Record 37

Riley Donnelly was close to rock bottom in 2006. She was attempting to get a degree in library science while scheduled to the third shift of a gas station. Her mother worked, but her father offered little, instead busying himself with watching television and sports betting. As her mother paid for the basic household bills, Riley was left as the money well for her father to dip into whenever he ran out of his own. It weighed on her, dragging her lower until she hit a breaking point in November of 2005. The two had a fight, and the aftermath was her being kicked out of the house. Unable to afford an apartment on near mininum wage, she was forced to drop out of college to work full-time. It was just one semester before she would have graduated; she contemplated taking loans, but was terrified by the thought of future financial ruin. She spent her nights at the gas station, and her days at a local diner as a hostess. She was neither paid well nor respected in either establishment.

Despair was crashing in once the summer of 2006 rolled around. All she had to her name was a poorly maintained studio apartment, her beat up car, and a dingy television. No cable, of course, so she could only watch the small number of movies she owned. There were few people she talked to, and nobody she would consider a true friend. There was no future for her. Something had to change.

As the summer months began to wane, she found a job listing from Upstaged Communications. They were hosting a training program for camera grips at Station 85, with pay better than both her current jobs combined. There weren't any degree requirements--all it asked for was a high school diploma, and the willingness to perform above and beyond while on the job. Riley drove to the station the next day, applied, and heard back only days later. She had been hired. When she heard the news, she nearly broke down from a wave of relief. She began her job on August 5th, 2006.

She was part of a team of four that ran the cameras, tasked with maintaining all related equipment. Despite the size and scale of Upstaged's most prominent station, the job was easier than one would have expected. Station Manager Nashiko Morita was insistent that all new hires should be properly trained, with her overseeing the process. Not only this, there was another newcomer who was just as inexperienced as her, but significantly clumsier. It made her mistakes pale in comparison.

It was a necessary step up in her life. The pay let her move into a nicer one bedroom apartment, and afforded her the opportunity to finally introduce some minor luxuries into her life. The team was tight-nit, and grew to be close. Her father tried to contact her and beg for more money, but she refused, choosing to cut him out of her life. After all, he never cared for nor provided for her. She still talked to her mother, but paid no attention to the man that cost her the education she desired. He wasn't worth it.

She had been on the job for eight months before something happened. Something bizarre. Her team lead was busy, so she was entrusted with locking up the equipment once the day's programming was done at two in the morning. She was exhausted and blinked a few times, rubbing her eyes with one hand as she held a camera in the other. When she opened them back up, she wasn't in Station 85 anymore. Instead, she was on a strange path in the middle of unfamiliar woods. There were fences on either side of her, and a clear blue sky above.

It was such an inexplicable occurrence that fear hadn't even entered her mind, only overwhelming confusion. What was going on? Looking down, she saw that she was stil holding the camera. When she turned it on and took a picture, it was exactly what she was seeing with her eyes.

She blinked again, and it was gone. She was back in Station 85. Almost nobody else was still clocked in, so she was left alone, unable to comprehend what had just happened. After all, when she looked at the camera, the picture proved she left the station. It was impossible.

Fear began to wrap itself around her mind as she left the equipment locker, making her way to the only other employee she knew was there. As she went to Edward Marion's office, it occurred to her that she had never seen him in person. He was not to be interrupted from his work unless it was an emergency. She figured this counted.

When she knocked on his door, he opened it. Before her were countless stacks of papers, several computers and monitors, and a side door to the left. The Marionettes server room was next to his. She was surprised by his appearance; she knew he was older, but he looked like a walking corpse. Skin should not have been that pale and grey.

Still, she pushed aside her discomfort, showing him what she saw on the camera. Edward looked at it, and she could've sworn that she saw a flicker of something in his eyes. Maybe excitement, maybe fear, but his glossy eyes were alive for just a moment. The two sat in silence as Edward weighed his options, before he asked her to come with him.

The two left through the other door to the server room for Marionettes. He went to a terminal and searched for something. Stepping back, he showed her the station monitor page. It said that the station's stability was at 9.2/10, with infrequent fluctuations. This meant nothing to her.

He sat her down, and the two talked. They talked about the truth of the company, the presence of the fluctuations, and the whispers of strange intrusions circulating among the staff. They talked about the Signal. Riley didn't believe at first, but she was given a glimpse of the day that never was. A glimpse of that terrible future that had never come to pass was all she needed.

Edward's explanation impressed upon her the need for discretion, and convinced her to act as his eyes and ears. He needed help monitoring what was happening in the stations. If the Signal's intrusions were allowed to persist, it could result in a cascade of errors that broke down Marionettes' protections.

Time passed. Little flits of activity appeared. Nothing drastic, just the odd appearance of its symbol, of the not yet completed musical composition, leaking through the cracks of Marionettes. No matter how hard Edward worked, there was always a new leak, a new way for the Signal to slither a part of itself out. Despite this, he was confident that he had patched all major flaws that could enable its escape. Whenever a new one appeared, he would send her to investigate, such as when she filled in for Lillian Boyce at Station 48.

Her increased responsibility came with, of course, increased pay. As her old team lead left, she was promoted to the team lead of Station 85's evening grip crew, giving her the opportunity to move into a two bedroom apartment. It was another step up the ladder. Another step up the spiraling tower. She was beginning to feel good about what she was doing. If everything could stay the same, she would grow into perfect contentment.

In early 2008, Riley found another employee. A server technician that worked under Edward. The technician knew not of any details of the Signal, but she was crafty, and noticed multiple irregularities within the system. As such, she attempted to snoop through the Marionettes archives for any extra information. She was caught.

Riley was initially mad at Penelope Adams, and reported her to Edward. He warned her against investigating further. Penelope, however, was stubborn, refusing to let go of a problem she had discovered. In fact, the repeated efforts to quell her investigation left her curious. She was hired as a technician, after all; why wasn't she allowed to know about any deficiencies in the system she was paid to monitor?

No answers would be given by Edward. However, her curiosity led to the incessant pestering of Riley, forcing her to come in time and time again to shut her down, until she was ultimately faced with the threat of immediate termination and potential litigation. This was when Penelope finally quieted down, reluctantly focusing on the strange job she was given.

Despite her initial irritation, Riley felt a twinge of sympathy for Penelope. She understood how frustrating it must have been, and understood that she meant no harm. Perhaps she could tell Penelope a little. It couldn't hurt, right?

Every morning before work, Riley went to the diner she had formerly worked at. She wasn't sure why--it wasn't as if she missed the job, or particularly cared for the people there. She was simply attached. It didn't escape her that, by sheer coincidence, Penelope was always there in the mornings at the same time as her. She did an admirable job of pretending to ignore her coworker until Riley slid into the opposite seat of her booth, and offered to give her some context for the situation with Marionettes. She didn't explain the truth of the Signal, instead offering that the system was working to contain an attempted intrusion by a force hostile to Upstaged. Edward was concerned over what they may do, and concerned of creating any disruption within the company; as such, they were to keep everything as quiet as possible.

None of it was technically a lie, and Penelope understood. She even joked that someone was attempting to upstage Upstaged. It wasn't funny. Riley laughed. The two began to have breakfast together every morning, spending time together outside of work. They discovered that they lived on opposite ends of the same apartment complex. They discovered that Penelope enjoyed the movies in Riley's old collection. On August 5th of 2008, they discovered more. Neither had ever opened up about this before. They began to spend more time together than with anyone else.

For the next two years, the two were in a private relationship. During this time, Riley and Penelope grew to focus more on each other than on the inevitable tragedy waiting at Upstaged. Edward, none the wiser, complimented Riley on her persuasiveness, and gave her a bonus. It was yet another step up, and as time ticked on, Riley found herself wanting for less and less. She managed to find a life of perfect contentment.

On October 16th, 2010, both Riley and Penelope were nearing the end of their shifts at the station, anxiously awaiting the time they could leave. As team lead, Riley was responsible for preparing the equipment for the nightly broadcast, which began at midnight. As she prepared it, however, she saw something. She blinked, and she saw the same path that had introduced her to Edward and the Signal. It was different. The sky was black, and what looked like an organic cavity was staring down at her. It was filled with hundreds, thousands of stars, a tapestry of eyes in the night sky. A second blink brought her back to the station. Riley didn't need to be told what this meant. It was another fluctuation.

As she rushed to Edward's office, the clock struck midnight, and things began to change. The calamity had begun. The Signal had broken free. She saw someone wearing a pendant around their neck, and he looked wrong. He looked just as she remembered, but that employee had recently broken his arm, and was wearing a cast. How was his arm fine? She knew it had to be the Signal.

She barged into Edward's office without knocking, bringing an end to the meeting between him and Wyatt Reed. They were told that something had happened. All three rushed out, but the stations began to fluctuate, dragging Wyatt through the floor as Riley and Edward were thrown back into his office. He slammed the door shut and paced, trying to think of a plan. She begged him to tell her more. He refused to do so. He didn't want her paralyzed with fear or compromised by grief. She attempted to call Penelope. It went to voicemail.

After almost an hour passed in the fluctuating time, he thought of a way to take his already existing contingencies and adapt them into Project Story Conclusion. He drafted a letter to the board, and told Riley what she was to do.

Riley's role was to amalgamate all of the company's history, so that it could be submitted to Marionettes and delivered to Penelope. She was not informed of what Penelope had done, but was told that Penelope had been put to sleep, with the Signal now in control. If she were to be saved, if the Signal was to be stopped, then Riley had to do what was asked without question. There was no alternative. She agreed.

She was left in Edward's office, one of the two stable rooms left, and was told not to open the door for anybody. Nobody could be trusted, no matter who they appeared to be. As hours turned to days of work, she was forced to endure countless knockings and pleas from former employees, begging her to let them in. How did they know it was her in there? She felt no hunger, and despite watching the clock tick, it felt as if barely any time had passed at all. At the same time, it felt as if she was living an eternity in there, crawling through the history of the company. Edward told her that it was necessary to cement history so that the nightmares of the Signal would not redefine memories of the past.

Her eyes were bloodshot when she heard the first gunshot. Several more followed, most of them far away, before she saw Edward open the door. When he entered, she noticed flecks of red splattered on his suit. He took the information she collected over the days she was in the office and went to the Marionettes server room, submitting the information to his system. He finished Project Story Conclusion. He ended the story.

He kept he and his employees' actions quiet, sparing Riley from suffering the same tragedy as them. Instead, she remained in his office as dawn began to break on the 20th, the rest of the employees having their memories cracked as Penelope's was shattered. She was one of eight that survived the calamity that began October 17th, 2010.

When she left the station, Upstaged Communications was dead, the Signal was contained, and the survivors were freed. All she had left was one last instruction from Edward: avoid Penelope at all costs. He warned her that her presence would risk resurfacing old memories and thus reawakening the Signal. She was heartbroken, but she committed. Her love's safety was more important than the devestation she had just suffered. Unable to face anyone after those terrible days, she refused to answer when her mother called, cutting the last of her family off. She was alone again.

She found a new job at a smaller station. The pay was worse, and she was forced to move into a studio apartment across the city to avoid Penelope. As she slept, she was met with nightmares of the burning memories she still held, and while awake she felt the bitter desire for her love dull all other emotions. Still, she dutifully played her part, keeping herself disconnected from all other survivors until 2021.

It would have been their 13th anniversary. On August 5th, she decided to visit the same diner she went to with Penelope, a fleeting chance to rekindle her past connection within herself. It was after work that day, leaving her exhausted. That was when she saw Penelope. She was older, more weary, but it was undeniably her. A bursting excitement flooded the reasoning center of her brain, and she immediately tried to talk to her. However, Penelope said that she didn't recognize her, and left. Riley was heartbroken, and hurt. Penelope couldn't recognize her. She didn't know who she was.

Five days later, Riley received a package that landed on her front doorstep. It was from Edward. She procrastinated for days before opening it, finding it to be Penelope's old remote communicator. It had more functions than Riley had expected.

There was also a letter. The letter informed her that Edward was intending to gather everyone back, and refresh the memories of the ones who had theirs cracked. He wanted her there to welcome the others, as she was the only employee with whole, untouched memories.

All was silent until October 3rd, 2023. She had thrown the remote communicator into a drawer by her bedisde table, not expecting any more to come of it. However, on that fateful day, she heard a ping that woke her up from a particularly frightening nightmare. It was a notification. Lillian, Wyatt, Joshua, Thomas, and Nashiko had all received their packages. Their communicators. She realized that Edward planned to drag all the others back without her. She began to talk, reaching out to the first one to receive a package: Lillian. She did not know of the Signal roaming Marionettes, slowly building connections through the system. She did not know of the pendant escaping destruction until Lillian was given it by the body.

Once Lillian was taken, Riley reached out to the others, attempting to piece together everything that had and would happen, whilst simultaniously attempting to find a new solution to ending it. As her research continued, she learned that the Signal was originally released because of the actions of one she knew. One who claimed to love her, who said she dropped all investigation into such matters. She learned that Penelope had been the one responsible for releasing the Signal. Her instructions had fallen on deaf ears. It deepened the hurt she felt. A part of her refused to trust Penelope ever again.

Time and time again, I've failed Riley. I let my curiosity and concern get the better of me several times. First in 2010, then when Riley told me to stop poking around Marionettes, and finally when I trusted the decoy after the original said she'd reach back out only when she could.

Project Story Conclusion 6 - Riley Donnelly