The Lead

I've got a lead on the Girl. Her name is Sophie Stevens. I found an article about her in the paper's archives. A few years ago, she was rescued almost unscathed from a fire at a church in the suburbs. I recognised her from a photo in the article. There doesn't seem to be anything else on her in anything I can find but a name is a start. Hopefully I can start getting to the bottom of this.

The Lack of Success

I haven't been able to find the Girl since whatever happened in the park. It's like she's disappeared from the face of the earth. Lady's not happy about how much time I'm spending looking for her either but something important obviously happened at the park and I can't remember it! I know I should be more grateful about her wanting to spend more time with me but I need my space too, I need my own time to do my own things!

Speaking of my own things, the insurance company had made its decision about my puppets and it's not coming through with the money. Even with the job I have, I don't have the money to replace them, so it looks like I'm going to have to retire from puppetry. At least I have that job with the newspaper to fall back on but it's going to be hard to turn my back on my art after so long...at least I still have Harvey and the other puppet (I still haven't unravelled the secrets of its control mechanism, by the way). I guess I can still get a booking now and then when I'm missing it, but it looks like I'm going to be focusing a bit more time on the newspaper for now.

Well, the newspaper and this whole situation with Girl. Whatever it takes, I'm getting to the bottom of this. I have questions that need answers.

The Meeting

Dammit, my head is pounding. I don't remember what happened.. Well, I don't remember everything. I remember meeting the Girl at the park. I remember her telling me that she used to be a member of some weird cult and that she was following me because she thought the cult was targeting me or something, it's all fuzzy. She was trying to tell me something important and then she saw something and ran away and I turned around to see what was there and then darkness.

I need to find her. I need clear answers.

The Catch

Today, I was walking in the park where I found the blank-faced puppet when I saw something dark moving out of the corner of my eye. I turned to see the Girl watching me from behind a tree. She jumped when she saw that I'd noticed her and tried to run but she wasn't very athletic and without a crowd in my way, I was able to catch her after a couple of minutes of sprinting. I grabbed her by the arm and started shouting at her, asking her why she was harassing me. After a minute she stopped struggling and started looking around in fear. Then she leaned forward and whispered into my ear.

"Come back here in three days' time and I'll explain everything, Andrew. I promise."

Then she jerked her arm away and ran off.

What the hell is happening to my life?

The Halloween Night

I was at a party last night with Lady and some really strange stuff happened.

I was dancing with Lady when I spotted the Girl out of the corner of my eye. I shouted at her and she saw me and ran away but when I tried to run after her, the crowd kept closing in around me. When I asked people why they were doing it, they acted like they weren't doing anything, but it was too late anyway, the Girl was gone.

Then, when I went for a drink in the kitchen, Darren was there, even though he said he told me he was going to Veracruz for Halloween. When I asked him why he wasn't in Mexico, he said he was, even though he quite clearly wasn't, and asked me why I was in Mexico. Before I could continue the conversation, Lady came into the kitchen and dragged me upstairs to...well, yeah.

Afterwards, I came back downstairs and Harvey and the other puppet were sitting in the hall windows. I grabbed them quickly in case someone damaged them, then I went outside with Lady and the house we were in was in a forest, even though it was in the middle of a city when we got there. Then I went back inside and everybody was staring at me for like five minutes, then they stopped as if nothing had happened, but I got freaked out so I went back outside and we were back in the city, so I took Lady home and then went back to my apartment with the puppets. Someone had left a note on my door that just said "STRINGS".

What the hell is going on!?

The Break-In

Oh gosh, sorry, I forgot to update again. I have a good excuse this time though, so don't be too mad!

Someone broke into my apartment and wrecked the whole place. They destroyed all my puppets except for Harvey and the puppet I found in the park. The insurance company are being really difficult about paying out for replacing them too, even though I need them to work. If they don't come through with the money...I think I might have to give up my art altogether, though the newspaper have said that they'd be delighted to have me on as a full time employee. That would definitely be enough enough money to get by on, though I'd need to cut back on stuff.

Sorry, I'm probably boring you to tears with my financial situation. The more important thing is that I think it was the Girl. I've done a couple of short shows with just Harvey and she hasn't been at them. I gave the police her description but they haven't had any luck finding her just yet. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed though.