Memory Logs

The Red Strings

"Mmmmm," the killer attempted, lowering his hand and lumbering just a little closer. Claudette flinched again, but remained her ground; though Meg still had the faint suspicion that it was only her tight grip keeping the ravenette in place.

"Mmm?" Meg prompted. "Mark? Mason?"

He shook his head. "Mmmmm... aaaaaa..." he rasped, very clearly not used to speech. Meg wondered, looking at him, if he'd even learned how to talk - or read or write. Considering his deformities, she doubted he'd ever been educated.

"... M-Max?" Claudette whimpered.

His eyes seemed to light up. He gave her a nod. About that time, they heard the loud sound of the gates being powered up, and it startled the trio out of their reverie. Claudette clutched onto Meg, who'd moved closer to her, fear still evident on her face, though it mingled with curiosity and a sort of awe. "M-Max," Claudette began, voice trembling, "d-do you think y-you could... let us... g-go?"

He stared at her for a long moment. As if trying to burn her face into his mind. Then he stepped aside to let them go.

And even though they both ran away as quickly as they could, Meg saw in the corner of her vision that Claudette was looking back. Curious.

Since then, it had happened several more times - Kate and Quentin woke one evening to find a red string connecting them while Dwight and David had a similar connection, and during one trial Feng had found her fateful red string connecting right to the chest of the Doctor, who was cackling like a maniac and doing nothing but zapping them the whole time. During the 'collapse,' as Jake had called it, other batshit insane things had happened, like two killers showing up in one trial, or missing hooks or generators, or different maps blending together; during those times, Meg had noticed some of the killers developing red strings of fate amongst themselves - such as the Wraith and the Nurse... and the Pig and the Cannibal. They'd all reacted it to it very differently - Meg remembered the Wraith moving over to the Nurse and simply staring at her like they'd known each other their entire lives. Like the love that enveloped them transcended the Fog and even their former lives. The Pig, however, had been extremely irritated while the Cannibal just seemed happy to have a 'new friend.'

Red strings continued popping up everywhere - and, it seemed, the upcoming trial would be no exception. Meg awoke to find herself inside Father Campbell's chapel; down in the circus caravan below, she saw Jake shaking his head and getting to his feet next to Quentin. She waved silently to them and both boys noticed, waving back up to her. Together the two started working on a generator down below, though their attempts were lackluster. Everyone's had been; both killer and survivor alike.

Seeing a closed trap on the stairwell, Meg was suddenly filled with conflicting feelings; excitement at the prospect of seeing Evan again, but dread at the thought of how he might look at her. He'd been avoiding her since he'd saved her from the Legion, and she couldn't figure out why. The red string connecting them was stronger than ever, and she felt like they'd broken through a barrier in the Fog. They'd done that together. All because he...

Well, he had feelings for her, didn't he? Was that why he avoided her? Because he was battling them? Or... was it because she'd misread this entire situation and assumed he had feelings for her, and he didn't know how to let her down?

At one point Meg would've thought that this entire thought process was absolutely insane; thinking about a killer this way and wondering if he felt the same way about her. But after all she'd seen in the last week, she was beginning to think that anything was possible.

And, she reminded herself, underneath that terrible grinning mask... Evan was still just a man.

A man who she firmly believed had done nothing to deserve the torment of endlessly killing in the Fog. Maybe when she saw him... maybe... she would ask who he was. Who he used to be.