solutions

There's an old saying. "If you sit down at a card table and you don't know who the sucker is, it's probably you."

That was true. I was the sucker.

And this was it.

This was where it'd end. I could feel it in my gut. I'd come this far, and in the end, for no reason. As The Artist drove to what she wanted to "show me", all I could think about where the last few months. This had all been orchestrated so beautifully. What if there WAS no power struggle? What if Silence and Jars were fighting just to get me out of the picture? If that was the case, then they succeeded in spades. And here I was, stupid enough to follow their every whim, to end up in a car with the one person who had the balls to kill me.

We hiked a bit into the woods, and neither of us said a word. I thought I might be able to turn and run at some point, but it didn't really matter. The Artist had a gun, and there was no way I could dodge bullets. I'm no action hero. I'm just a sad, lonely man now. As I followed The Artist on the death march towards my inevitable ending, I realized that these were not good people. Annie, Silence, Jars. The Artist was just following orders, she actually did give me answers. But even still. These were not good people, and I'm not sure why I wanted to help them. Maybe I wanted to regain something I'd lost.

And then she pulled it.

I knew it wouldn't even help to beg or plead. She wasn't going to let me go. Not now. I just asked "Why" because I felt I was at least entitled to the answer of why my life had to end here, in the middle of the woods, for seemingly no damn good reason. The Artist didn't say a thing at first, but when she spoke, she said something I wasn't expecting.

"You're not going to die. I need you."

WHAT.

This was not what I was expecting. What does she need me for? I asked why she was holding a gun to me, and she said, "This is merely a formality, I need your assurance and word that you aren't going to turn on me. I have answers, I am the only one who's been honest to you, you NEED me. You need to listen to me. If we work together, we can both get what we want out of this. You want to see Silence and Jars hurt the way you hurt, and I want out of this thing once and for all. It's a win/win situation, the way I see it."

And she had a point.

She WAS the only one who'd been honest with me, and here she was, defying orders and saving my life when I SHOULD be being buried under a tree right now.

Then she heard something. We both did. I think we both knew it was Jars. She'd been tailing us for a while. Ever since Silence and I had split, Jars had apparently been on our tail. The Artist seemed to know this, and enjoy it. That's when it hit me. THIS IS WHAT SHE WANTED. This whole time, showing me everything she'd shown me and giving me answers...all she was doing was trying to make Jars angrier. Angry enough to possibly be willing to attack.

"You're going to head back to your apartment, and when you get there, you're going to wait for me." she told me. I understood.

There's an old saying, "If you sit down at a card game and you don't know who the sucker is, it's probably you."

The thing was. I WASN'T the sucker. Jars was.

john

answers

My mother always told me not to get in the car with strangers, especially if they have visible weapons, but The Artist was going to give me answers, and I needed to be with her to get them. I had no choice; I'd come this far, I wasn't going to give up NOW. So, we got in her car and started driving.

I began to ask her questions, and she actually did answer them in full honesty. Annie's father, whom I'd only met once, was named William, and he died in 2010. He began this society with Silence and Jars father, who's name wasn't diverged to me, but died in 2011. When they both died, the leadership of the society fell to their daughters, to carry on what they'd started. But...only one leader could be appointed, and the sisters were much more willing to take it, seeing as Annie had me.

The Artist continued to tell me that Jars wanted it more than anything, always having felt like 2nd best to her sister, and she came up with a plan to kill both of them. She had Annie killed in a seemingly apparent car accident, and Silence went into hiding, until discovering that Annie had known me, and that's when I became involved. Now it was down to the sisters, and each wanted leadership, and each were willing to kill eachother for it.

The Artist felt, though, that "Silence doesn't have it in her to kill her sister. Only something so drastic would force her to do it. You've always been a pawn to them, and I think Annie only loved you because you provided an out for her. She could easily have left the society, but Jars killed her before she had the chance."

There it was. Annie never even loved me.
All of this...I thought I was doing it to avenge her, but...she never even cared.
She was just as bad as these girls had been.

The Artist then took me somewhere. Another graveyard.

That was Annie's fathers grave. I was a little confused why they were buried so far apart, but The Artist told me it was because she went against her family by trying to find a way out with me as her scapegoat. Doing anything against the family is grounds for treason-murder or just trying to escape even-and that's why she's buried where she is. She'd not only failed to escape, but even been abandoned in death. And frankly...I didn't even feel bad about it. She got what she deserved.
Then she showed me Silence and Jars fathers grave.

A more important man with a more important family gets a more important headstone. I knew right then that I wanted nothing more than to make these people hurt the way they'd hurt me. I wanted to destroy their family, and their society. The Artist told me she had one more thing to show me, and to get back in the car.

Unfortunately, that thing was the end of her gun.

john

the artist

Finally, after all this time...I was going to meet The Artist. Silence drove me into these woods, and I hiked most of the way into the deep thicket of them as she told me to. All alone and not armed at all, you can believe that I was cautious as hell.

I only brought my laptop with me, and the CD case. I was going to get some answers right now. I'd waited so long, and I finally had someone who was willing to give me some sort of explanation for everything I've been through. This was it.

And then, as you saw in the last photo of my last post, I saw her there. She was sitting on a fallen tree, and had long blonde hair. She wasn't at all what I expected, but of course, none of what has happened has been what I'd expected. I remember I said the same thing about Silence the first time I met her. So I approached her carefully, as Silence told me she was armed and dangerous.

Another mask. Big surprise there. She clearly was being careful about being watched, as she had the binoculars. But she didn't seem dangerous. In fact, I felt more comfortable with The Artist than I ever have with Silence. She asked if I was John, and I told her I was. I then handed over the CDs, informing her of all that had happened.

She must've opened it to make sure I didn't put a bomb inside or something, I don't even know anymore with these people. But she seemed satisfied that it was clear of anything deadly. I assured her I wasn't going to hurt her, and that I just wanted answers. After Silence being quiet (sticking to her name) and Jars only leaving cryptic and vague messages, I needed something solid and concrete. She asked me what I wanted to know, and I told her I needed to know where the CDs came from, and who Jennifer was.

She informed me that Jennifer was the deadly one, not Jars. Jars was nothing more than a pawn to her, as I was to Silence. I told her that Silence wasn't using me, but The Artist made a good point.

"Think about it, everything you've done up until this point has been on their command. Jars sends you something and you take note of it. Silence tells you to dig and you dig. You follow her around like a puppy dog wanting something that you know she'll never give you. It's pathetic. But...it's why I'm helping you, and Silence. Jars must be stopped, and Jennifer must be stopped as well. She's more dangerous than you can ever believe."

Then she told me a statement that did actually surprise me.

"I gave you these."

She bugged the phones, but when she retrieved them, Jennifers audio was missing. She told me as best she could what had happened.

"I bugged them, I knew they had information you'd want to hear. When I got the bugs back though, Jennifers was gone. She must've wiped it clean or something, I'm not sure. All I know is that it was gone. The thing that's interesting to me is that she didn't tell Jars. I think that's because Jars is her fall guy. She's going to let Jars take the hit. This is just another example of the kind of woman Jennifer is and why she must be taken down."

She told me to get in her car and I'd get more answers, so I did. Finally someone was telling me the truth. But I'm not as stupid as these girls have made me out to be. I know to be careful, and I can lie just as well as they can. I knew that though The Artist was giving me information, it was probably information that she'd crafted together perfectly so it was good enough for me but not everything I needed to know. I figured she was still hiding some things, but I took it anyway. I needed SOMETHING to go on. But I was still careful.

 You can never be too careful.

john

graverobbing

Back when I originally dug, I found some teeth.

I didn't know what to make of this at first, probably because at the time I was so frightened, angry and confused. But I had a hunch. The photo it came with was a photo of the jar that Jars sent. I figured that if Jars had had Annie killed, they might be Annie's teeth, in a way of mocking me. What kind of sick person rips the teeth out of a dead lady? God my poor Annie...

So I had Silence take me to the graveyard where Annie had been buried.

Shovel in hand, teeth in my pocket, we headed inside. Silence seemed nervy about the whole thing, but I didn't care. I HAD to do this. I knew it was illegal to rob a grave, but I didn't care. I needed to know if Jars had desecrated my Annie. So I headed to her headstone and got to work. Silence just waited.

After a good 2 hours, I dug her coffin up and almost threw up. I was no better than they were now, even if I WAS doing this for Annie's sake. I wanted to avenge her in some way, put her to rest. So I pulled the lid open and there she was...or what was left of her. And yes, her teeth were gone. At first I thought it might have just been decay, but teeth don't really decay, and Silence pointed out the way they had been tugged out of her skull that they had indeed been stolen.

I would've asked Silence why Jars would do such a thing, but I didn't get a chance. She told me she had to take care of something and to head to a woodsy area, to meet The Artist. The Artist would come up with a plan to get back at Jars. Not being one to question Silence at this point, I agreed, and so I headed to the woodsy destination. After a bit of hiking, I finally saw The Artist from a distance, waiting on a log.

The Artist was the one who didn't appear to be a part of this cult. The Artist appeared to be a middleman of some sort, which meant that they had answers I needed.

And I was going to get them.

john

update #4

history lesson

In a few posts, I have mentioned a person by the name of The Artist. This person left me a map to find Silence and so on. Well, Silence figured The Artist was the right person to ask for help. So, after a while of staying in our little hole in the woods, Silence decided it was time to pack up and take a drive. I rented a car and off we went. Silence wanted to explain and show some things to me along the way, so we took what she considered, "the scenic route".

The first thing we came to was an inn. The town we were staying in wasn't too far away from the town I lived in, and I found the inn's sign a bit odd.

Theory was, you could take a train-as this sign clearly showed-between the towns. The town I lived in-as I said in a entry a long time ago-is very, very old. But, like my town, there has never been a train, and there no tracks to even be found here. The inn had apparently been run by her & Jars father, who had apparently been the "leader" of whatever it was they were involved in. As Silence explained it to me, the only way you can become leader is to have it passed down to you by someone who was leader and was related to you. When their father died, it came down to Silence and Jars, and now Jars wanted Silence dead. Jars however was the one claiming Silence was going to do me harm. Here are some more photos of the inn.

Much like the house that I had to pass through to meet Silence, it was very beautiful and well kept. She and her sister apparently spent a lot of time here as kids. After the inn, we continued our drive to meet The Artist. Upon arrival at The Artist's house, Silence wouldn't allow me to go in. Apparently she had to speak to The Artist in private and I would meet The Artist either afterwards or at a later date. I was able to get a shot of the house after she'd gone inside. She left me out there for over an hour.

The thing that still bothered me was that if Silence was so dangerous, why was I still alive? Jars had followed me to meet with her, but she seemed to be after both of us. But, as I'd learn later, Silence really was dangerous, and Jars was really telling the truth.

As the old saying goes, "If I only knew then..."

john

hiding

Since Silence and I ran, it was a while until I felt safe. She assured me that as long as I stayed with her, nothing would happen, and that I would get answers. And despite all evidence contrary to what I should've done, I listened to Silence, even though Jars had not only told me she was a liar, but even gone so far as to follow me to meeting her and try to kill her.

But we were safe at least. We went off the grid. You'll notice I didn't update at all during the time I was gone. That was because I didn't want Jars or anyone else to follow, since I know she reads this blog. And on top of that, I promised to Silence I wouldn't blog at all anymore, but this blog is all I have to tell you I am safe. Silence doesn't know the URL, and it's safe to say Jars wouldn't give it to her, so I can still update for you guys, so you know what'll happen in case I ever disappear entirely.

We ended up in a very hidden area that Silence had been to before, and knew was safe. She moved around constantly, as she told me, because it was stupid to stay in one place. That's how people get caught. We went to a small store, bought some clothes for our stay and some food, and that was it. We were hidden until we could figure something out.

It was actually pretty hidden, for example, without giving too much away.

It doesn't look like it at first glance, but if you push away the brush, you can actually get much deeper into it and there's a small cave type spot. We didn't say too much to one another, but it was good. I needed time to think. But I realized something during the time I had to think to myself.

Those teeth I dug up. I knew a way to find out if they're Annies. Unfortunately...

it involved grave robbing.

john

we'll get back to you

It's been a while.

The forests are quiet when I'm in them, so quiet in fact that now whenever I hear a noise or am around any sort of noise in general that it gives me a headache. The silence has become my friend, and yet, my own worst enemy. We have traveled a long way, and by the end of this barrage of updates, you will know what has happened to me over the last 2 weeks. I guarantee most of you won't believe it's true, you'll say "Oh you're making it all up!" but everything I type to you is THE GOD HONEST TRUTH. And I am telling you this because I NEED you to believe me, because one day-soon, possibly-I am going to need your help. Your help to find me if I stop updating. I don't care HOW you find me, I just need you to, or if I am gone, to find whoever has hurt me and bring justice to my life.

My favorite story as a child was Hansel & Gretel. One of the defining things in that story that intrigued me was the fact that though they knew what they were doing was possibly stupid, they still left a trail of breadcrumbs. I am doing the same. I am leaving you these photos. I don't know if you maybe can make something out of the geographical markers in them or what, but you need to pay very close to attention to what I am telling you. This is all very important. This all means something. This could possibly mean whether or not I survive to finish telling you this tale. There's a lot to still go through, but I can't get to it right now. I have to keep on moving; if Silence taught me one thing, it's that staying in one place for too long is risky. They're never that far behind.

Please listen. Please follow my breadcrumbs. And if I need you to, PLEASE SAVE MY LIFE. You are about to hear about the last 2 weeks of my life, and believe me...it doesn't end well.

john

r.i.p.

Sometimes we walk down some lonely paths. Seemingly unnoticed and unheard. I'm sorry that you felt that way. I wish things had turned out differently.

We don't usually know where we're going to end up in our lives, but nobody should have ended up where you did. I should've done things differently, and now I have to live with the regret. I hope you forgive me, one day.

And that in the end, things don't usually turn out the way we want them to. R.I.P.

This is only the beginning.

run

Today is August 3rd, 2012. The same day as on that paper. Annie and mine's anniversary. Yesterday, I made my way back to Silence. Being cautious, she didn't want to meet in the same spot, so we met a while away from there, still in the same woods.

It was time for me to come clean. I took my seat across from her and told her that I wasn't sure I should trust her, and I wanted-needed-more proof that Jars was dangerous. She reminded me of Annie and what Jars had done, but I didn't want to just believe that. I told Silence that she herself could be dangerous, or be lying, and that Jars told me she was a liar.

That got her attention.

She didn't know Jars had been contacting me. Turns out Jars must've been the one to bury the things in the dirt, not Silence. Whatever Silence had originally intended me to find was replaced by the photo and the teeth. Silence became a bit nervy and unhinged upon realizing that Jars had been in contact with me, and she became even more nervous when I told her I have been blogging about this entire thing. That REALLY set her off, and she started yelling at me.

This was when I realized why she was upset. If Jars had been in contact with me, and was as dangerous as Silence had made her out to be, then it meant Jars had been reading this blog and knew what was happening, and that she had followed me here. Of course about two minutes later we saw a car pull up, and Silence knew we were in trouble. I asked her what we do. She had 1 last command.

RUN.

I will update again when I can, but you might not hear from me for a while. I'll try and stay safe.

masks

The map at the country club or hotel or whatever it was told me to follow a path.

So I followed that path.

I followed it for a good 2 or 3 hours until I reached another woodsy area. I didn't expect it to turn back into woods, considering the place I found was so suburban and nice, but I guess appearances are deceiving. Eventually I wound up on a trail that looked a lot like this.

That little hill down to the side? It lead to an alcove. And down in that alcove...I finally met Silence.

She was not what I was expecting. I can't really say WHO I expected, but not her. She told me to take a seat and that she had a lot to explain. The first was the fact that she knew who I was. As she went deeper into her conversation with me, she revealed what she meant by that; birthdate, parents names, Annie's last name and Annie's parents name. I asked how she knew who Annie was.

She told me that she would explain that later to me. What she did tell me was important was that Jars was dangerous, and that we needed to stop her. I asked her how she even knew who Jars was, or if Jars had an actual name, and while she didn't give me a name, she did tell me that Jars...is her sister. She told me that Jars is trying to kill us, and that we have to be very careful.

At this point, she told me to go home and that she'd contact me again in a few days, a week at the most. I didn't want to leave just yet. I wanted to know how she knew what she knew about Annie, but all she told me was that Jars had had her killed. I still didn't understand...how did Annie and I figure into this? This was clearly between these two, and I still am not sure what we have to do with it...

But the fact that Jars had Annie killed...that kills me inside. Silence was right. At the time, I agreed that Jars needed to be stopped. But it's been a while since our meeting, and I've had some time to just sit and think, and I would fully agree with everything Silence said to me, because her stories were air tight, if not for one statement Jars made:

update #2

Here's that photoset I promised you guys.

I took this one just for reference. I figured it would be good to have one in the daytime just in case anything happened to me and someone found my camera somehow, they would have a better idea of what the place looked like, since the only image I had of it before was of at night.

Tea parties? I don't know. It appeared to be some sort of country club or something.

 Looked like a stage or something in the background. I took further pictures of that.

 I just thought the fountain was a nice touch.

 Here's a better, closer image of the front.

 I think this is the best shot of the place I took.

This is the path that I found behind the house, which you can kind of see in the other pictures. And, I think this is the one that appears on the map Silence and The Artist left me.

Another fountain in the back.

Closer image of the tents.

 Now I was sure this was some sort of club or something.

 The map.

The map, opened. That's that path, and at the end of the path is the X. Where I met Silence, which you will see in my next entry. I have to go now. I have some things to be prepared for.