Tag: transcripts

Listen

The Storage Papers is a fiction horror podcast.

Discretion is advised.

Transcript

WRITTEN BY JEREMY ENFINGER

Despite witnessing someone entering Joseph Foye’s hotel room moments after Brianne left, I still felt a sense of trust in his motives, and it didn’t even concern me enough to mention it.  I considered it intuition, though I also admitted to myself that my contact with the Pyramidion may have helped me with a sense of discernment about these kinds of things.  

For example, I couldn’t necessarily read her mind, but I just know that Brianne has pure intentions in her efforts to help me with the papers.  Although, I suppose she never gave me a reason not to trust her.  I was sure about it.  This is just one of the many things I have been getting used to ever since then.  I have to wonder if these effects are going to be permanent, or if they’ll dissipate over time.  But then again, time seemed irrelevant while I was touching it.  I’m leaning towards thinking it’s not going to be a factor.  

My entire outlook on the papers has changed now.  Ever since the Pyramidion, I’ve felt a reluctance to dive back into the papers.  There’s danger there, yet they beckon me.  It’s like I already know that continuing to pursue the podcast, looking into Hydra, all the families and lives they’ve managed to damage… It’s a more polarized direction for my life than where I’d like it to go. So while I’m sharing my own story as it happens now on the regular podcast episodes, I’m keeping the one-off stories about reports of local paranormal events to Patreon as kind of a side project.

My wife has been talking about having more children, which I’m not opposed to, and this whole experience has made me appreciate the family I have, even if I never find out what happened to my parents.  At the same time though, I feel pulled toward the papers, unable to simply walk away and let Hydra continue to do… whatever it is they’re doing that once involved me.  I need to make sure they can’t do anything to my family.

I heeded Joseph’s advice about looking into Dr. Patel’s case logs for Malcolm.  There were actually several documents included, most of them containing the label of the pentagram. What’s interesting is most of the other Maker and Shepherd files aren’t nearly as thick as Malcolm’s.  This leads me to believe that he was either extremely gifted or somewhat of a troublemaker… or perhaps both.  Thankfully, she filed these in what seems to be chronological order, though there are no dates on these documents and they don’t specify his age at the time.  

Dr. Patel had some notes scattered throughout these documents, with an incredibly long note on the very top.  She expressed in this note that she only had access to a portion of Malcolm’s medical and psychological information.  The rest was above her clearance level.  She references conversations between Malcolm and one of the Hydra psychologists at the time.

He had a fascination with the occult in early childhood.  They went so far as to provide him literature to read.  Books about witchcraft, spells, and demonology.  They even gave him a King James version of the Bible.  Patel expressed frustration in her notes at the lack of diligence in their methods, that they never sought the source of his fascination with the supernatural.  She maintained a theory that it all led back to his sister, Tabitha.  Her own interactions with Malcolm concluded that until the accident with his dog around the same time he made Tabitha go away, he had actually been a very normal child.  Of course, normal in the psychological sense, not taking into account his abilities as a Maker. 

His behaviors changed dramatically after those events, and if the Hydra doctors gave two shits, they would have noticed and documented a change in his demeanor whenever Tabitha’s name had been mentioned.  And they did mention it several times.  Only they seemed to document Malcolm’s increasing abilities at the time, only having an interest in that, instead of how Malcolm was actually handling the situation.  In some ways, her notes made her sound appalled at Malcolm’s treatment, like she had a heart that wasn’t made of cast iron.

Patel’s notes also indicated Malcolm produced a name during those early sessions.  Malcolm had begun asking questions about a deity figure that he read about in some of his books named (BLEEP).  I’m editing the name out in case it happens to be similar to demonic entities, and going on the theory that stating its name may give it power.  Call me superstitious, I suppose.  

Malcolm’s journaling took a turn after he began speaking of this being.  According to him, it began appearing to him in the night while he was alone, or at least he thought so initially as he couldn’t be certain if he had been fully awake or if he’d been dreaming.  The way he described it was very similar to the way I had begun experiencing shadow figures in my home, peering at me around my bedroom door all that time ago when the Grinner stepped into my life.

I paused my research of Patel’s notes for a moment and took some time to look up this thing’s name online.  A lot of similarities existed between this so-called god that Malcolm refers to in his journals and in Patel’s documents, but there’s also some distinguishable differences.  

I recall previously reading about this being commanding 30 legions of demons in hell and being considered a higher-ranking priest among those given authority to roam the earth.  But as I looked further into it this time, I was focusing on differences between its description and what I personally knew of the Grinner.  This thing is said to have certain powers or abilities that aren’t traditional in demonic lore.  For instance, there are historical references to various cultures worshiping it.  There have been statues found across the world in Greece, South America, and Asia that bear its resemblance.  There are even hieroglyphs in Egypt that are similar.  Most show the appearance of a bipedal, extremely tall humanoid shape but with the head of a bird.  Some depictions have feathers all over and there are some differences between human hands and talon-like claws.  

I still haven’t run across anything saying this thing has anything resembling a large grin, but almost everything I could find about it on the internet says it’s rumored to have the ability to bring people back from the dead.  To anyone who claims to have witnessed it in person, it could be summoned in the hopes that good fortune and protection would be offered, but it also only seems to appear to people who have experienced extreme loss or trauma.  Some of the writings claim it has brought the dead back to life.  Is this what Malcolm was trying to accomplish?  Is he still trying to find a way to get Tabitha back?   

I looked through more of the documents that Dr. Patel had sent me, and I was able to find quite a bit more related to this deity.  One of the documents explained that Malcolm had fallen asleep while reading about this being when video footage captured it on the CCTV monitor after hours.  There was a disk included in the file that I imagined might have some evidence.  Unfortunately, when I tried to insert it into my DVD player, I wasn’t able to view it, so I ordered an external USB DVD player before I could get into the files to check it out.

It was exactly as I imagined at the beginning.  It was old footage, and Malcolm looked to be about 13 or 14 years old.  The quality was poor, and it was quite blurry, but I suppose they didn’t have high-resolution security cameras back then.  

The camera looked like it was fixed to a corner in the room and you could see Malcolm sitting up reading.  A few minutes go by and you can see his head start nodding before he eventually gives up and lies down, the book still open.  A couple of minutes later, you could see Malcolm’s mouth moving.  I don’t know what he’s saying because there’s no audio, but it appears to be repetitive.  And then he stops, and appears to be in a pretty deep sleep.  

A couple more minutes go by and you start to see what looks like smoke forming underneath the space under his doorway.  Then the door opens.  It’s moving slowly, but there’s nobody on the other side of the door pushing it.  It’s moving on its own.  The smoke begins to form a pillar just inside the doorway, stretching from floor to ceiling in a dark, thick cloud you can’t see through while Malcolm continues to sleep.  

You can see the lights in the hallway outside the door begin to flicker as tentacles of smoke stretch out from the main column. One goes toward Malcolm’s desk on the opposite side of the room as his bed.  Another goes toward a chest at the foot of his bed.  Yet another goes toward the book lying next to Malcolm, and several more begin to sprout and examine the things in the room.  Then they all rotate to the side of the smoke column nearest Malcolm and merge to form one large tentacle that makes its way toward him.  

The end of it reaches Malcolm’s face and spreads out, covering it entirely from the view of the camera.  And just as smoothly as it’s been moving the entire time, Malcolm’s head becomes elevated off his pillow, followed by his shoulders, and then his back.  This smoke column is somehow lifting Malcolm up into the air while he’s sleeping.

He’s like this for a really long time.  If I wasn’t so astounded at what I was watching, I would have thought to myself sooner, ‘If this is all on video surveillance, was anyone even watching?  And why hasn’t anyone gone in there to help him?‘

After what seemed like 5 whole minutes of watching this, the smoke column disappears and Malcolm falls back on his bed, but doesn’t wake up.  It’s the weirdest looking thing I’ve seen in a while… including that video of the Grinner from the hotel parking lot footage.  I decided to slow the video down and look frame by frame.  The smoke disappears first, and then Malcolm falls.  But even more importantly, it only took three frames for it to entirely disappear, and it didn’t just dissipate either. 

The first frame shows it moving away from the floor and ceiling just a bit, shrinking in height.  You can also see more of Malcolm’s face in this frame, but it’s partially obscured by some of the smoke.  Advancing to the second frame shows the smoke column reduced to an odd-shaped mass about the size of a basketball, but not symmetrical.  The single tentacle leading from it to Malcolm’s face is split into two tapered down smaller ones going into Malcolm’s nostrils while he’s still suspended in the air.  By the third frame, the mass is gone and just a billow of black smoke is seen, rather blurry, still going into his nose.  The next frame shows Malcolm’s body starting to drop down toward his bed.

This thing went inside Malcolm.  I don’t know if what I just witnessed is this supposed deity, the demon we’ve come to know as the Grinner, or something else entirely.  That was the first of over 40 video clips contained on that CD!  And yes, I took the time to meticulously watch them all.  After I did, I continued to read through a lot of Patel’s additional documentation from over the following couple of years.

All of the Hydra names are redacted from this paperwork, but it seems like they actually made efforts to learn more about this entity, which continued to manifest itself in Malcolm’s room at night.  Efforts were made to apprehend this being, or to at least get eyes on it in the first-person by some of the Hydra Occult Studies team.  Of course, the figure was not able to be apprehended, but the longer this surveillance went on, the more it started showing itself, and the more it began to take on different appearances.

After going through years of documentation included in that box, and after a several year gap in documentation, only a few were included of Malcolm’s from his mid-twenties.  Those few had Dr. Patel’s name on them, and I suspect they’re from her early interactions with him.  They recalled Malcolm’s continued interaction with the being, which Malcolm hadn’t initially been sure he had successfully summoned versus something he manifested entirely on his own.  Patel suspected the latter since there was no specific proof, at least of a scientific basis or even historical resemblance of the deity Malcolm had been reading about in his childhood and had attempted to bring forth.  Patel ultimately concluded that this being was a result of Malcolm’s Maker abilities, completely brought into existence by Malcolm’s imagination.

Over the years, Malcolm had developed a kind of relationship with it.  He taught it things, had an inner-dialogue with it, and nurtured it, until it began thinking its own thoughts and making its own decisions.  Malcolm had been somewhat of an authority figure over it for years until finally, one day, it decided it didn’t want to do what Malcolm wanted it to do.  It was a powerful being, and one that had superhuman abilities itself. It could read minds to an extent, it knew things that most people didn’t, and it wasn’t a demon or a deity of any kind.  It was the product of Malcolm’s imagination that had developed its own motives and intentions.  

It soon flourished outside Malcolm’s authority and began venturing further into the world, using Malcolm for its own purposes, influencing his thoughts and actions to further influence other people like the Order of the Divine Acolytes.  A cult. It told Malcolm what to do, almost like a possession, and its influence was strong.

Patel theorized it would leave Malcolm entirely to cause chaos, and she had been developing a plan with Hydra to contain it.  She included a report in her documents from the Department of Occult Studies within Hydra.  She read it, but wasn’t sure whether its conclusions were correct.  And then right around the time she began seeing evidence that it was growing more and more powerful… that its physical independence from Malcolm was likely going to happen soon, she received a phone call from Malcolm saying it had already occurred, and that he needed help.  

According to Patel’s notes, she met him in a park in the middle of the night, and found him lying down on a park bench, barely able to move, and bleeding from the chest.  He told her about this group of people who had lured him into a church to confront him.  Malcolm claimed to have blacked out shortly after arriving, and awoke when a man named Jeremy had been using an ornate dagger to carve the Star of Cepheus into his chest.

He reported to Patel that this being, who we’d referred to as The Grinner, was no longer with him.  Patel noted this event as further proof of her theory that Malcolm had brought The Grinner into existence with his Maker abilities, which meant he had initially failed in summoning the being he thought would be the answer to his problems.  

There was one last page in the folder containing Malcolm’s documents, and it just had a few scribbles on it.  It was hardly legible, but it had my name on it.  Below my name, it had the word, “Podcast,” and then next to that, it had in capital letters and underlined, “THE STORAGE PAPERS.”

The very last marking on that page was a gigantic question mark.  I had a feeling that Dr. Patel may have had the same question that’s been shuffling inside my mind this whole time reading this.  The question that had me wondering for so long: If the Grinner we met in that church was something that Malcolm just brought into existence based off of what he read about the real entity and a lot of his own imagination, then the real one is still out there, and Malcolm is likely still trying to summon it.  He’s still trying to find Tabitha, and the only way he knows how is to pin his hopes to this deity.  

I wonder if that’s why he’s kidnapping Makers and Shepherds.  Either way, I know Patel was likely in on something with Malcolm, and I only wish she would have left me some kind of clue as to what was going on in her notes.  I still have more of them to sift through, but at a glance, these are the main documents containing Malcolm’s name.  

(pause and music)

Before I end this episode, I need to follow through on a promise I made you all.  I told you that I’d be following up with you regarding my neurology consultation, and after receiving the results of my MRI.  It’s kind of complicated, but I’ll do the best I can.

My neurologist basically said I have a tumor that’s growing rapidly inside my brain.  The MRI confirmed there’s vasculature within the tumor, meaning it’s growing with its own blood supply, which makes it very risky, if not impossible to remove.  Basically, if they go in to surgically remove it, there could be an unrecoverable brain bleed.  But there’s the irregular shape of it as well, which makes it seem like it has fingers extending into other regions of the brain.

Right now, there’s no reason to believe it has metastasized to other areas of my body, however, that risk is also high since it can easily travel via the bloodstream.  I’m supposed to have a repeat brain scan in about a month or so. 

I don’t know exactly why I’m sharing all of this on the podcast except that I started this season with the intention of being more transparent with you all about some personal things.  But I also don’t feel too worried about this thing.  You see, I’ve seen my death.  Witnessed it first-hand.  The Pyramidion showed it to me.  And I know for a fact that I don’t die because of a brain tumor.  The only thing that really concerns me now is why Malcolm claimed to know I was going to die soon. 

Listen

The Storage Papers is a fiction horror podcast.

Discretion is advised.

Transcript

WRITTEN BY JEREMY ENFINGER

It took me about thirty minutes to get to the hotel.  It had been three days since I spoke with Joseph Foye, and the entire drive had me contemplating this whole thing.  The podcast, when I started it, I thought was going to be something of a “monster of the week” type of thing.  Entertainment for people who enjoy tales of the unexplained.  I never could have imagined the shift it would take.  My drive to the hotel was reflective.

Look at me now.  I’m a character in what was supposed to be a story about other people and their strange experiences.  It never occurred to me before my drive that the peoples’ stories I was sharing and the often life-changing outcomes that happened as a result; Perhaps they weren’t my stories to tell.  It’s kind of fitting that I’m in their position now in a sense.  I mean, I have a choice regarding whether or not to tell my own developing story and keep the podcast going, but at this point, I think I’d be a hypocrite to stop, right?  I guess I’m trying to find the right balance between my own privacy and following through on something I’ve started.

Part of me really thinks these stories need to be told.  You don’t hear about them on the news, but they happen.  Law enforcement, and a majority of people in general tend to ridicule these types of things, and they need to be normalized.  Perhaps I should make more effort to randomize some personal information when I share them on the podcast.  I can’t help but feel like getting this out there is still doing some good though.  

Look at me… I’m rambling into a microphone like a crazy person. At least for now, I think it’s important to continue sharing everything I’m learning, at least for the people of San Diego and the bordering Southern California regions.  This stuff is going on without most peoples’ knowledge, and there needs to be accountability.

That said, as I neared my destination, I felt uneasy.  I couldn’t explain it until I turned into the parking lot.  I stopped after my car cleared the driveway before looking for a parking space.  The lot was fuller than I’d seen it before, but from my perspective inside the car, I couldn’t help but imagine my view in the spectrum of infrared, as I had seen it so many times before.  This was the hotel where Joseph Foye’s alternate self had been decapitated by a gunshot wound. It’s where I observed the Grinner on video for the very first time, and it’s where Ron’s presence was confirmed by a version of that video given to me by Doctor Patel.   

I couldn’t help but wonder why this location was selected.  Was there something about it that remained pivotal?  I parked my car, and without hesitation, began walking toward the room that I was familiar with from the video.  There were a lot more cars in the parking lot than I expected.  I wondered how many people realized there was a grizzly crime scene here.  That thought had me contemplating how this hotel was different than any other, and how many deaths actually occur at hotels that we don’t even know about when we stay at them.  I can’t explain my morbid train of thought, but figured I’d share.

As I approached the door to the room, I pulled out my recorder and hit the record button.  As I raised up my closed fist to give a wrap on the door, it swung open before my knuckles could make contact.  Brianne stood and beckoned for me to come in.  The lights were off and the curtains were drawn. 

My eyes struggled to adjust to the darkness of the room, and before I could ask her any questions, she leaned in and whispered, “That won’t work in here”, placing her index finger on my voice recorder.

She was right.  I had left the recorder on during my entire visit to the hotel room, but static interference was all it picked up; A phenomenon that I haven’t ever observed with that digital recorder before.

She used the same index finger to raise it to her pursed lips, indicating she wanted me to be quiet.  My eyes weren’t quite adjusted just yet, but I made a shrugging motion, wondering why I needed to be quiet.

She placed both hands on my shoulders and turned me toward my right, then pointed towards one of the beds.  I couldn’t believe my eyes as the room revealed another person within the room.  Joseph Foye was above the bed, seemingly hovering in mid-air like some kind of magic levitation trick you’d expect to see at a county fair.  Only, he appeared to be asleep.  

Brianne leaned in and whispered, “He’s been like that for a couple of hours.  Apparently, he goes into some kind of trance state to locate the Pyramidion right before it’s about to appear.  Sometimes he turns in the air like a rotisserie chicken.  Fucking crazy, right?”

“Fucking crazy” was definitely accurate.  I stared for quite a while until I realized my mouth was agape.  Something about watching him hover in the air like that was mesmerizing.  I turned to look at Brianne, and was about to ask her why we had to whisper when she became startled while still looking in Joseph’s direction.

Being somewhat surprised by her expression, I turned to look at Joseph again, and I don’t know how the hell he did it, but he was standing upright about a foot away from me, fully awake, as if he’d been there with us the whole time.  I don’t know how he was able to go from hovering above the bed to handshake distance within what seemed like a nanosecond, but it made my hair stand on end.

“I’m glad you came,” he told me.  “I know where it’s going to be.”

He walked over to a little circular table in the room where he had a laptop and pulled up some information.  I couldn’t see exactly what it was, but after a couple of minutes, he picked up the hotel phone and made an outgoing call.  Brianne and I could hear through the receiver that someone picked up and said, “Hello?” before he immediately hung up the phone and told us, “We’re going to need to wait until sundown to head out.”

We all spent several hours in that hotel room.  We each let our guards down a little and got to know one another.  Joseph was… well, grandfatherly.  He had old war stories and loved a good joke.  He had a kindness and consideration for Brianne and me, and was generally pleasant to be around.  Still, there was sadness about him.  I sensed some element of regret.  He held back his emotions, even when I asked him about Malcolm, but you could tell they were lingering, hidden behind bottomless blue eyes that contrasted with his light gray hair.

Brianne, on the other hand, had seemed to relax.  She was smiling and laughing.  I honestly don’t know if I’ve ever seen her smile, and I couldn’t help but feel a bit of relief knowing that she was enjoying the company.  She’s a strong woman who’s been through a lot, and she’s handled herself quite well among the circumstances she’s been put in.  

We ordered pizza from this mom and pop place nearby and had it delivered.  It was probably the best pizza I’d had in California, and that’s saying something considering how long I’ve lived here.  I never knew this pizza place existed, and when I practically cried after taking my first bite, Joseph gave me one of those winks that grandfathers do and said, “Good, isn’t it?”

Once our bellies were full and the conversation began to die down, we all began checking the clock on the nightstand.  Sundown was around 6:00 p.m. that night, and we all got into Brianne’s car as soon as the light left the sky.  Joseph directed her to drive to Coronado Island.

After crossing the bridge, Joseph directed Brianne to a residential street uncomfortably close to the Naval Air Base on the island.  She stopped, turned off the engine, and asked Joseph, “Okay, what’s next?”

Joseph said, “Wait here for a minute,” and exited the vehicle.  We watched him walk across the road, past the house on the corner, and perhaps one or two houses down the street beyond that before stopping and pulling out a cell phone.  Brianne and I glanced at each other wondering what he was doing.  

He paced back and forth for a couple of minutes while he was on the phone, looking at a couple of the houses as if reporting information about them, and eventually hung up and started walking back to the car.  Once back, he said, “Now we just need to wait a few minutes.”  

Less than five minutes later, a fire truck came around the corner with sirens blaring.  Six firemen exited the truck and began to go door to door knocking and evacuating people from their homes.  While people gathered in confusion across the street from the fire truck, where the firemen were now inspecting the gas main, Joseph had a mischievous smirk on his face.

He said, “Gas leaks can take a little while to find.  Are you two ready?”  

Brianne and I both chuckled and nodded, then Joseph led us toward the corner house, on the adjacent side where the fire truck and all of the home occupants couldn’t see us.  I watched him scale a shoulder-high brick wall like I probably could have 15 or 20 years ago myself, amazed at his physical abilities.  The man just kept surprising me.  Brianne followed, and then I did, admittedly a bit more awkwardly.  

The backyard was mostly level, but toward the adjacent wall, there was a steep downhill portion that Joseph motioned to.  We were able to see one of the firemen in the window of the home, likely the kitchen, and remained out of sight until we saw him exit that room. Once it was clear, Joseph led the way and stopped in front of a large open wastewater drain pipe big enough to walk in hunched over.  Once inside, he pulled out a flashlight.  The smell was pretty bad, but thank goodness there was only an inch or so of water in the bottom of it.  I’m not sure I’d be able to handle it at a waist-deep level.

He led the way straight back for a while, and then made a right turn.  After 10 feet or so, the tunnel opened up to a larger room where several other drainways entered.  Joseph turned around and assisted us out of the pipe to the level ground within the room.  Then he picked up a piece of rebar he found on the floor of the chamber and drew a big “X” next to the tunnel we just came out of saying, “In case we get turned around in here.”  

I looked around the room and asked, “Where to next?”

Joseph said, “It will be here shortly.  Not sure if you’ll be able to get much use out of your recorder, but you might as well turn it on and try.”

And try, I did.  I pulled out my field recorder, turned it on and pressed “record.”  We stood there and waited for about 20 minutes, but then… I can’t even begin to explain what happened using words.  I want to play back what the audio recorder picked up at first before I give you some additional information.

SOUND: Distorted, unintelligible talking is heard, then it distorts completely to a warbled, almost science fiction-like noise.

In case you couldn’t understand that, I asked if it was possible that he might be misinformed about the location this thing is going to show up at.

It was dark and I couldn’t see him, but I could feel him glaring at me as if I asked a stupid question. He told me I was very perceptive.

We felt a great rumbling, like an earthquake. That’s when Joseph said, “No, it’s coming.”

I was concerned about our safety. Then my head began to hurt. Brianne was asking if I was okay and the audio just kind of warbled out until it was no longer recognizable. That sound proceeded to last approximately twenty seconds on my recorder, but there’s a couple of things I am struggling to explain about it.  

First off, I have a 32 GB micro SD card in that recorder that was formatted prior to pushing the record button.  It should be good for at least 12 hours at my current settings.  Including the 20 minutes of standing around prior to hearing those strange noises, there’s just a little over 22 minutes of audio recorded on my SD card… yet the SD card’s memory is completely full.  What I just played for you took up a majority of the memory storage, which seems impossible to me.

The other thing that’s troubling is what actually happened after my head started hurting.  We were 5 feet or less from the Pyramidion for what seemed to be at least 10-12 hours.  So not only was the digital recorder memory maxed out after 22 minutes, but after we left, and once I got home, I was greeted by my wife who was not happy with me.  According to her, I had been missing for nearly a week.  She had even called Detective Anderson, who knew what we were headed out to do, and he was able to reassure her a bit, but he wasn’t able to estimate how long I would be gone.  I’ve gotta say, my employer wasn’t happy with me at all either.  

I’m happy to describe what happened during my perceived 10-12 hours near the Pyramidion, but like these details I’ve just shared with you, I can’t say I understand it completely, or even try to explain it, so I’ll just summarize it from my own experience.

It all started with the rumbling sound that was similar to an earthquake, and then we heard this kind of pulsating, almost mechanical sound as the Pyramidion phased into the room.  It was like it wasn’t there, and then all of a sudden, it was.

Brianne didn’t hesitate at all.  She walked right up to it and placed her hand on it.  She seemed to be reacting with it, almost like she was having a conversation, but not using words.  She would nod her head, well up with tears, and make hand gestures.  After a few moments passed, I could hear – not with my ears, but internally within my head – her conversation with her brother, Ben.  It was like a doorway to the dead, but that’s not all that resided within it.

Joseph motioned for me to get closer to it.  I was hesitant at first, but after taking some slow steps toward it, my emotions became uncontrollable.  Tears flowed down my cheeks as I felt an overwhelming sense of joy.  I’d never felt this happy before, and I could hear Brianne, Ben, and Joseph’s voices inside my head in unison say, “It’s beautiful, isn’t it Jeremy?”

At that point, I closed my eyes.  I instantly saw into my past.  It was like my brain was reduced to downloaded information that I had long forgotten, and I just received some kind of upgrade that allowed me to instantaneously remember a lot of my memories.  I remembered my children being born, my wedding day, and things I was doing with my life before my wedding.  I remember bits and pieces of the Hydra experiments.  I remembered for the first time the process I had undergone to previously erase my memories.  The process that has been disguised as my accident.  I didn’t recognize the people strapping me into that chair just before losing consciousness, but I knew they were Hydra.  Deep down, I had hoped I could remember my parents, but that didn’t happen that night.

It’s a dangerous thing, mettling with ideas you’ve cut yourself off from for so long.  I had made peace with the fact that I might never remember my parents, but I guess some part of me still had hope – at least after Joseph suggested there was the possibility that my brain might be healed here.

The entire time all this was occurring, I could see different things.  They weren’t complete, but I could see some of Brianne’s memories.  She hadn’t said anything to me, but the injection that Dr. Patel had caused her harm in some way.  I concentrated to see if I could learn more.  It was removing her abilities over time.  Brianne was with us in hopes to gain them back, and to potentially even grow her abilities beyond what she previously had.  She had been keeping a majority of them secret from me.     

The Brianne who’s head I got into at the Pyramidion was not the Brianne I had come to know.  It’s hard to explain.  She had an insane amount of initiative and was out for purpose.  I think I’ve spent so much time observing her grieve, it was unexpected.  She was ready to take on challenges, to fight the uphill battle, to destroy Hydra. It’s hard to explain this shift in perception, but let’s just say I’m glad we’re on the same team.

I was also able to see some of Joseph’s memories.  He had regrets, mainly over Malcolm.  He hadn’t lost hope for him, but he was damn close.  At one point, I got the sensation that Joseph was aware that I was voyuerizing his memories.  For a brief moment, it almost felt as if Malcolm was there with us.  I could sense his presence, but at the same time, I figured it was likely just a memory or sensation of Joseph’s that I was tapping into.  Still, I easily recognized it after being near him a couple times now, and it reminded me of our conversation in the prison.

It’s hard to describe in its entirety what I was feeling at that moment, but I knew three things: One – that I felt a bit ashamed, like I had been witnessing something unintended, yet I continued to watch.  Two – Joseph became immediately aware of it and had the ability to shut it down, though he didn’t seem upset.  It was like the acceptance a parent experiences when they catch their child telling their first lie – it’s just a part of being a child.  And three – If he hadn’t done that, I would have seen more.  I don’t know how I knew it, but he had a lot of answers that I was seeking, but I just couldn’t tap into them.  I only knew it was there once it was gone… a void space, like a tooth that had been pulled that your tongue can’t help probing.  I also got the faintest notion of something else though.  It was almost as if Joseph had some kind of hidden motive for bringing me here, but that moment was fleeting.

At one point, it was almost as if he suggested I not focus on the petty information of the past, and guided me toward greater possibilities, focusing forward.  He seemed to already be aware of some events that he wanted me to see, and telepathically encouraged me to focus, so I did.  Once I knew how to look there, I knew what was going to happen in the coming weeks, and when I leaned toward the Pyramidion and concentrated, I could see further into the future.  I stepped closer to the Pyramidion and my ability to see these things exponentially increased. I can’t and won’t tell you about some of the things I witnessed in the pristine reflection, in and around me, for fear of those things coming to fruition.  But I will share one of those things I was initially afraid of.  I saw my own death.

I can only share this with you because I could feel my emotions at the moment of my death.  It wasn’t necessarily sad.  I am comforted.  I have closure.  I was also able to see beyond my death, but it was confusing.  I could see myself growing old with my wife, living by a lake in a log cabin, enjoying a quiet life with nature and stargazing next to a fire at night.  But it’s all happening after I die.  I’m so confused. I’m not sure which version is real.

I turn to look at Joseph, who has his eyes closed and his right hand is outstretched toward me.  What’s he doing?  I try to perceive his thoughts but can’t any longer, but I still feel somehow reassured that I can trust him.

When I touched the Pyramidion, my inner self awakened, and I could see into the abyss.  I now have knowledge of things that are there, of the beginning and of the end.  Alpha and Omega exist outside of our perception of time.  They just are.

The feeling of elation was basked in for hours after I made contact with it.  There was no fear, no stress, no being worried about anyone or anything.  In that time, we just were… and it felt amazing.

And then all of a sudden, the feelings subsided and silence befell us.  I opened my eyes to darkness, knowing I had permanently changed.  My body ached and I was exhausted. And eventually Joseph said we needed to return to the hotel.

The car ride back to the hotel was silent.  It was like we already knew what we’d say to one another, and speaking in that moment would just ruin it.  We savored it while it lasted.  I do recall that feeling subsiding as we re-entered the hotel room.  It was almost disappointing being away from the Pyramidion, like returning home after a long, relaxing vacation, with the knowledge that you inevitably need to return to the mundane routine on Monday morning.  Brianne and I were a bit disoriented when Joseph started speaking again.  

He told us that we’d each experience new abilities over the coming weeks, and that came with a few warnings.  He said that would attract the attention of entities that hadn’t known us yet, and that using those abilities was like turning on a lighthouse in the dark.  It would draw them near us as we grew brighter.  He encouraged us to use those abilities sparingly.  He said there were things that would flourish in our light, and there were also things that would seek to destroy it once they were aware of its presence.

He also warned us about Malcolm.  He said he may be able to somehow sense us now, or perhaps inherently know that our abilities are growing without having been with us.  He told us Malcolm had been exposed to the Pyramidion as well long ago, and that he desired to be near it again, and we should not underestimate the lengths he might go to in order to make that happen.

One final thing he suggested was to more thoroughly review the documents that Dr. Patel had sent me before her untimely death.  He believed I could gain more insight into Malcolm’s current motives by reviewing any information contained within those files.  He seemed sad again at this suggestion, and if I hadn’t perceived it previously, it would be apparent that he held some level of regret whenever he brought up his grandson.

As we began to leave the room, I felt exhausted and somewhat sore.  My legs were tired, which made me think of my physical condition as reported to me by my physicians.  As far as the “healing powers of the Pyramidion,” I can’t be sure.  I certainly don’t feel any different right now.  The headache I had when it first arrived went away as soon as I had touched it.  But I suppose I’ll need to wait until my next doctor’s appointment or brain MRI before I’ll know if any physical benefits occurred as a result of my exposure.

As Brianne and I got into the car, I sat for a moment and contemplated asking her about having her abilities removed by that injection Dr. Patel had given her.  I wanted to know more about her motives for getting them back.  I couldn’t muster the courage to ask though, and I didn’t want to seem too nosy for peering into her thoughts without her consent back there. As she pulled out of the hotel parking lot and began to drive away, I got a glance of the hotel from the street just for a moment.  The door to Joseph’s hotel room had been reopened, and I saw someone else walk in before it left my line of sight from the car.

Listen

The Storage Papers is a fiction horror podcast.

Discretion is advised.

Transcript

WRITTEN BY JEREMY ENFINGER

Hi everyone.  Thanks for joining me again this week on The Storage Papers.  First things first, I suppose.  I’m still waiting to find out when I can see neurology.  COVID is a persistent bitch.  Every time I have a doctor’s appointment, or try to schedule one, they tend to be a few months out supposedly due to staffing levels and/or delays in available resources for the medical teams.  

I can’t begin to describe how frustrating it is… knowing there’s an uncontrolled growth inside my skull that could potentially threaten my life.  A lot of my time, as well as my wife’s, have been spent since the last episode trying to get literally any neurologist in our own county and any neighboring county to see me soon.  But so far I haven’t had any luck.  Perhaps that’s just not in the cards for me… might as well keep the podcast going in the meantime.

Interestingly enough, the news about my tumor on the last episode also got the attention of Brianne.  She baked some cookies and brought them over.  This seemed like an incredibly kind gesture, and given the fact that I’d seen all of the instant-meal options inside her pantry and refrigerator, and had also never seen her cook, let alone bake anything, it meant a great deal to me.  I can see how her career choice of becoming a nurse really suits her.  She’s kind, and right now, the world needs more of that.  Needless to say I think I got one of the cookies she made while my kids devoured the rest of them.  Kids will be kids I suppose.

Brianne wasn’t the only person who’s attention was grabbed by that last episode though.  I received a text from an unlisted number with an address, a date and a time.  The text was followed by the initials, “JF.”  Joseph Foye wanted to meet with me.  Thankfully, he was willing to let me record our discussion when we met:

Joseph: Thank you for being willing to meet with me on such short notice.

Jeremy: Honestly, I was surprised to see your text.  But also, you tend to shed a lot of light on things involving the papers… and it’s great material for the podcast.  Do I have your permission to record our conversation?

Joseph: Of course.

Jeremy: Great, thank you!  So what’s new?  Since El Campo, I mean.

Joseph: Well, first I just wanted to say I was sorry to hear the news about your brain tumor.

Jeremy: Well, I don’t know much yet, so I’m trying to stay in good spirits.  I just hate all the medical delays we’re experiencing right now.  It’s probably harder on my wife than it is on me at this point.

Joseph: I understand.  But there’s something you should know.  About your tumor, that is.

Jeremy: What’s that?

Joseph: Well, we’ve seen this before in the Hydra kids.  There was enough of them in the Pyramidion experiments to be considered… “statistically significant” to presume that your tumor may have been caused by one of two things:  Prolonged exposure to the Pyramidion or…

Jeremy: Or?

Joseph: Or what they did to you after you were discarded from the program.

Jeremy: So it’s true?

Joseph: Jeremy, I think you’ve known for a while that you were once a test subject of Hydra.

Jeremy: Suspected, yes.  Known?  I mean, I don’t have any memory of it.  I know I have medical files with the other Makers and Shepherds, but are you saying that you’ve known this whole time?

Joseph: Yes.

Jeremy: Why haven’t you said anything then?

Joseph: It’s not my story to tell.

Jeremy: You say that a lot.

Joseph: Only once before if we’re counting.

Jeremy: So why tell me now if it’s not your story to tell?

Joseph: I was asked to tell you, in light of your news.

Jeremy: Before it’s too late, you mean.  My prognosis is really that bad?

Joseph: No, I don’t mean to assume that what’s happening with you is the same thing that happened with the other Hydra kids.  And I’m not here to relay any sort of “doom and gloom” messages.  I’m here to offer you some information, and a little hope.

Jeremy: Lucky me.

Joseph: Look, I’m risking a lot every time I communicate with you.  If you’re not interested, I’ve got other things I can be doing.

Jeremy: No, sorry.  It’s just that I’m taking in a lot of information right now; some very personal, and I’m just not sure where my priorities should lie.  I’m kind of thinking, if I don’t have much time left, I really shouldn’t be wasting what little bit of it I may have on this podcast.  I should be with my family.

Joseph: Or, I have another potential solution for you.

Jeremy: One that can remove a tumor?

Joseph: Well, yes… and no.

Jeremy: Oh this is great.  I can’t wait to hear this!

Joseph: You’re upset.  I understand that.  But let me share some information with you first, and why it’s so important to consider what I have to offer.

Jeremy: I’m all ears.

Joseph Foye sat there with me for a couple of hours telling me some of the history of what Hydra was doing with children.  Aside from the experimentation on those kids with documented abilities, the manner in which they became part of those test groups was inhumane.

They had learned early-on how to identify some of these people with varying levels of abilities. They knew there was a higher concentration of people with abilities, or with the aptitude to develop them based on blood type.  They had access to physical medical records in the early days under privileges created and funded by federal medical research grants.

Eventually, with advancing technology in genetics, Hydra formed their own genetics research department and solicited help from several government-contracted companies including SCIC here in San Diego.  This was before Hydra’s main place of operation was here, but it’s also what helped bring it here. SCIC and Hydra are often synonymous with their growth rate in the region, but rest assured they are not the same. 

San Diego is unique for several reasons.  There’s the high cost of living compared to other regions in the country.  It’s a military town, which would offer quick aid to Hydra or its subsidiaries if and when needed.  It’s also a port town, filled with people widely varying in economic status, and it contains a relatively small number of people who are native to the area.  Ask any of the former San Diego Chargers’ fans – they can vouch for that.  

But the area also seems to have some other elements to it with reasons that have yet to be discovered.  There’s a high population of citizens with abilities here.  It’s been suspected that the high concentration of local appearances of the Pyramidion may have something to do with that, but it’s also never around long enough for Hydra to study it very much.  It just vanishes at seemingly random times after appearing.  And there’s really no way to know if it’s related or not, but it would follow suit that the high concentration of paranormal events reported in the area could be a result of the Pyramidion’s presence as well.  

Hydra has been studying these phenomena for years now.  Partially to try to determine if these paranormal experiences can be linked to Maker/Shepherd abilities, and if so, what percentage of them are.  Needless to say, they have been able to link a portion of them to paranormal occurrences, but certainly not all of them.  Still, the region has a higher rate of phenomena prior to the Pyramidion’s first-ever recorded appearance here.  That’s very significant to Hydra.  

Another such location in the country, with high concentrations of unexplainable events, is what people refer to as “Skinwalker Ranch,” a farm and homestead on the Uintah Basin in Utah.  The ranch itself is but a fraction of the size of the area Hydra has been studying in Southern California, but I think you get the idea.  One might be tempted to say these locations, without any current scientific explanation, perhaps contain a thinner veil than others.  They are somehow geographically aligned to be paranormal port towns in a sense.  Travelers to and from our plane of existence have high traffic through here.

Jeremy: So why tell me this now, when I’m most tempted to dump this podcast project and walk away?

Joseph: It’s an important piece of background information necessary for you to understand what I’m proposing next.

Jeremy: What is it you’re proposing?

Joseph: My grandson, Malcolm, has been looking for me.  He knows I have an understanding of when and where the Pyramidion is going to turn up next, and he believes that by finding it, he’ll be able to amplify his abilities enough to bring his sister, Tabitha back from… wherever it is that he sent her so many years ago.

Jeremy: Is that possible?  Why not help him?  He’s your grandon.  And why do you need me?

Joseph: True, he’s my grandson, but we’ve had somewhat of a falling out and quite frankly, he poses danger to me.  But you, however; I really wish you knew what you were capable of before your accident.  

Jeremy: Wait… did you know me before my accident?

Joseph: Of course.  I had hoped that, after meeting with me; After meeting with Gerald, that you would remember.  

Jeremy: I hate to disappoint, but I don’t remember you… or Gerald.  Who is he?

Joseph: The point is, you were extremely gifted in your abilities at one time.  Hydra found a way to remove abilities and I know you received treatment to have yours removed long ago, but the things you’re saying in your podcast, about experimenting with your abilities… you’re regaining them years later.  It was my hope that you would also regain your memories as well.

Jeremy: Do you really think that’s possible?

Joseph: I don’t know, but I think it’s worth trying.

Jeremy: How do I try?

Joseph: It’s just a theory of course, and I don’t want to prematurely get your hopes up, but I want to get you near the Pyramidion.  

Jeremy: Is it nearby now?

Joseph: No, but it will be soon.

Jeremy: How can you tell?

Joseph: It’s hard to explain.  I get these visions.  I’ll just be going about my day and all of a sudden I’m feeling like I’m in a daydreaming kind of state.  My peripheral vision goes dark, but I see it in front of me as if I’m standing right next to it.  I can always see a little bit of its surroundings.  Each time it appears, it’s like a countdown.

Jeremy: What do you mean?

Joseph: Well, the first vision I receive is usually 3-4 weeks out.  Then the second vision is usually a week or so later.  Then the visions happen more frequently as it gets closer to the time it appears.  Within a day of its appearance, I’m usually in full vision-mode and not really aware of my surroundings very much.  I’m like a walking zombie, leading the way to the Pyramidion.

Jeremy: How do you function like that?

Joseph: With help.  Gerald Hubert is one of my closest personal friends, and has been since my earlier days with Hydra.  Ever since he first witnessed me in this state, he’s been there to help me out, and he’s never divulged any of it to Hydra.  He’s a man of integrity, and one of the few I can count on a single hand that I completely trust.

Jeremy: So, when do you think it will appear?

Joseph: I believe it will be within the next week.  Perhaps before your podcast airs with the recording you’re making right now, but definitely before the episode after that.

Jeremy: And… what is it you think will happen by getting me near it?

Joseph: I hope that you’ll benefit from one, if not multiple, positive effects by being near it.  In a small percentage of the Maker and Shepherd test subjects, there were children with known illnesses that, after close-proximity exposure to the Pyramidion, were completely cured.  

Jeremy: Forgive me if I seem skeptical, but that’s something I’ll need to see to believe.  What else?

Joseph: Well, we’ve never put any test subjects who have had their memories wiped by Hydra near the Pyramidion again.  It’s possible that, with its restorative properties, you may regain your memory since your “accident”.

Jeremy: Do you remember my accident?

Joseph: I wasn’t there, but I was aware that they were staging it.  Jeremy, it’s important for you to understand, you posed a threat to their research.  It’s actually kind of funny that you still do with this podcast of yours.

Jeremy: Funny isn’t the word I’d use.

Joseph: Right.  Sorry.  But Jeremy, I’m also hopeful that your abilities might be restored.  

Jeremy: I’m actually not so sure I want that for myself.  The more involved I get in this, the more risk of danger I place myself and my family in.  What makes you think I want that to happen?  What makes you think that’s even possible?

Joseph: I can’t speak to what you want for yourself or your family, but think about it.  You’ve seen Brianne experience an increase in abilities as a result of being close to the Pyramidion.  She actually touched it in your podcast episode, “A House on the Corner”.  

Jeremy: You mean Brianne didn’t have abilities before that?

Joseph: She did, but Hydra had taken them away from her.  But since then, she has begun to develop abilities that I would suspect are greater than she had prior to Hydra’s intervention. 

Jeremy: So let me get this straight.  You’re saying that I was once experimented on by Hydra because of some abilities I had.

Joseph (interrupts): Maker abilities, yes.  You were classified as a Maker, as you’ve seen in the medical files that Brianne opened.

Jeremy: Okay, so I had Maker abilities that somehow threatened Hydra’s research, so they took those abilities away, wiped my memory, and let me live my life.

Joseph: Yes, after they were convinced your memory wipe had been successful.

Jeremy: And why didn’t they just kill me?  They don’t seem too bothered by ethics.

Joseph: They had incentive to keep you alive.  Again, not my story to tell.

Jeremy: Okay… and now you want to take me to the Pyramidion because you believe there will be a chance it can cure my brain tumor, restore my memory, and return my Maker abilities while possibly even enhancing them to a greater degree than ever before, which (at the time) was a threat to Hydra’s research?

Joseph: Erm, yeah.

Jeremy: And what’s in it for you?

Joseph: Believe it or not, I actually care about what happens to you.  And I have mutually-aligned interests in the potential outcome of all of this.

Jeremy: Mutually-aligned interests?  Forgive me for being a little bit apprehensive.  My kids would say, “This is totally sus”.  

Joseph: I only want what’s best for you.

Jeremy: I have to be honest with you.  I’ve been thinking a lot about what’s best for me lately.  And not just me… what’s best for my family.  Maybe it’s the news of the growing lump inside my skull, or perhaps it’s just the shitty train of events that continue to occur as a result of this podcast, but I’ve seriously considered just giving all of this up.  Ron can have his fucking papers back.  Why he collected all that and would just let his rental payment lapse is beyond me considering how “important” it all is, but that’s not the point.  The papers have brought me nothing but trouble.

Joseph: And that’s your choice, but consider the potential benefits you could experience.

Jeremy: I’ve learned to live without a memory of my childhood, and from the sound of it, my mental health is probably best served without revisiting that.  I also don’t give a shit about gaining any kind of psychic abilities.  The only reason I would consider going with you is if there’s a chance I could get rid of this growth on my brain, and I’m still not convinced it’s worth the trip given all that other stuff, which all sounds more like a curse than a blessing.

Joseph: I understand.  It’s your choice.  But consider this: How long will it take you to get your neurologist appointment?  How many tests will they need to run before determining whether it’s operable or not?  And how long before your surgery can be scheduled, if it’s even possible?  They might try chemotherapy, perhaps with a combination of radiation therapy, and you might have a chance at success.  But at the rate your tumor is growing, I’m concerned you’re about to begin a losing race.

Jeremy: Wow, you should write greeting cards.

Joseph: I’m just trying to be realistic.  As I said, it’s your choice.  You have a chance at a cure within the next week, which you’ll likely know whether or not it worked well before you can schedule your first neurologist appointment.  Or you can wait.  Put all your chips on the table, betting on a medical system that has been stressed to the breaking point with a pandemic, in hopes that it will respond before your clock runs out.  It costs you nothing to consider my proposal.

Jeremy: Well, when you put it that way.

Joseph: So, you’ll come?

Jeremy: I was kind of being sarcastic.  I’m just not sure.  I need some time to think about it.

Joseph: Okay.  Take some time.  Again, I’m not here to pressure you one way or another, but I hope you’ll consider it.  Talk to your wife.  Go sit at the beach by yourself and meditate.  Do whatever you need to do to make a choice, but don’t take too long.  I don’t have any way of knowing when the Pyramidion will appear next.  Sometimes it’s months, and sometimes it’s years between these visions I have.  There is one other potential benefit for you going, but there’s no use discussing it if you decide not to.  But please, make a decision.

Joseph handed me an envelope before leaving our meeting containing a plastic room key to a hotel nearby where he was staying, along with a brochure for the hotel with its address and the room number written in sharpie on the bottom of it.  He told me that I should be there no later than 3 days from now as a conservative estimate, just in case the Pyramidion appeared a bit earlier than he anticipated.  

I went home and took some time that evening to go over the options with my wife.  I admit that during the conversation with Joseph, I was kind of emotional.  Deep down, I agreed with everything he said about the lack of faith I can have in the medical system to work efficiently and effectively right now.  My wife and I also agreed that the benefits of going to the Pyramidion outweighed the little risk involved… that is, if Joseph was being honest and including all of the information needed to make an informed decision.

I think I would have come to the same conclusion if I hadn’t discussed it with my wife.  I mean, people generally want to live.  I decided to go.  Three days after our meeting, I drove to the hotel on the brochure and met Joseph Foye.

Listen

The Storage Papers is a fiction horror podcast.

Discretion is advised.

Transcript

WRITTEN BY JEREMY ENFINGER

SOUND: A clock is ticking.

My meeting at El Campo had me wondering how much of the information Joseph Foye passed onto me could be verified through the papers, or perhaps through the stuff that Patel had sent over.  Of course, I’m supposed to be on bed rest or “taking it easy” still, even though I feel just fine at the moment.  Still, I asked Brianne to bring me some files that I recalled reading that may now bear pertinent information.  She was taking her sweet time though, and I’ve been here for days just waiting for her, staring at the wall and thinking things over.

Reading about all of these people, and meeting several now, who claim to have these “abilities” makes me wonder, since our names are in the medical files, whether or not Brianne and I have some level of abilities as well.  I can tell you for certain, I’m becoming more and more accepting of this possibility, and have even been doing my own little experiments while I lie here in bed.  It’s strange though; I don’t seem to be able to fully experience anything during waking hours.  But during times where I’m nearly asleep, or if I find myself daydreaming, that I… start to experience things differently.

For instance, there’s a small crack in the paint on my wall opposite my pillow in my bedroom.  I was nodding off a few days ago, just staring at that crack as I’ve done so many times before.  Do you know how you can stare at something long enough and your brain tricks you into thinking it’s moving?  This wasn’t like that at all.  

SOUND: Eerie music plays.

The crack, which was only a couple of inches long, started to travel further down the wall toward the floor.  It split open as the entire house shook, and a huge hole appeared in the wall, large enough to drive a small car through.  Within the crack that widened by the second, darkness.  

I reached over to my nightstand and picked up my cell phone.  No matter what button I pushed, it was inoperable.  It didn’t seem broken though.  It was obviously on, but as I went to toss it on the bed, it remained suspended in the air.  I grabbed it in the air and held it in front of my face, then let go.  It just hovered there, magically suspended in the air, seemingly frozen in time. When I looked over at my clock on the wall, the time was frozen at none oh three. The second hand wasn’t moving. My skin got prickly and I noticed I could see my breath.  The temperature was dropping.

Movement in the direction of the crack in the wall caught my attention, so I turned to look at it, but my phone, still suspended in the air, was partially obstructing my view, so I placed it down on the bed.  

SOUND: Whisper voices are heard.

The darkness behind the crack in the wall grew even darker, and though I saw motion, I convinced myself that my eyes were deceiving me.  Truthfully, I couldn’t tell you what I was looking at, but it felt like there were hundreds; even, thousands of eyes upon me.  

I started hearing voices.  Mostly soft voices and rarely comprehensible until I heard one specific phrase:

SOUND: Louder whisper says, “I think he can see us,” followed by a few seconds of silence, then eerie music continues.

“I think he can see us.”  Those six little words inspired so much fear in that moment.  And as soon as I heard them, the whispers silenced, and the movement in the darkness stopped.  The room was so quiet now that my ears were ringing.  I reached for my phone again, and hadn’t really decided if I was going to call my wife, who would really worry about me if I told her what I witnessed, or if I should call Brianne, who would likely understand and believe me, but who I was frustrated with for taking so goddamn long with bringing those papers over.

As I checked for functionality of my phone again, it seemed to be working, but when I looked up at the crack, it had completely closed up, save for the couple of inches it started out being.  Only now, there was this smoky, tarnished appearance around the crack that wasn’t there before.  Perhaps a remnant trace of a doorway closed that otherwise would never have been noticed.

I heard my front door open and called out my wife’s name, thinking she was home from work already.  I thought this would be an ordinary conversation, so I apologize for not having recorded this part. Instead I heard Brianne say, “Nope, it’s just me. Do you want anything from your fridge?”

I said, “No thanks,” even though I was incredibly hungry.  I wanted to get my hands on those documents and actually have something to occupy my mind.  I said, “What took you so long?”

Brianne looked at me kind of annoyed and said, “Jesus. Pushy much?” as she brought in a coffee that I hadn’t asked for, but actually really appreciated.

I said, “Sorry, it’s just been a few days and I know you’re busy. I do appreciate you taking the time though.  What have you been up to?”

Brianne’s expression turned from annoyed to perplexed as she felt my forehead with the back of her hand.  She said, “How are you feeling today?”

I replied, “Just bored really,” and I apologized for my appearance considering I hadn’t gotten out of bed for a long time.

Brianne asked, “When did we speak to one another last?”

I told her it must have been four or five days ago, when I asked her to bring me the documents.  Right after my follow-up MRI.

She stood up straight and looked at me.  She said, “Your MRI was yesterday.  You called me two hours ago, and I dropped what I was doing and went to get your files, then stopped on the way here for the coffee.  It’s been two hours.”

Impossible.  I looked at my phone and the calendar date matched up with what she was saying.  I looked at my right arm and I could still see a fresh needle mark from the contrast injection from the MRI.  I thought for a moment, and I hadn’t seen my wife in what felt like several days either.  I also admittedly smelled pretty bad.  I said, “My MRI was on a Friday.  If that was yesterday, then today should be Saturday, so where are my wife and my kids?”  

Brianne said, “They went to the farmer’s market off Leucadia. You told me they went there.”

I was disoriented and said, “But that was days ago.”

Brianne took a few minutes asking me some questions, going into full nurse-mode.  I explained to her what had just happened with the crack in the wall and the voices.  We considered the possibility that some kind of temporal distortion had occurred, giving the appearance that several days had gone by, but I could tell she was more concerned than amazed by my story.  In that moment, I realized I had a problem: even though we’re working with some unexplained and downright scary things, people are always going to be questioning whatever I say because of that brain lesion they found on the CT scan.  I shouldn’t have said anything.

She hung around for a couple of hours until my family got back home, and I asked her not to say anything to my wife for the time being.  I would tell her, just not immediately.  No need to worry her about anything since everything seemed normal now.  Brianne made me promise to tell her before my next doctor’s visit, and before this episode aired, which I did, then she left.

Once I ate some breakfast, I started rifling through some of the documents Brianne brought over.  She had included some of Patel’s documents as well, including some general notes she seemed to write out in an outline style relating to SCIC.  To be honest, some of this stuff seems like I shouldn’t be sharing it on the podcast, but at the same time, it was given to me and I’ve never signed a non-disclosure agreement with SCIC myself, so I guess I’ll find out if anyone there actually listens to The Storage Papers.

First I’ll go through some of Patel’s notes, but I warn you: they appear a bit jumbled and hasty.  I’m not sure when she wrote these or if she’s writing in chronological order.  It almost seems as if she was making an outline of her own research, or perhaps a much larger conversation she was planning to have.  I’ll read a few now.

At some point, the shepherds and the makers got the attention of real entities – not things simply made up or manifested by them, but what, by ruling out all other options, appears to be actual demons, monsters, and there was even rumors of Extraterrestrial Biological Entities, though I’ve never seen evidence of that myself, so I’ll be focusing on spiritual beings.  Method of contact remains unknown, but assuming it involves either psychic communication or extra dimensional travel of some kind.   

Hydra was primarily military-driven until the late 1970’s. At that time, SCIC, a San Diego-based civilian contractor was hired as a 3rd party consultant to assist in quantification and verification of results through peer review. Even after the military mostly exited the higher ranks in the organization, it attracted retired military, who infiltrated the company and grew the organization to what it is today.  

Outside of the work hired to do by Hydra, we were primarily dealing in weapons research and aerospace, but the lesser-known branches of the organization deal with weaponization of just about anything. SCIC personnel were the first to classify the Makers and the Shepherds, and to come up with the symbol system for labeling files. 

These were on separate small notepad pages all torn out and freely floating within the documents.  This next item though, was more formalized and looked like some kind of report, except it lacks the element of a cited author and it’s not addressed to anyone (I should note that there is a crudely-sketched pentagram symbol here, in addition to the 7-fingered hand symbol.  It’s the only time I’ve seen it drawn on any documents instead of either stamped or part of letterhead).  It reads:

Potential Overlapping Studies of the Psychical Research and Occult Research Departments: 

Early research into psychic abilities, before the standardization of testing methods used today, produced some anomalies.  It is unclear whether these anomalies are random in nature, or if they could be linked to post-World War II research.  

I was able to find some historical documentation indicating the U.S. Army once had more of an interest in occult studies, spanning back to the late 1940’s and early 1950’s, however, these are only referenced in some of the documents I have access to, and thus far, my requests for a higher clearance level have been denied.  

Where they seem to correlate most is in some of the earlier Psychical Research projects, prior to SCIC contract negotiations where often crude and considerably less ethical testing methods were used.  Early documents I have access to are primarily indicative of test results we see now within the Maker and Shepherd classifications, but the research was sloppy to say the least, and evidence suggests there may have been variations in results compared to present-day research.  Testing was conducted in a more random way and repeatability wasn’t always considered before results were documented.  I can see why SCIC didn’t include much of this documentation in its own archives, but there may be some valid information worthy of further, more thorough research.

I’ve gathered 7 or 8 documents where the overlap of departments is significant, however, I do not have access to the names of the test subjects.  It appears that psychic testing had been underway systematically when the first anomaly was noted.  

A test subject described as “promising in their abilities” from the psychic research studies was temporarily utilized in an occult study. Prior to the occult research being performed, the individual had noted characteristics of being able to imagine something and manifest it.  At the time, they were instructing them to imagine abnormal objects and even living things that do not exist so they could conclude that the subject was creating something new, rather than bringing something here from another place.  It’s evident by the research comments that string theory wasn’t on their minds back then.

Occult studies occurred for five weeks, and then the subject was returned to the psychical research department to resume testing.  Only after returning, results varied widely compared to results prior to the occult studies.  The subject began manifesting darker things.  It was recorded that several beings of unknown origin began to manifest.  These beings were intelligent, communicated well, though independently, and had what they described as “intimate personal knowledge of the people conducting the research”.  

These differed from other manifested living things in that the Army was attempting to control the previous beings, and they were trainable, compliant, and performed as expected so well, that the Army noted field testing having occurred in combat scenarios.  But these new beings didn’t seem to be like that at all.  They decided to take a more conservative approach with them and try to learn more about them prior to making any decision to commence any other forms of testing.

I am going to attach one of the scientific observation reports to this document as an example, but behaviors varied widely and were considered unpredictable, thus insufficient for military usage.  Despite that being the case, these entities seemed to allow the Occult Research Department, identified by the pentagram symbol on the front of this report, to gain further funding and additional attention by Hydra.  

On a personal note, I have seen some collaborative work between my department and the Occult Studies Department, and it only seems like it happens when they have something significant to gain, and they rarely offer up any of their own resources or information after the work is complete.  This is the main cause for my research into their projects.  I need assurance that there is an element of safety being taken into account for myself and my staff during these collaborative efforts.

I’d like to share with you an audio recording that was with this collection of documents.  It sounds like it starts out as a transcript of a hypnosis session on one of the subjects, but turns into something much more.  It reads:

SOUND: Vinyl surface dust and distortion – magnetic tape noise playing.

DOCTOR (Redacted): I want you to close your eyes and focus on your breathing.  Take in slow, deep breaths and exhale slowly.  In through your nose and out through your mouth.  As you continue your breathing, you feel more relaxed.  Imagine your body is floating on top of the water in a still pond.  You release the tension in your muscles, starting with your neck, moving to your shoulders, extending down your arms to your fingertips.  Your back and your hips are relaxed.  Your knees, your ankles, and your feet feel weightless as you continue to float.  You’re enjoying the silence and you drift further and further into relaxation until you are nearly asleep.  
Now, the body of water you’re floating in begins to slowly develop a current.  The current is soft and barely noticeable.  As your body moves with the current, it relaxes you more, and you can hear the sounds of nature as you drift further and further into sleep and downstream.  
The current carries you peacefully into a cave where there is no light, and all of the world’s sounds fade away the deeper you travel into the cave.  The cave is a magical place.  Its boundaries seclude you from the world and you have unlimited power and freedom in this place.  It allows you to know things you’ve never known; that no one knows.  It lets you see things no human being has ever seen before.  It fills you up with a sense of wonder and you decide that you can do anything you want here.
You have all of the abilities of a god with no limitations.  You are your own deity and it is now time for you to put on a display of your power.  Now… What do you do next?

PATIENT: I’m alone, floating weightless in an infinite dark space.  I desire companionship, so I create someone to share this space with me.  A friend.  Yes, a friend is what I need.  He appears in front of me, and even looks like me just a little bit.  He’s smiling.  Everything is peaceful, and we don’t have to speak to communicate.  He knows what I’m thinking and I know what he is thinking.

DOCTOR: Remember, you can do anything, be anything, and create anything.  What do you do next?

PATIENT: I make more friends to share this space with.  I feel safe and secure at first, but then I begin feeling even lonelier.  

DOCTOR: Why?

PATIENT: Because everyone I’ve created has no experiences.  They don’t think for themselves.  They just react to everything I’m thinking.  I long not only to share myself, but for my friends to share themselves with me.  It’s a one-way friendship, but it’s not what I hoped it would be.

DOCTOR:  So what do you do next?  Remember, you can do anything in this space.  

PATIENT:  All of the friends I’ve created aren’t interested in me anymore.  Their attention is focused on something behind me.  

DOCTOR: Something you’ve created?

PATIENT: (worried) No.  I’m not sure what it is.  They are experiencing fear for the first time.

DOCTOR: What are they afraid of?  Don’t forget, you can do anything you want there.

PATIENT: (fearful) Oh god!  There are thousands of them!

DOCTOR: Thousands of what?

PATIENT: They don’t think I should be here.  They don’t want me to be able to create.  They hate me.  There’s too many of them.  Too many thoughts to separate, but it’s clear they don’t think I belong here.

DOCTOR: Just remember, you’re in control there.

PATIENT: No, they were here long before me.  They are ancient, and they feel violated because I’m in their space.  I shouldn’t be here.  They don’t know how I’m able to be here, but now their attention is fully on me.  I want out.

DOCTOR:  Who are they?  Why shouldn’t you be there?

PATIENT: They want to communicate to you through me.  If I don’t let them, they say I’ll be trapped here forever.

DOCTOR: Don’t let them take contr-

PATIENT: (interrupts Doctor in an eldritch voice) You have no authority here, son of the flesh.  You dare to defile us with your presence!  

DOCTOR: Who addresses me?

PATIENT: (eldritch voice) I am the Ever-Present.  I am The Infinite.  And you are but a speck of dust in my presence.  As a punishment for your insolence, he will suffer.

DOCTOR: (speaking hurriedly) When I snap my fingers, you’ll regain consciousness and feel relaxed. (snaps fingers)

PATIENT: (still in eldritch voice) It leaves when I permit it to leave.

(patient screams and convulses)

DOCTOR:  Wake up!  Wake up!

The audio file stops there. It’s unclear who… or what was speaking through the patient in this audio, but I think it’s safe to say given the pentagram symbols that keep popping up, they have some religious significance, whether demons, Djinn, or something else.  

I’d like to share one last document with you, or at least a portion of it.  Most of the document is redacted save for a few paragraphs of text, but the title of the document states, “Proposal for New Department of Research.”  There is no date on it, but the paper is quite aged, and if I had to guess, this proposal marked the beginnings of their Occult Research department.  It reads:

With new evidence that these beings possess their own intelligence and have the ability to interact and influence people outside of their will, further efforts must be taken to study them to distinguish them from the manifestations brought into existence by our test subjects.  They have unknown motives and have successfully concealed their presence among us.  They have presented knowledge beyond our understanding, can seemingly know peoples’ thoughts without a person conveying them verbally, and have demonstrated extreme hostility with no apparent inciting events.

As reported recently in a recent session with Subject M-22, the manifestation of such a being took place, and our scientists could not determine if the Subject simply manifested a being similar to one of them, or if the Subject somehow brought the being to our plane from somewhere else.  In either case, knowledge of this being had to have occurred prior to this session, which means the Maker Project is now vulnerable to results that can no longer be verified.  In addition, extreme caution is recommended in future Maker testing due to evidence that testing is drawing the attention of these beings and interaction both inside and outside of testing environments have taken place, both for the test subjects and the staff conducting the tests.

Now that we have data suggesting (though not necessarily proving scientifically) the existence of extra-dimensional beings, I suggest a new research department be developed to form criteria for classification of these beings, and to further expand our classification system of those brought here by the Shepherd experiments and those manifested by the Maker experiments.  Furthermore, it is my recommendation that Shepherd and Maker experiments cease immediately until such criteria can be established.  Without a classification system in place, we have no method for identifying which of these entities existed in our reality before Shepherd or Maker efforts.  

Um… I’m not sure about you all listening to this, but I had to re-read, stop, and think about these three paragraphs I just read to you when I read it the first time for myself.  It implies that extra-corporeal entities exist and Hydra, along with SCIC had the data a long time ago to back that up.  I’m not sure if I’m more shocked by that, or if the fact that people exist that can bring others here from parallel dimensions or just think things into existence.

I was just starting to believe that perhaps all things paranormal that interested me so much of my life may have been explainable as physical products of someone’s imagination.  But this is saying that, whether you call them ghosts, spirits, demons, angels, Djinn, or some other kind of non-human presence; it’s saying they exist.

Shit. I know the Dream Killer that Brianne and I faced with Ron was a real person, a gifted person.  But now I’m wondering if the Grinner we faced in the church was an actual demon, or if it was one of Malcolm’s creations.  The latter would explain the Grinner’s ability to be on Holy ground. I mean, a real demon isn’t supposed to be able to walk inside a church according to Father Lucas Stone, which is why he believes the beast within him can also be there.  It would explain a lot. Our initial plan there failed because he could go wherever he wanted to.  

On the other hand, we researched the demon the Grinner claimed to be, and there were so many similarities.  I even avoided using its name for fear of calling attention to myself or giving it more power. But if it wasn’t the actual demon we thought it was, then perhaps it was created by Malcolm to resemble one.  I have some digging to do.

SOUND: The doorbell rings.

Be right back.

SOUND: footsteps receding, door opens, then closes, then footsteps returning.  Jeremy opens some mail.

This is interesting, I rarely have to sign for mail.

Um… 

Well, I might as well tell you this since I’ll have had a chance to talk to my family before this episode airs.  I suppose I could always cut it out later if needed.  

Fucking doctors… Sorry everyone, the letter I just opened has some news that I’d prefer to hear in-person, or at least over the phone.  I won’t read the entire letter, but essentially, my MRI results came back.  Apparently I have a tumor the size of a quarter in my brain. The doctor mentions in his letter that it was strange to see because when I was sick back in 2019, an MRI of the brain was done because of severe headaches I had been having.  Since then, there has been significant enlargement of the prefrontal cortex and the development of a tumor that typically would take years to grow to that size. I’ve been referred to neurology for a consultation to see if it’s operable, but he’s definitely concerned about the rate of growth, so they want to do it soon.

Sorry to end this one on a downer note, but I’ll keep you posted once I get everything set up with neurology.