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Several minutes pass. Eventually, frowning, Becca rises. She walks to the door and tries the knob. It’s locked.

Slowly, she turns back and looks straight at the camera, sitting in the corner of the room. Her mouth curls in a slight, sly smile. She speaks softly.

BECCA: I missed something, didn’t I?

VIDEO EVIDENCE

Retrieved from the cell phone of Anthony Beck

Recorded April 19, 2017, 12:49 a.m.

The spires and domes of Ys rise, coral obscuring the precision of their architecture with tumorous bulges of reds and blues and pinks. Sara and Becca stand, fingers laced, locked in silent, urgent conversation.

ANTHONY: I don’t know why I’m recording this, but... I don’t know. Something’s not right.

His voice is so soft the microphone almost fails to pick it up.

ANTHONY: When we found Sara in the dark... Something was wrong. Something is wrong.

Suddenly, Sara wrenches her hands free from Becca’s. She collapses to her knees, hands over her face, a sound between a scream and a moan trapped behind her lips.

ANTHONY: What’s wrong?

Anthony runs toward them, dropping the phone into his pocket. The picture is half-obscured, but the sound is clear.

BECCA: I don’t know. We were just talking, and then—

SARA: No no no she’s in here she’s drowning me I can’t get her out.

Sara looks up between splayed fingers, her eyes red-shot and frantic.

SARA: You have to leave me here. Get out. Run, now.

ANTHONY: What? No. What are you talking about?

BECCA: It’s her.

Anthony looks at her, bewildered. Becca retreats a step, clutching herself with both arms.

BECCA: Lucy. It’s Lucy. I can hear her, in Sara’s voice. I don’t know how, but it’s her.

SARA: Not Lucy.

Her voice is different. Still strained, but calmer. Her hands drop into her lap. She draws a deep breath.

SARA: But close enough. I chose wrong.

ANTHONY: Is Sara—is it like Vanessa?

SARA: Not like Vanessa, Anthony, no. Vanessa was unmade and a poor facsimile constructed of her. I’ve merely slipped inside Sara’s skin, but she’s fighting me more than I thought she could. And you’re not going to stop, are you?

Her eyes unfocus slightly as Dahut addresses the last words to Sara. Then they snap back into focus, and Sara bursts to her feet, frantic.

SARA: Just get out of here! She wants to escape. She wants to start over. She’ll find a way to let that thing out into the world. If you leave me here, she can’t—

Her voice cuts off abruptly. Her whole body shakes, then stills, and she draws heavy breaths through clenched teeth.

SARA: You won’t stop fighting as long as you can feel me in here, will you? Fine, then. Easier to fix your memories and find a more hospitable home.