Rabbit Hole

The Parting Gift

TW: HEAVY DISCUSSIONS OF SUICIDE

Ok, I'm not sure I'm the best person to tell this part of the story, because I wasn't there.
So I'll try to go from the view of someone who was there. Lloyd.

It had been 2 hours since the pool incident. He's- he really dead. I could have stopped it. At multiple points. Last night, if I'd gone to the room. I probably couldn't take on Clyde alone, but if we teamed we could have done it. Amanda, if I got her help could have helped if more showed up. This place had something to do with it. I know it. Amanda filled me in on his final words, she was scared it was me. I'll be honest, I wish it was. It was my speculation that caused suspiscion. Of course, they could have already had this planned the whole time, and it was poor timing. Hell, I even said that last night. But somewhere in the back of my head, it feels like I killed him. And even this morning, minutes before-

"Lloyd, can we speak with you for a second?"

Wilfred. Probably calling out for a check in. At the same time, Carol calls out for Amanda and Liv. So what are they gonna try to tell us about what happened?

As I follow Wilfred to a room, I pass the metal door again. What the hell did that room do to Mark? How much damage did a chair and whatever else is in there do? But that's not the room I'm focusing on right now, and instead I'm met with Clyde and Wilfred. Why did it have to be him?

"Lloyd, we wanted to talk to you about what happened this morning."
"I don't think there's much to clear up. We all know what happened."
"We understand that you were close with Mark, and you might not be dealing well with this." Yeah, no shit Clyde. I just saw my best friend's dead body the day after I heard about him arguing with YOU.
"What made you think that?"
"Your eyes, Lloyd. Have you been crying recently?" Obviously. I think that's a very reasonable reaction.
"Yeah."
"If you need to talk about anything then we're-"
"I'm fine. I can get through it." I really don't want to do anything that makes me a target for whatever they did to him.
"Are you sure, if you change your mind we're right here."
"I'm sure. Thanks, but I can do this."
"But what we also brought you here for was something we saw on the CCTV. Multiple things, actually."

oh no.

"Firstly, last night. You were outside after hours, which you know is off limits. Could you explain that?"
"Oh right. Since it was Amanda's first night, I wanted to make sure that she knew, because I didn't know if you told her."
"We hardly talked to her, and she clearly didn't know, so Lewis must have messed up there."
"Yeah, on that topic, where is Lewis? He's not out here at the moment."
"He's just taking some time at the moment. It's kinda hard for him at the moment, considering the circumstances are so similar to his own experience." His experience? What experience does he have with this?
"So, back onto topic, Lloyd. You were out there with her for a few minutes, also going out of view from the CCTV cameras, could you please explain what that was about?"
"Ok. That was to try and avoid getting her in trouble, and I hid too so if she got in trouble for it, so would I."
"So, let me get this straight: you put yourself on the line to stop someone you just met from getting in trouble?"
"Yes, that would be accurate."
"Are you really that scared of us?"
"That's a bit of a jump, of course I wasn't scared what'd happen to her, I just didn't want her to have a bad first impression."
"Ok, if that's what you say."
"So, can I go?"
"No, we still need to talk to you about one more thing."

What are they talking about- ohh, that.

"A few minutes before Mark tragically killed himself, he handed you a piece of paper, which you then hid in your room. Could we see this piece of paper?"
"Oh, we're talking about that? I actually haven't read it yet. We'll both be seeing it for the first time."

We head for my room. God I hope I got this right, otherwise I'm dead.

As we get there, we walk past the room again, and I slightly stop to look at it, which gets picked up immediately by Clyde.

"Yeah, we're trying to get the door changed too. It's too distracting and intimidating. Doesn't really fit with the welcoming atmosphere we wanted to create."
"Why is it even metal anyway?"
"Oh, it's just sometimes when we have to use X-Rays, we need to control the radiation."
"Right. Got it."

Bullshit. I've been in X-ray rooms before, they've had normal wooden doors, and I doubt whatever machine they'd have here would be any different.

Eventually, we get to my room. Please tell me I didn't fuck this up.

"Whereabouts is it?"
"Under the matress cover."

They search for it, eventually Wilfred finds the piece of paper.

He unfolds it.

God, I'm an atheist and this probably changes nothing, but worth a shot.

"Oh. We're sorry, Lloyd. It's alright. We'll leave you alone now. You- you might want to read that."

He drops the note on the floor and they both walk out of the room.

Immediately, I check my pockets. Mark successfully fooled the cameras, and it paid off. I still have the real note he wanted to keep secret here, but I'll see what the decoy was.

Lloyd, I'm sorry. Things are just getting too much, and I don't think I can do this anymore.
Don't take this personally, you were the best friend I could have asked for to get me through this.
If you ran back to put this back like I told you, it's already too late to stop this.
I'm so sorry for leaving you like this, but I'm out of options.
Stay mad, Lloyd. You're on the right track.
- Mark.

Did- did he rally kill himself? Did he know that Clyde was gonna kill him in a way that could be a suicide? Did he know they'd think this was the story we'd buy? But it's nice to know, even if this was to throw everyone off my investigation, he still cared about me enough to write a letter before death.

So what does the other one say?

AVOID THE GLOW OF THE ROOM. IF YOU SEE PINK, LOOK AWAY. BLUE IS FINE. IF ANYONE, AND I MEAN ANYONE, ACTS OUT OF CHARACTER OR AGAINST HOW YOU KNOW THEM, THAT IS WHY. WARN AMANDA, AMY, EVEN LIV TO AVOID THE BLUE, AND PAT TO AVOID ANY GLOW. KAT IS IMMUNE. DESTROY THIS NOTE INSTANTLY AFTER READING. NOBODY CAN KNOW THAT YOU KNOW ABOUT THIS.

He knows now what  was really happening. And so do I.