he had been there he probably wouldn't be asking that particular question.
Alex's eyes widened slightly as he realised what he had just said. Whatever had happened there, it had to have been a secret. It had to have been or he wouldn't have had to move to this unnatural town to piece together his family's secrets. He watched as Neil hardened himself and retreated into a hostile shell but for a brief second, he had shown he understood what Alex meant. Alex was sure of that. He stared at Neil, unsure of what to say next and he waited for the librarian to be the one to break the silence instead.
The silence stretched out, thick and uncomfortable, but at least it helped Neil compose himself and he crossed his arms more tightly against his chest. "Do you care to explain yourself?" he muttered and this time he managed to feign something akin to boredom. "Is this some kind of a joke?" What he wanted to ask was who the hell Alex really was and what he had really meant but paranoia was settling in and he honestly didn't ever want to even think about the institute.
“Why would it be a joke? I told you, it's for a book.” Alex mimicked Neil's stance and crossed his arms over his chest too. He glanced at the screen again but Wikes’ smiling face was so unsettling that he reached over and turned the microfilm off. He knew where he needed to look now but he suddenly didn't feel like continuing today's research session. “Look, just… Just tell me what you know about that place. What was it for? I think we both know it wasn't really whatever that asshole said.”
Neil scoffed even if inwardly he was freaking out. What if this was some kind of a test and this guy had been hired to see how Neil would react to the truth being spoken. Come to think of it, none of the annoying ever-present girls he knew from the past had been very present in the last few days. "I don't know," he said firmly. "Some sort of research, I suppose. You would have to read those articles to know more, I wasn't even born back... then." He gestured vaguely at the microfilm machine to indicate the year he meant. "Are you not going to look at more slides?"
Alex glanced at the machine and shook his head. “I can't, not today…” He needed time to process what he'd found. Maybe go home and Google the place so next time he came back, he wouldn't freak out in front of the librarian who clearly knew more than he was letting on. Like everybody in this town, it seemed. “You said it was long gone, what happened?”
Fire Neil thought and he felt like he could smell the smoke as he thought about it. "I don't know," he muttered. "I like history but I'm not particularly knowledgeable about this town's history." There, that sounded dry and disinterested enough he hoped and he hoped the man would leave now so he could let this all go, maybe throw up a little.
“The librarian said you'd be the one to talk to…” Alex said, sounding lame and whiny even to himself. He knew that Neil knew more than he was letting on and was disappointed to find a brick wall. He was sure Neil had the answers he needed. “Look, I'm just trying to figure out some things that happened a long time ago. I don't care about your story, I just need to know what happened there.” He sighed and flicked some hair out of his eyes. “Just tell me what happened there. I know they had… I know kids were involved, why?”
Officially there were no records of what had happened at the Institute and Neil bristled at the thought that this guy somehow knew. "I'm the one you talk to to find old files and books," he muttered, not in the mood to get into the nuances of how the lady Alex had talked to wasn't really a librarian, only an assistant. "I'm not sure what you mean by there being children involved but you can read everything we have in this library and maybe you will find something that helps you... With your book."
“Yeah, my book,” Alex said dryly. He resisted the urge to roll his eyes at Neil. It was already too tough to get any information out of him, he didn’t need to make it worse with an attitude. If he didn’t need the information he suspected Neil had, he wouldn’t have even bothered to stick around. He hated what he was about to admit, had never told anybody else before but it might help the guy to open up if he saw they were probably on the same team. He had to assume anyway; he’d seen Neil’s discomfort at that Wilkes guy’s image too. “Look, I know, knew, someone who was there, I just can’t figure out what happened to them. I mean, I know how they came out but… That guy in the picture? He’s someone she showed me.”
"Speak candidly," Neil said abruptly. "You're making less and less sense. Someone showed you this man but you don't know who he is? She had a photograph? Who is she?" He asked those things as if they were rhetorical questions to show Alex his ramblings didn't make sense but really, he wanted to know. Did he know whoever Alex was talking about? Then why go so far back in time? Neil wanted to know - but at the same time he didn't want to know anything at all, tempted to leave this guy in there or kick him out already.
Alex shook his head. As much as he wanted to tell Neil just so he would share what he knew, he wasn’t sure if he could trust him. Or if he’d believe him. Alex had never told anybody else what his mother was capable of and he didn’t like the idea of starting now but maybe he had to. He couldn’t ask anyone else to spill his secrets if he couldn’t put himself on the same level. “Not a photograph,” he said quietly. He took a step closer to Neil and glanced over his shoulder to make sure they were still alone. “Look, whatever they were doing to kids, it changed them. Maybe not right away and I don’t know much about how it all worked but whatever they did gave her… it made her different. She could show me things but she couldn’t talk about them, not awake at least.” He stepped back again and looked away from Neil. “I know you won’t believe me but if you do know anything, you’ve gotta tell me.”
Neil felt relieved when Alex looked away. It gave him a chance to think without having to school his expression. He didn't trust the guy who seemed to know too much. Either someone had sent him to test Neil or he was telling the truth. Or he was crazy and all this jabber sounded like the truth by a crazy coincidence. Neil didn't like any of those options though it would, while scary, be easier to handle Alex being a crazy person. He didn't exactly know how to deal with crazy people, unsure if he should indulge the man in his hallucinations and risk some unknown enemy mistaking it for him genuinely helping him, or if he should ask him to leave. They didn't have security there, which in this moment seemed insane. Why didn't they have some meathead on call whose only job was to throw out vagabonds and crazy people?
"You need to leave," he said coldly. "Go... take your medication or whatever it is you do to balance your mind."
Alex rolled his eyes. This whole thing was a mistake. Well, not entirely. At least he had a better idea of where to target his research than simply looking at the town's history and hoping he would unlock all the answers. And he was sure that he now knew somebody who knew something too. He wasn't useful yet but Alex was sure he'd break him down. He'd find some magic way to unlock the librarian’s secrets.
“Fine,” he said. He hoisted his backpack higher over his shoulder and held the strap tightly. He looked over Neil, hoping he'd break down and spill, but then shook his head and offered a small, half smile. “But you never actually denied you know anything. You might want to start with that next time.”
Alex deliberately jostled Neil with his shoulder as he walked out. At the doorway, he paused and glanced over his shoulder. “I'll see you later.”
That sounded like a threat and Neil bristled again, glaring after the man. He wanted to argue that he hadn't denied anything because you weren't supposed to argue with crazy people so it was probably a good thing Alex was already leaving. He would make a point to tell someone - anyone - about Alex and how crazy he was, just in case someone was actually watching him, making sure he didn't know anything. Still, there was a prevalent feeling of unease as he watched him leave, a tightness in his chest that wouldn't go away for a long time.