Lady Luck

22

       "To be honest, Jay never did give me a good reason about why he uploaded all those videos online," Tim commented as we sat as our laptops watching more footage. "I mean, I can kind of get why he did it at first, but as it went on, well... It kinda seems like the only point was to keep the 'fans' updated on everything that was going on."

"Well, it was a good way to keep tabs on everyone," I remarked, pausing the video I was watching. "Easy way to archive everything and make sure you don't lose track of any important videos, and also a good way to keep an eye on the ToTheArk. Plus, the fan speculation can be pretty helpful," I added as an afterthought. "They worked out an entire chronological timeline from all the entries, pretty useful for sorting out what happened during that blank space in everyone's memories in season two."

"True, but they also start rumors about people being in love with cheesecake," Tim muttered under his breath, and I couldn't help but smirk at his remark. At least he was out of that weird funk from yesterday.

Barely twenty-four hours had passed since my impromptu meeting with Hoody, and Tim and I were back to looking at the SD cards in my room. Continuing our search for useful information, we decided to stop prioritizing the continuation of the park video and look at everything else, too. If we found the video, then sweet, but if not, we'd watch the other videos anyway. Of course it was still pretty boring, but at least it took my mind off the glove box.

Despite having a chance to check the glove box after returning to the hotel the previous day, I ultimately just went to my room. The nature of our conversation left a bad taste in my mouth just thinking about what could be inside. Neither of Hoody's suggestions about why we had trouble finding videos appealed to me, so I decided to just avoid the thought entirely for the time being. Ignorance is bliss, and even forced ignorance was more appealing to me than finding out the truth right now.

So yeah, boring as they were, watching the endless hours of footage on the SD cards was a very welcome distraction. So was chatting about the pros and cons of uploading the videos to YouTube. "Even if we decided to upload a video, do we even have anything we could use?" I mused aloud. "I mean, all we have is that video of Hoody, and we still don't have the rest of it so it'd be kind of moot to upload it."

"There's also the video you took at the park," he pointed out, and then paused, falling deep in thought. "...Now that I think about it, you're at least right about the uploads making it easier to archive everything. Only the most important stuff was posted online, so I guess looking at everything with that mindset made it easier to weed out the more useless stuff."

Sensing where his train of thought was leading, I suggested, "So then maybe we should try to look at everything right now as if we're going to upload it?"

"It's worth a shot, at least," he said with a shrug. Grabbing one of the complimentary notepads and pens hotels like to leave in rooms, he tested the ink and began writing. "Let's go over what we know so far about that missing time. First, we know that towards the beginning we went to the park and saw Hoody."

"And then at the end he was in the car with us for some reason," I added, and he nodded as he jotted that down.

"Right. And given how he ran after waking up, I'm guessing we didn't just politely invite him into the car."

"Definitely not," I agreed with a roll of my eyes.

"Meanwhile, we know next to nothing about what happened between that. Obviously at some point I bought a different car, but no idea when or where that happened. Meanwhile, I counted at least three different hotel rooms in the videos, and probably a dozen restaurants, but none of those videos had any particular identifying landmarks or the names of the towns in it, so we don't know where they were." I looked at him in surprise as he spoke.

"Oh, uh, right... Good to know." Looking for that kind of stuff in the background didn't even occur to me, I was too focused on our boring conversations or sleep patterns. I ducked my head in shame, hoping that I didn't miss something, but Tim didn't notice and just continued.

"Other than that, we know that we checked into this hotel shortly before getting amnesia. We don't know if we had a reason to stay in this town specifically or were just passing through, though—and if we did have a reason, we don't know what it was or if we completed it. After that, we're left with several questions and mysteries, but there are a couple which are more immediate than others."

Setting down the pen, he raised a hand to tick off the questions on his hand. "One, why is the glove box locked and where's the key to it?" Obviously I knew the answer to part of it, but wasn't too keen on learning the rest yet, so I held my tongue as he continued. "Two, what's stored in your cell phone?" Another question I wasn't too keen to answer just yet. "And three, why is there a lock on your backpack pocket and what's inside?"

Perking up at the mention of my backpack, I decided I should answer that one now, jolting in my seat and blurting, "Wait! I actually got into it!" Startled by my outburst, Tim looked at me with wide eyes.

"What? When!?"

"The day we went to the park," I replied. "I decided to sit at the gazebo for a bit before heading out. I bought a pair of scissors the day before, so I figured I'd try cut into the pocket from the inside." Tim would want to see the video from the park anyway, so might as well start to lay out my excuses now.

"What?" Gaping at me, Tim quickly blurted, "Why didn't you tell me earlier!?"

"...I was kind of... distracted," I mumbled, glancing downward. Comprehension quickly registered on his face, and he slowly nodded.

"...Oh. Right." After an awkward pause, he then asked, "Well, what'd you find?"

"Laundry." Flashing a rueful smirk, I said, "Just a bunch of old, dirty clothes."

"Seriously...? That was it?"

"Well, there was also a bra in there, so I guess that's why I locked it up. Protect it from thieves and all that, bras can get pretty pricey and finding one that actually fits is pretty tricky. So, yeah."

"Well, that was anti-climatic," he muttered under his breath, and I breathed an internal sigh of relief. Good, he bought it. And just as expected, he then glanced at the camera and asked, "Hey (Name), since I'm thinking about it, mind if I take a look at your video?"

"Sure," I said, and picked up the camera so I could eject the memory card and hand it to him. Popping it into his laptop, he proceeded to plug in his headphones and turn the screen slightly so I couldn't see it. I quickly realized it was an effort to shield me from seeing it and reliving the memories of the chase again, and I offered him a small smile of gratitude before turning back to my own laptop.

For the next fifteen minutes we both watched our screens in silence, until eventually I heard Tim remove the headphones and set them on the desk with a sigh. Glancing in his direction, I paused when I noticed him bent over massaging his forehead, the sight making me frown. "Tim? You okay?"

"...Yeah, I'm fine," he mumbled after a bit. "Just... Guess I'm kinda weirded out to see... him again, after so long. Kind of sets in stone that this is actually real and happening..."

"...I can imagine," I muttered, recalling my own reaction to finding Marble Hornets. Deciding it would probably be best to change the subject, I quickly asked, "Mind if I watch your video now?" My question made him pause, taking a few moments to consider it before slowly shaking his head.

"Honestly, I don't think it's worth it. Nothing happened in it, watching it would just be a big waste of time."

"You sure?" I prodded. "Having a second pair of eyes watch it might be able to catch something you missed—"

"I said, no!" I gave a jolt in my seat as Tim suddenly raised his voice, gripping at his forehead and shaking his head violently. "Just forget it, okay!? There's no point watching it!"

"Okay, okay!!" I said quickly, wincing at his sharp tone. "I won't watch it!" Tim sat hunched over the desk for a moment before his shoulders finally slumped, leaning back in his chair with a sigh. Ejecting the memory card, he used the pen to scribble something on it before getting another card from the bag.

"Let's just keep watching videos," he said flatly, and put on his headphones before I could respond.

"...Yeah." Nodding slowly, I turned to my laptop with a frown as I plugged in another SD card, still a bit shocked at his sudden outburst. Looks like I might not be the only one keeping a secret after all...