Transcripts of Defectives

Chapter 3 - Cosmo

Warning: Does contain cursing

15th January 2013

Holy fuck it's all going to shit

Ryder has entrusted me with his diary, which a) Is an honour, I am his best friend after all and b) a privilege which I am going to abuse the FUCK out of.

(Ryder if you're reading this back, I'm sorry, but you honestly shouldn't have expected anything less out of me!)

Right, it's nice that I can take part in  this recounting and record keeping Ryder is trying to collect, but this part of the story is... well, it isn't difficult to tell, it's fairly easy because this is when things get 'interesting' though it doesn't feel fun to tell.

Obviously, we noticed that Heather was missing fairly quickly – she didn't turn up to our Tuesday lunch DND session, and Heather never misses DND. Ryder told us that she had left during English – said that she needed the bathroom and just walked right out.

"I told you guys she wasn't feeling ok!" Florence fretted, playing with her hair anxiously.

She had been quite shaken by Heather's behaviour all day, and this addition only worsened that.

We were in our usual nook in the library, where we had come across the strange book which kickstarted this whole shebang.

I folded me arms, leaning back in my seat and raising an eyebrow at her. "You never told us that."

"But it was obvious!" She snapped at me.

I honestly shouldn't have been prodding her like this given the whole situation, but in times like this I reach for a normality to try and stabilise it all.

That's when Ryder spoke up.

Apart from recounting his tale to us, he had been pretty quiet, arms folded as he leant them on the table, his eyes shadowed with thought.

"You're not going to like this." He said, his voice quiet and low.

When Ryder speaks like that, he is either angry or scared. In any case, it's never a tone you'd like to hear.

There was a moment of silence as we waited for him to speak again.

"I think Heather's become a Defective."

The feeling didn't hit straight away, I believe it just needed a moment or two to properly... sink in I suppose. My heart almost literally plunged into my stomach. I felt sick with the sudden sensation.

I guess... I guess I sort of knew, what happened in that mansion certainly wasn't normal, but I'd been trying to use as much logic I could to just... rationalise the whole situation. 

It couldn't have been ghosts, that just- Ryder may have already written about my skepticism, and it's because it simply doesn't make sense! It's just propaganda, something used by The Citadel to keep us in check, but... don't get me into the politics of this shit, I don't know. It was less that Heather had been- well, the idea that Heather had been possessed, and more the fact that she was in grave danger. And I'd probably never see her again.

I saw Hunter's hand reach across the table out of the corner of my eye, and watched numbly as Florence clasped onto it like it was her lifeline. Both looked unnaturally ashen.

"Hunter, Hunter, can you hear me?" Florence asked, clutching his hand in both of hers.

He blinked slowly, nodding wordlessly in response.