"Dear Listener, if you are hearing this then obviously you have somehow gotten a hold of this tape recorder. I advise you to either bury this someplace where it'll never be found again or to hand it back to whoever you stole it from and pray that they'll have mercy upon you. Either way, you will still probably die. They are watching you right now. Planning on how to get rid of you. I wish I could help you but by the time you hear this I will already be dead, plus you brought this upon yourself. I can only wish you luck sir or madam. You're going to need it. I do apologize though for whatever horrors you may hear in these recordings. You probably should've taken the advice written on that tape. Goodbye."
"The day is hot. The sun beats down upon the faded black roads; sending waves of heat back up into the atmosphere. Even with the air on full blast you can't escape the hot and humid air. All I can do is look forward to night. The heat doesn't necessarily go away at night but it is a whole lot more cool. Plus the stars look amazing out here in this barren desert that just seems to roll on and on forever. I'm starting to get hungry. I should really find a place to stop and eat."
"I wonder how my neighbors are doing back home? I haven't been there for a while now. I left my dog, Max, with a neighbor of mine. I feel a little homesick but I'm doing this because I'm worried.
"I just stopped at a gas station diner. It looked like it was built in the 1980's; either it was or it was just trying to recreate that feeling but anyways; I stopped, filled up my gas, got something to eat, and chatted with some locals, they weren't dressed in modern clothing so I think they worked there; playing the part of people who lived in the 1980's. There was this one guy though. His skin was a pale. The kind of pale you'd imagine when you think of a vampire but more sick looking. He was wearing a dark brown leather jacket over, what seemed to be, a black muscle shirt, he was also wearing jeans with ripped holes at the knees and dusty brown boots underneath those jeans. His eyes, from what I could see whenever I glanced at him, were a glossy, swampy green except for one that had a scar across it causing the eye to become milky white. His hair was a mess of dark brown and gray that that contrasted greatly against his skin. His hair was mostly hidden under a cap; the cap was black and there was a faded area on the front of it where a logo probably had been before. The man had tattoos that, when he removed his jacket, you could see that they swirled around his arms. They looked like long vines, done in green ink and, while the other markings didn't touch it, they all lead to a strange symbol, made in black ink, of a snake tangling itself and biting its own tail. I absentmindedly doodled the symbol down onto a napkin."
"The tattooed man didn't speak a word to anyone, he wasn't even eating anything, but he always seemed to be staring at me, even when I turned my back to him, I could feel his eyes on me. I started to get creeped out so I quickly finished eating, said my goodbyes, and, gratefully, accepted a map that a man behind the desk offered me after I asked him how to get to Nevada from there. I made my way out the door but not before hearing a chair slide out of under the booth in the station. I quickened my pace, feeling his eyes pierce my back. Once I got into my pickup truck I saw the tattooed man hobbling straight towards my truck in a quick manner. I tried staring up my truck only for it to stall out on me. I kept trying and tying until finally it decided to work when the tattooed man got close enough to my truck to hit it with his hand. I stomped my foot on the gas pedal and left. I looked at my car mirror and watched the dust kicked up by my truck only to see that the man wasn't standing there. Did I just imagine all of that?"
*sigh*
"I need to get to Nevada soon. I don't know how much longer I can deal with this heat."
"It's been roughly 12 hours since that run in with the tattooed man and I still can't shake that feeling of fear. I kept feeling as if I was being followed so I took some detours and now I should be on a road leading straight into Nevada. Either way I really should - hey! Wait a minute... why does this scenery look so familiar? That's... weird... This scenery looks the exact same as it did before... Either I'm hallucinating because of my lack of sleep or I'm going in circles. I'll just keep driving and hope that I'm wrong."
"I've been driving through this seemingly endless desert for what seems like days now. The map says that I should've been in Nevada by now if I just followed this one road but all I've seemed to have accomplished is... well... nothing. Hey, isn't that the restaurant from earlier? Well, I might as well stop and visit them again. Hopefully that guy isn't their anymore. Huh. It looks... old. There's some men standing in front wearing, what seems to be construction uniform vests."
*sigh*
"Well, I'm still gonna stop. Maybe they can give me some directions."
*heavy breathing* "I just... I just witnessed... a murder. I just witnessed a murder!" *more heavy breathing*
*Rustling can be heard along with some yelling and something hitting the side of the truck every now and then*
*A car door slams shut, heavy breathing can be heard* "I really need to get to Nevada and get away from this fucking wasteland!"
"I just realized that I've been using this recorder and haven't explained why I'm going to Nevada. I should really do that. Just in case I end up dead and this recorder becomes the only clue to who killed me."
"By the way, that 1980's diner that I mentioned earlier? Yeah, that diner apparently has been abandoned and shut down for about twelve years now. I ended up finding that out when I stopped there and spoke to some of the construction workers. And then he showed up. He just walked right up behind one of the workers as I was beginning to walk away and... dear god..."
*forced laughter*
"He just straight up snapped the guy's neck! The worker didn't even have enough time to understand what was going on before he collapsed to the ground. The other workers heard the guy fall and when they turned around..."
*sounds of weeping*
"It was as if the other workers couldn't even see him. They began running towards me and I had no choice but to run back to my truck and leave. I had no choice..."
"Have you ever just lied awake at night wishing that you were somewhere else? Wishing that you didn't have to go through what you're going through? That's what I'm wishing right now. I wish I didn't stop at that diner. I wish I had jut stayed at home. I would just go back but I don't think I can. I just wish that you didn't send this stupid fucking recorder! Why did you have to send me this? It's brought me nothing but fear and paranoia. Why did you send it?
We were roommates back in college. You were studying to be a detective of some sort. You were majoring in Law Enforcement; you were pretty nosy because of it but your nosiness helped me here and there. After college we went our separate ways but we still kept in touch.
"You sent me this fucking recorder and those tapes probably knowing how it would make me even more paranoid than I already was! I trusted you and you sent this to me! I thought I could trust you. I thought that you understood and promised to never betray my trust. I thought that I could actually let my guard down around you and you do this to me!"
"Listen to me. Alex. Even if you can't hear me. Listen to me. Is this all just a big joke to you? Were all these recordings of you sounding as if you're in danger fake? Would you really fake being my friend for more than four fucking years?"
"I remember receiving your package Alex. I remember opening it up and being confused. I remember playing only the handful of tapes that had your name on it, they looked a lot newer than the others. I remember hearing your voice. I remember hearing how scared you were, how you thought you were about to die. I remember feeling something's eyes burrow into the back on my head."
"Why didn't you just answer my calls?"
*shaky sigh*
"Why didn't you just answer them"
"I keep hearing... I keep feeling as if someone... something... is following me. Right behind my truck! But every time I look in my rear view mirror I don't see anything! I think my paranoia is really starting to get to me. I should get some sleep"
"After hearing your tapes I wanted to just call you, make sure you were okay or if all of this was some elaborate prank but... you wouldn't pick up your phone. I started to get worried and since I had listened to all of your tapes I felt as I those... creatures that you had mentioned were at my house! In my home! I got so paranoid, worried, and just so scared about what had happened to you that I had to come visit you. I just have to get some answers. And that's why I coming to Nevada. That's why I'm coming to visit you and hopefully, hopefully, you lied to me and that you're not actually dead. I'd rather hate you for betraying me than hate myself for not being able to save you from... whatever you might be in danger with."
"It's 11:48 pm and I can't sleep. My head is buzzing with thoughts. Thoughts that I don't want to have."
*shaky sigh*
"Do you ever just get these thoughts that... aren't pleasant. They're terrifying. Gruesome. They make me nauseous... I'm just going to play some loud music and hope that it drowns out these thoughts."
"I just passed by that diner again for possibly the fifth time. It... it was on fire. The whole thing was just... gone. Up in flames. I drove straight by it, not slowing down for a second. I actually think I had sped up while going by it. After what I saw the last time... I don't think I'm going to stop at anymore old themed diners."
"It's been who knows how long. I'm tired of sitting in this truck. I've been going by what seems the exact same scenery. I keep passing by the exact same mountain, signs, and even that damned diner!"
*sigh*
"I'm just getting tired of all of this. I don't want to sit in this truck anymore. I would turn back but the idea that I abandoned you when you might be in actual trouble would kill me inside. So, I'll keep driving. I'll keep driving until I get to your house and find out what the hell has been going on with you. I'm not giving up Alex. Not on you. Not now at least."
"Well. I've made it to Nevada finally. I've pulled out that letter you sent me a couple months back and I'm using it to find your house. I'm going to make sure you're fine. And then I'm going to punch you for worrying me so much. I really want you to be okay. I want this to all be some huge misunderstanding. I want to be able to see you again and to be reassured that you wouldn't play some cruel prank on me like this."
*silence*
"You know something Alex. I've been wanting to say this to you for so long but... I- fuck!
*A loud crash, glass shattering, and a person yelling is heard*
and then Add to home screen.