The Dead House

40 days until the incident


Naida Camera Footage

Friday, 24 December 2004

Time Index Not Noted

Basement



Naida swings the camera around the small room. It is nothing more than a cemented space with a solitary lightbulb hanging from the ceiling. The circle of light that the bulb creates does not touch the corners of the room, which sit stagnant in shadow. The mic picks up the sound of dripping water.

“Lovely spot,” Kaitlyn murmurs, folding her arms.

“It’s temporary. I’d stash you in my room, but the chances of you being seen—”

“No. No, you’re right. This is fine. Cold, dank, lonely.” She gives a grin. “Feels familiar.”

“I’m going to set the camera up there,” Naida says, angling the camera at a strip of wall near the ceiling. “I can monitor the footage through my computer.”

“Won’t the battery die?”

“Nah, I’ll hook it into the school’s power supply, and it’ll feed directly to my laptop. I’ll rig it to send automatically to an online server too, so we can watch it later in more detail.”

“Watch me in more detail, you mean. We’re past sociology projects, aren’t we?”

“It’s not about that anymore. We need this. Need proof.” She spins the camera to face her and messes with the focus.

“They told me I was crazy,” Kaitlyn says after a beat of silence. Her voice barely registers in the mic.

Naida glances at her, then steps forward. “You’ve got to put that out of your head, sugar. It won’t help Carly.”

Kaitlyn looks away, and the progress of the camera—and Naida—stops. “What you did… going there. Seeing me, the note, everything. I… thank you.”

“I’d do it again and more in a heartbeat.” Naida hesitates, and then adds, “But what made you come here? Why believe me?”

“I could blame it on the pill diet they had me on, but… in my last session with Lansing… I saw something. I don’t know, probably nothing. But…”

“Tell me.”

Kaitlyn sighs sharply. “I sound so bloody crazy, and I hate it because I’m not crazy.”

“I don’t think you’re crazy. You’ve got to trust me with the truth.”

“I saw something in the room with us in my last session with Dr. Lansing. A girl. She smelled wet and earthy, and she looked terrified; her mouth was wide open, and her teeth—” She takes a breath. “She was pointing at Lansing. Like she was warning me. And I knew… I just knew I had to get out.”

There is another pause, and then Naida says, “We should find something for you to sleep on in that junk heap round there.” She points the camera at the floor. “There’s bound to be—”

[END OF CLIP]



Naida Camera Footage

Date and Time Index Missing

Basement



“You look like shit,” Naida says, facing a mattress that now lies in the corner of the room. She goes to sit beside Kaitlyn, handing over a bag of cookies. She takes one too. “Didn’t they feed you?”

“Don’t remember.”

“So tell me about this girl, the one you saw. Have you seen her before? Do you see her a lot?”

The slightest hesitation. “No.”

“What about other things? I need to know, Kait.”

Kaitlyn opens the bag of cookies. She removes one but doesn’t eat it. “I don’t want to go back to that place.”

“Then tell me.”

“Right.” Kaitlyn laughs. “Tell you about crazy stuff I see so that you don’t call my shrink.”

Naida glances at her pointedly. “I warned you, Kaitlyn Johnson. I warned you about all this. You called it crazy Mala shit, remember? Now you’re going to tell me everything so I can help you and Carly, okay?”

Kaitlyn smiles, regarding her. “Well, it is still crazy Mala shit, even if it’s true.”

“Come on, now. Spit it out.”

“I don’t know. I see… sometimes—” She sighs. “A… a dark shape. I’m not sure… It really wasn’t much more than a shadow. I heard breathing, smelled an ashy smell. And there was a snake… a green viper. I spoke to him.” Her voice fades away, into a murmur. “He asked me if I was a real girl…” She blinks, shakes her head. “But it was a dream.”

“You spoke to a nathair nimhe? A snake?”

“Yeah, but it’s just the drugs they were making Carly take. It does crap to the brain—”

“No. It’s not just that. There’s a spirit associated with animals, the snake in particular, but also dogs, wolves, foxes. It’s a dangerous spirit, Kaitlyn. An Olen. Olens can be very powerful—they are more than mere spirits. Normally Olens are revered, because when they come, they bring healing, strength, courage, and love. But they can be malevolent forces too; they can cause physical harm, injure the souls of the living, and they can enter animals to manipulate them—and animals that are filled with an Olen are collectively called Sivu.” Naida stands up. “Blessed Gorro, help us.”