Illusional

We Lost One, We Cut Off Another

Hey! It's Marleigh... again! I had to put up quite the fight with my brother to get this book from him. So, now that I have something to write on, let me tell you all about what I saw while I was out of the sleeping room.

You know those cameras Bill placed around the cabin? Y'know, the ones that caught my brother and Stella supposedly sneaking those children into the attic? Well... I think something's wrong with them! I was just going into the kitchen, grabbing some leftover spaghetti, when I noticed that one of the kitchen cameras was emitting a red laser. Of course, I didn't dare try to touch it; who knows what would have happened if I did (but you're about to find out!)

    After I was done eating—in a separate room, of course—I went back to the doorway to the bedroom to see if the guys were still fighting (they were) and that's when I heard a beeping sound coming from a camera in the hallway. I guess I wasn't paying attention where I was going, because the same red laser was the trigger for the beeping. I was in its way! Before I knew it, it started firing lasers straight at me! I quickly dived into the bedroom and shut the door behind me as fast as I could, but the lasers came through the door.

Okay, I just got my book back from Marleigh. I'm glad she gave us a heads up, though; we might have been unexpectedly ambushed by lasers otherwise. The lasers stopped firing after a few seconds, and that's when I sought the opportunity to sneak a peek outside to see what the lasers' range were.

    It turns out the camera in question was positioned at the end of the hallway, and the laser was pointing at the very end of the opposite side of said hallway, towards the floor, and it scanned the entire width of the hallway.

    I asked who should go over to the other side to investigate the problem, and everyone said I should. I quickly put my foot down because I did not want to take the fall for the team yet again. I suggested Leo should go because he's the thinnest, and everyone else agreed. Leo tried to fight his way out of the situation, but all eyes were on him, so he begrudgingly agreed to investigate the camera.

    To our surprise, he managed to successfully dodge detection, and tried to find something to break the cameras with. He alerted us that he found more cameras in other parts of the cabin.

    I'm guessing finding what was wrong with the camera was a task easier said than done, because he came back with a large, sharp knife in his hand, likely because he had to get a bit creative. He tried to stab the camera a few times, but barely managed to create a dent. The taps on the camera were quite loud, too. Eventually, Leo started to make a few cracks and dents on the camera, but the camera's functionality didn't change in the slightest.

    Suddenly, we heard footsteps coming our way. Leo stopped what he was doing, and started listening. It was Bill. All of us started to silently panic. Who knows what he would do if he knew Leo was trying to break Bill's cameras.

"What are y'all doing?" Bill asked. He looked over at what Leo was doing, and his jaw almost dropped. Suddenly, Bill absolutely lost it. Imagine a child having a temper tantrum and imagine Bill doing the same. He was even throwing stuff around in total rage. Everyone was screaming, freaking out, and trying to dodge Bill's indirect attacks. Stella was clinging onto me as tight as she could, and I made sure nothing and nobody touched her.

    Bill then grabbed Leo by the collar on his shirt—single-handedly—and lifted him up to the roof, and yelled straight to Leo's face, "Give me one good reason why I should let you live, right now!"

    "Bill, stop!" I cried.

    "Don't tell me what to do! And it's Dad to you!"

    Suddenly, all the bile and past torment caught up to me and I impulsively, yet sincerely, screamed out loud, "You're not my dad!"

    The whole room went silent. Barely any breath escaped from anyone's mouth, including mine. Everyone faced me with a look of disbelief, though some seemed very proud of my decision to speak up like that, notably Stella. Bill slowly let Leo down to the ground, with Leo unharmed, yet traumatized.

    "What did you just say, boy?" Bill asked.

    I remained quiet for a couple of seconds before I shared what I truly thought, "You're not my dad! A dad wouldn't punish me for stuff I didn't do or have no control of! A dad wouldn't try to diminish or degrade the most important things, or even people, in my life.. my girlfriend, especially! A dad wouldn't abandon me and cut off any communication or friendship with their own son!"

    Bill looked at me with utter anger and disappointment before finalizing, "Well, then... you're not my son... if that's how you really feel about me. I just wish I had known earlier that 15 years of feeding you and taking care of you would mean nothing in the end!"

He continued, "Leo, sorry for wanting to hurt you..." but then he turned to me and said, "It's you who I should be targeting instead!"

Hi, it's Stella! So sorry that I stole Mason's journal, but... Bill is not happy. Like, at all. My strong, brave man is currently fighting for his life, and all the other guys are helping him out, too. But, unfortunately for them, they forgot the lasers were still actively targeting people.

    So, I took the opportunity to figure out what was wrong with them. Because the cameras were connected to Mr. Yemmingham's computer, I decided to check up on some stuff on it. I'm currently in an intermediate computer engineering class and a robotics club, so I'm pretty good at this kind of stuff. I didn't want Mr. Yemmingham to see me sneak into his room, so I had to be discreet...

    Long story short: I didn't get caught. Yay!! Anyways, it looks like a couple of viruses has gotten its way into the computer, so it wasn't that hard to delete and remove them all, and it only took a few minutes. Good thing the computer had a decent amount of battery left, or we may have all been doomed...

    After that, I quickly shuffled back into the living room as if I had never snuck into Mr. Yemmingham's room. Bill got tired of chasing Mason by the time I got back, so that means he's safe now. Hopefully it stays that way...

    I'm back... that was one of the most terrifying things in my life, even more so than the anomalies. Bill trudged back to his room, huffing and puffing.

    But... we have bad news... Phillip died. Yes, really! We were all so confused why Philip wasn't with us when we were done panicking and scurrying around to avoid the lasers, so imagine our reaction when we find him lifeless on the floor, with laser-shaped holes all over him. Brandon, Andrew and Zachary were crying on him body, me and John watched them with utter sorrow, and the others tried to comfort them.

    I stepped back into the living room to at least try to process everything that just happened. John followed me to the living room, likely to do the same thing.