Rabbit Hole

Lost

WARNING: The following chapter contains grief, effects of brainwashing, images of murder, violent descriptions of the act and aftermath of murder, and a traumatic act which has effects for the rest of the story. This may be the most brutal and bleakest chapter in the entire story, and if any younger readers are still here, I strongly urge you stop reading now. There will be a synopsis at the bottom of the chapter if you do not want to read the full thing.

If not, proceed.

So, simple right? Get proof, get Bill, get revenge, get out.
But they threw us something none of us wanted to face.

Nyla's POV

The first room we found was the camera room. Inside sat a shelf full of VHS tapes, and a single monitor, stood on a VHS player. As we approached, we saw labels begin to reveal themselves. There were 13 rows of tapes, all of them labeled with roman numerals. The first thing that happens is Elliott searching iteration XIII, us. As he searches, we tried to get the current CCTV off, only to find out they disabled it. Must have thought ahead, or maybe they want us to see it. One tape's title stands out to him.

"What the fuck?"
"What?"
"Turtles Can't Swim."
"What are you talking about?"
"That's the title of one of the tapes. My brother was the Mock Turtle. He drowned. This must be his death."
"Oh. They kept that? That's fucked up."
"Yep, but it could be proof he was murdered."

He instantly goes to slide it in, and another tape ejects. "Massacre on Iteration VII".

"Isn't that your iteration?" I turn to ask Jules
"Yeah. We don't need to see that again though."
"We'll get to that later. For now, we need answers on my brother."

Elliott carelessly slides the tape to the edge of the table before inputting the other. As it opens up, it reveals the opposite perspective. No audio is in the clip, but I can tell there's an argument between who must be Mark and who must be Clyde. A pool cover closes as they argue, and some of the others are behind a glass, one trying to break through. The tape continues, the cover almost closes...

And we get a clear shot of Clyde pushing Mark into the water as it closes. Elliott watches in horror and rage as Clyde deliberately fumbles with the opening mechanism, and stalls long enough to drown Mark. He watches the whole tape of his brother drowning. Eventually, the tape ends and ejects himself. Elliott is speechless, apart from one word.

"Murderer."
"Elliott, are you-"
"I knew it. I fucking knew it. My brother didn't kill himself. He was murdered. Clyde did it, and now I know what he looks like. He needs to die."
"Ok, we find him, we won't hold you back. But let's focus on the mission at hand." Jules interr
"And at the moment, one of the biggest priorities is finding-"

"Nyla?"

Bill. He's alive.

"Bill?"
I turn around, it's really him.
"Bill! You're safe! Oh my god, I thought you were-"
"Why didn't you try to help me?"
"What?"
"You knew I was gonna be here. Why didn't you save me?"

He was taken in the night. I never knew anything.

"Bill, whatever they've said, they're lying to you-" Jules tries to calm him down, but Bill doesn't let her.
"Oh, they're being led by you. I thought you were better than this, Nyla. You didn't seem like the type to trust a liar."
"The fuck? The only one lying here is you." Elliott asks, confused.
"The tape. Put it in." Bill points to the tape which was in the player at the beginning.

Elliott briefly stands there, confused, but eventually decides to oblige. The tape plays.
We see 11 kids in a room.
All of them panicking.
Three people enter with guns.
One of them being Clyde, the others must be Wilfred and Carol.
They open fire.
This must have been the firefight Jules survived.
However, then something happens.
The dormouse gets shot.
In the head.
A fatal shot.
So it's not Jules.
All of them get shot dead.
The tape once again ejects.