Outlasted (2.0) • Outlast | IN PROGRESS

Prologue 4: Anthony

Hello one, hello all, it is I. Who am I, you ask? Read to find out.

My name is Anthony Gluskin, but I go by Tony, and I'm sixteen years of age. Unlike a lot of my friends, I'm not an athlete, but I am somewhat of a musician--I play the violin in my school's orchestra, and the piano on the side. I'd say I'm talented enough, I suppose. At least, my piano teacher and orchestra director seem to think so. I'll take their word for it.

Personality wise, I'm a rather relaxed person, despite what's happened to me within the past year. My dad died last September, and shortly after, I found out he had been clinically insane for nearly thirty years of his life without me having a clue. Now, to his credit, I never saw him much since I've lived with my aunt my whole life, but the fact that I had no idea he was clinically insane longer than I'd been alive? Yeah. World-class freaky.

However, my home situation's been slightly abnormal even before his death. As I said before, I've lived with my aunt for my entire life, and I still do--and yes, there's a backstory to that. My aunt Desiree, who raised me, is the older sister of the mother I never met. Supposedly, my mother was very young when I was born, and afterwards she had a complete breakdown and abandoned me, my dad, and almost immediately left town for good. It was sudden, and nobody expected it, but no one could ever find her. She was just gone without a trace. So her sister, my aunt, took initiative and essentially adopted me, and I've been with her ever since. That's the summarized version of it, I suppose.

My dad, who hadn't been in contact with my mom during her pregnancy or when I was born, really had no say in the matter, but he never fought against the custody arrangement. Desiree, from what I gathered, seemed pretty happy about that; she made it clear that she didn't care for him all that much. Regardless, I was still able to see him here and there, and he never once treated me badly or showed any signs of being a bad person. So, growing up, I didn't understand why Desiree disliked him, or why I rarely ever saw him. That is, until I found out that she had always known of his diagnosed psych issues and just never told me.

She explained to me, after his death, that she never hated him for who he was as a person; she never really hated him at all. It was my safety that was her utmost concern; she was afraid that he was very unstable and would potentially hurt me if I was with him for long periods of time. As a kid, I thought she was ridiculous for keeping me away from him. Even shortly before he died, I felt this way. But, after seeing his certificate of death and hearing about what he did to so many people, both in and outside the asylum, I understood Desiree more than anything.

His death certificate looked like this:

[Authentic document]

This is the official certificate of death for patient EDWARD "EDDIE" GLUSKIN, age 46, who was found deceased on the morning of September the 19th, 2013. Eddie Gluskin, who has been clinically psychopathic for the past twenty-six years of his adult life, was discovered in the Vocational Block, hanging amongst the rafters with an iron rod lodged in his chest. His cause of death is likely due to a punctured pulmonary artery. However, how he rendered himself in this state is unknown. Eddie Gluskin had been a relatively obedient patient in our institution since 2010; however, his brutal forced escape and the discovery of his numerous killings leads us to believe that all compliance he portrayed was merely an attempt at manipulation. Check patient records for further information.

EDDIE GLUSKIN: born 10/25/67, died 9/18/13

Official record of the Murkoff Corporation

So, yeah. There's a huge air of mystery to that, and it left us wondering: numerous killings? Brutal forced escape? And the most obvious one: he was a patient since 2010--three years and not one of us knew about it. Not even Desiree.

It jarred me then, and sometimes it still jarrs me now. However, it has been a whole year since, and I've managed to move on and keep living my life with as much normalcy as possible. As I mentioned before, I play the violin and piano, and I'm not too bad of an artist, either. I don't draw much, but sometimes it helps me vent, and hell, it's a good coping mechanism. It's only a hobby, however; I wouldn't call myself an esteemed artist, nor a virtuoso. But like I said before. I'm all right.

My dad had always been a good artist, from what I remember. I would see a few sketches around his house here and there, ones of dresses and other clothes and whatnot, and they were actually pretty damn good. Perhaps I got my interest from him without fully knowing it.

Oh--another thing, though small and probably insignificant, I forgot to mention. I live in Leadville, Colorado, and I go to Mount Massive High--about a year and two months strong. I'm a 10th grader currently, and a newer one at that. My school is huge, like most high schools in Colorado, but I like it well enough. We have a pretty good relationship with West Aspen High, a school a bit aways in Aspen, and coming up soon is actually the crossover dance between our schools that I'm kind of psyched about. Of course, I'm not sure if I'm actually going, since I don't have a date at the moment. But who knows?

Some people, believe it or not, actually consider me somewhat of a ladies man. And before you say it, no, I am not a ladies man in the same manner that my father considered himself to be. Yeah, I was quick to hear about those rumors, which still scar me to no end. I promise you, I am not and never will be the same degree of 'ladies man' as people regard my father. But in the normal sense, yeah, I guess I have some charm there. My appearance--which others have told me favors my father's--is decent enough, and I think I'm a good person, personality speaking. And that's good enough judgement as any, right?

But going back to my dad's side of things, it's horrific what he did to all those people. So many men died because of him, and I can't even imagine the pain they all went through. However, there's actually one man I know by name, Waylon Park, who escaped from him last year, and I know he doesn't live too far from here. God, I can't even imagine what his reaction would be if he brushed up against me one day. My appearance is a dead enough giveaway; with all the trauma he went through, he'd recognize me in seconds. He'd probably put an end to me right then and there, his sole motivation being bloodthirsty vengeance. And could I really even blame him?

So, yeah, one of my goals in life is to never run into him or his sons--I know he has two, thanks to the news article about his escape. Just by realizing I'm a Gluskin would give him enough motivation to rip my head off. And I'd really like to keep that intact, if at all possible.

Well, I suppose that's all for now. A little bit about me, and a little bit about my dad. If there were any sentence I would choose to summarize it all, it would be this: 'You may say your family is odd, but I'm going to bet that one of the people who created you never tried to surgically transform men into women by force.' And boom. I'll win the weird contest every single time.

But now, hallelujah, it's learning time. School starts hella soon, so I'd better actually start getting ready before Desiree's on my ass. That woman means business. That fact is indisputable.

Sincerely, the son of the "womanizer" Eddie Gluskin,

Anthony Edward Gluskin.