Confessions

I didn't mean to worry Derek. Or anyone else, if anyone else was worried. I'm really sorry about that. But things had to be done, which was why I was gone. And why I lied. It wasn't a big lie, either. Just a small one. I do feel bad about it though.

Through the notebooks, through collecting people's stories, I found something. Something that could help Minori.

And this is what it was always about. All the stories, all the talking to everybody. Dr. Spelling finds people through the blogs, you see. So I needed people to know. I needed people to care.

And so I lied, but only a little. I always wanted to talk to Minori. And by now, you hopefully understand why this was done.

And it was good! because I found him. I found him and I talked to him. And he's going to help.

He's going to cure Minori.

Derek again

Does anyone know where Ronan is? He's not answering his phone.

He left some of his notes here. Audio recordings, notebooks and the like. And I don't like what he's getting into. Or that he lied to me. All of us really.

Leave a comment here if you know where he is. Or know anything about a Dr. Spelling. I think he went to look for him. And as furious as I am at him right now, I just hope he's all right.

New York

That's where we're headed. David and I stopped there briefly when we first started travelling together, but not for very long. There was too much danger and too many memories. Maybe the same is true now, but David's got business. And I have spent far too long in fear. Plus there are lots of things I'd like to see again. New York still is my home, even if I haven't been there for a while. And I don't plan on burning it like I did my last one. Though that was sort of a house. The difference always sort of confused me.

Maybe I'll visit Minori.

Hello

It's been a while hasn't it? A lot been going on. I hung out with zombies and ran around cafes and went to see Derek and somehow ended up traveling with a proxy defector. As well as David, who people have probably noticed is a proxy.

Oh, and I'm speaking in first person now.

The Notebook: Minori

The Mad Ventriloquist thought a lot about his last conversation with David, and about the slender man, and all the deaths and crazy people he had been looking at. He sort of wondered how he had gotten into such a huge mess. But he went to the apartment anyway, if only to tell Minori not to go.

She was in the parking lot already when he arrived, wearing baggy pants to cover up the fact that her leg still wasn't perfect. She waved to The Mad Ventriloquist. He felt very guilty for a minute. It felt wrong, for some reason. It felt horrible.

He told her about the deal with David, and why they couldn't go into the apartment. She got really mad at him. The Mad Ventriloquist should have expected that. He tried to talk to her, tried to tell her how they would be safe, how nothing could bother them, how he didn't want her to die.

"So, you expect me to just let him continue? He killed my sister Ronan. I'm not the kind of person who becomes best friends with the person who slaughters my family." She said, then realized it was kind of a low blow and softened a bit. Just a bit though. "Why did you even think I would agree to this?" she asked.

"Because you're a survivor." I said, "Like David and me. You'll keep going, no matter what the cost. We're really not that different, Minori." Minori laughed. It was a bitter laugh, though. Not the actually happy kind. "I get that so much." she said, "How much I'm like you. Have you ever thought for one minute that maybe you're like me?"

The Mad Ventriloquist stopped. He wasn't sure how to answer that. Minori was strong, and brave, and full of unshakeable morals. The Mad Ventriloquist was nothing like that. But there was always that hope there. That thought that he could do something. That he didn't have to be the bad guy. That's when he realized that he didn't want to be the bad guy. It was a really weird moment.

"You need to stop believing in David so much. He's a monster." Minori began, and didn't even let The Mad Ventriloquist interrupt  "He brings you down. I know you like him, but you have to look at what he does to you. It's sick." The Mad Ventriloquist yelled at her for a few minutes about that and she yelled back and there was lots of yelling and it lasted a long time because neither one really wanted it to end.

"I'm going in there, I have to." Minori said finally. She knew they couldn't stay and yell at each other forever. The Mad Ventriloquist tried to stop her. He believed David when he said she wouldn't come out. The Mad Ventriloquist didn't want Minori to die.

"Just don't forget me, ok?" she asked.

"Don't talk like we'll never see each other again." The Mad Ventriloquist answered. She shook her head and laughed. "Even if I get out of here, we'll be on different sides won't we?"

He hugged her, one last time. Then he waited outside for her. He waited for several hours, just knowing that she was going to come back. Six hours later, she did.

Except her face was blank. Her eyes were empty. She walked right past The Mad Ventriloquist, didn't seem to recognize anything.

She was gone.

The Notebook: David

Minori was pretty much healed, and she and The Mad Ventriloquist were trying to find more people to interview. They couldn't find anything. Minori wanted to go back to the apartment. The Mad Ventriloquist didn't think that they would find anything there. Whoever it was had probably moved by now. Minori didn't think so.

"They chase other people off, they don't run." She said, "There's no way they would abandon a place just because we found it."

The Mad Ventriloquist thought that made sense, and it did turn out right in the end. But it still didn't sit right with him, and he told her so. She just smiled at him.

The Mad Ventriloquist eventually gave in, and they made plans to go before he went home. David was waiting for him. This wasn't really that out of the ordinary. David doesn't have a house. He moves from place to place, and when he was in New York, he used The Mad Ventriloquist's house. It sort of became normal to come in to David playing music at two in the morning or making himself a sandwhich in the kitchen.

But this time, David was sitting on the chair in the living room, waiting for The Mad Ventriloquist. "You can't go back." he said. The Mad Ventriloquist doesn't know how David knew about it, and David still hasn't said. "Why Not?" The Mad Ventriloquist asked.

"Because if you go, you won't come back."

The Mad Ventriloquist just laughed at him "The great David Banks actually afraid of something?" he said. David just sighed and pulled up his shirt. It took a while for The Mad Ventriloquist to figure out what David was trying to show him. His body is so badly scarred it's hard to see anything. But after a while, he did notice something that was new. Two scars that hadn't been there before, sleek and red and reaching all across his stomach. The Mad Ventriloquist had never seen a scar like that before. Rope came close, but not quite. This was completely smooth. It was unnatural.

"How did you get that?"

"He came to me the other night." David said, "And believe me, he is more than you could ever imagine. He could have killed me, right then and there. And you know how hard I am to kill Ronan."

The Mad Ventriloquist nodded.

"He wants me to join him. And there's room for you. I know that you hate it here, under incompetent fools who can barely keep you safe. Under him, you'll never have to worry about anything. And you'll be following someone worth following."

The Mad Ventriloquist stood there for a moment. "And Minori?"

"I've got something for Minori too. She doesn't even have to do anything for him. Just stop seeking him out, and she will be safe."

"I don't know if she'll do that."

"Oh, she will. She's a fighter, like you and me. When it comes down to it, she'll do what it takes to survive. I do like her, Ronan. I want her to be ok. But you both need to stay away from that apartment. At least for now."

The Mad Ventriloquist said nothing.


Then...

Then he nodded.

"Alright. I'll talk to Minori." He said.

David smiled and Hugged The Mad Ventriloquist.

"You made the right choice. You'll see."

And The Mad Ventriloquist believed him.

Gone

Elaine and Emily left. Elaine is trying to be more responsible and stuff, which is a very good thing even if The Mad Ventriloquist is sad that she's gone.

Derek also left. After he and Elaine were attacked by the slender man, he says that he wasn't hurt at all. And that maybe the only reason he is seeing the man in the business suit at all is because he's hanging around runners. So Derek's going to try going home. He never did like running. And if he can live a safe life, The Mad Ventriloquist wants that for him.

So it's just The Mad Ventriloquist and David. David says he'll stay as long as he can. It feels a bit like old times.

It sort of funny, everything they've been through. Twenty years together. Six years apart. Now they're married, and The Mad Ventriloquist still isn't really sure how it all happened.

He can still hear Nightscream talking about David sometimes. About how he uses people. About how The Mad Ventriloquist shouldn't throw everything he has into a man who just thinks of him as a toy. How he needs to stop drowning himself.

And a lot of it is true, he thinks. But there is something to be said that when everyone leaves, David is there.

Even for the six years where The Mad Ventriloquist disappeared, David was looking.

The Mad Ventriloquist thinks it's time to stop drowning.