The 4th Subject

Chapter 10: The Case Under the Stairs

It had been around two months since we found the footage in the binoculars. My dreams were on and off. Some nights were just restless with anxiety and worry, others held dreams and nightmares.

The conversation I had with my mom that day was... let's just say, it was interesting.

~*~

I took a deep breath and pressed send.

Hey mom, I have to tell you something.

Hi sweetie! What's that?

I bit my lip as I typed out my response.

Just send it. No matter what she says, you're staying. Might as well tell her.

I'm going to be staying in California for longer than I thought.

What do you mean?
I thought you said you'd be gone for a month at maximum.

Well, some stuff has come up, and I have to stay. You probably wouldn't understand.

Tell me. I can try to understand.

Well, it's kinda complicated. I probably wouldn't be able to explain it very well.

Well, how am I supposed to know what's going on?

You can watch my YouTube videos and Matthias', too. That will explain everything. Or at least, most of it.

Ok.
When can we expect you to come back?

I don't know. All I know is it might be awhile.

Ok, but if anything happens, I want you home as soon as possible. Alright?

Ok. I love you mom.

I love you too.

I leaned back onto the couch in Sam's office. That's one problem dealt with. Twenty more to handle, and a million yet to come.

~*~

We were continuing to figure things out. Every time I felt like we were getting close to whatever it is we're looking for, something else would pop up.

The stalker broke in again. Actually, we discovered footage of him breaking into Orange Base from at least a month ago. He was carrying what looked like a large, black briefcase. He came from the back door, through the warehouse, into the common area, then upstairs. He was there for a few minutes, then came back down with the case still in hand.

As I said, this was over a month ago. But then, we found more footage of the stalker breaking in. This time, into Red Base.

He had the briefcase again, except this one had wires coming out of it. He came through the back door and to the staircase in the warehouse. Then, 45 to 50 minutes later, he left without the briefcase. That was concerning.

Of course, Matt and Woods suggested that it might be a bomb. I mean, some mysterious man who's broken in several times has left a large black case somewhere in the Red Base warehouse. What else could it be?

It wasn't a bomb, thank goodness, but it opened us up to a whole new rabbit hole that we dove straight into.

~*~

It was now November 20th. Matt, Hannah, Sam, Woods and I were in the Red Base warehouse with CJ on camera. We were all searching for the black case. We started by looking though the massive amount of stuff sitting beside the staircase. Most of it was stuff from old channels Matt had canceled.