September 27th 2007
8:20AM
Early visit from Maelle. I was digging through the closet when I heard Barney barking outside the door. How strange, I thought, his muzzle shouldn’t be off. Maelle was petting him on the porch.
“I found him,” she said. I could tell something was wrong.
“Where?” I asked, letting her in and scanning the horizon. She was here earlier than usual.
“I found him walking by the garden. What was he doing so close to town?” Maelle asked severely.
“He’s just a dog,” I said. “He doesn’t know.”
“Mr. Helmsely, something very exciting happened. Exciting in both good and bad ways.”
“Uh-oh, they didn’t–” I hesitated at the thought. Their power… growing.
“No! No! It wasn’t them, it was someone else,” she said.
“Who? What did they do?” I sat down and drank some of my orange juice. Barney was all wet and leaning on my knee.
“Here,” she said. She handed me a photo she had taken. It was Hydra, spray painted onto a brick wall. However, Hydra was hardly distinguishable due to another color of spray paint having covered the symbol.
“Who did this?” I begged, thinking first of the enormous power within that one small action.
“No one knows. Everyone thinks it’s bad news,” Maelle explained. This at first struck me as odd. Why bad news? Then, of course, Leviathan would have to blame someone.
“Hmm, this is bad news. Bad news, indeed. Maelle, I am going to be very severe. We cannot continue this experiment. I’d like you to cease all connection you have to the investigation…”
“But, Mr. Helmsley. Be reasonable. They have no–”
“Never mind if they no proof or otherwise. Dear, God, Leviathan angered is as dangerous as teasing a bull. You’re not safe, you must promise me to look no further into Leviathan,” I begged.
“I don’t even know anything. You’ve been so sparse with–”
“For your own good! Now that I’ve banned you from it, your curiosity may get the better of you–”
“I didn’t do anything. Even Leviathan has a code of morals, Mr. Helmsley.”
“Not really,” I said bitterly. I remember too many things and things so close. How could Maelle ever understand? “When did this happen?”
“They found it yesterday–at night. That’s even stranger. There’s no witnesses because… it was at night.”
“Who could have– do you think? Could have it been one of their own?” I asked and immediately began to shuffle through old notebooks and things in a box. I had taken it out to look for the camera yesterday.
“I know you didn’t do it, Maelle. But that’s not good enough. And as much as I’ve enjoyed working with you, it’d be best if we ceased this transaction of information until further notice. It isn’t safe. They’ve been watching us very carefully, I know it. They have more eyes in these hills than there are crickets. They’ll just say it was us because they need a reason to get rid of me. It isn’t you, Maelle, it’s me. And I’ve tried so hard to keep you out of danger…”
“Danger? Mr. Helmsley, you never told me why you’re so adamant about this. I know it’s…”
“Maelle, you have to leave. You have to. Right now, I’m so sorry I put you in this position. Deny ever knowing me. I don’t think it will be safe— burn everything you have. Burn every letter and picture. This project is over. I never thought it’d come to this… I can’t believe Isaiah would… I mean, his father… obviously.”
“Who? What are you– Mr. Helmsley, please!”
“Goodbye, Maelle.” And I pushed her out the door. I sent Barney to watch after her. I sometimes put too much faith in that dog.
2:30PM
I’ve had some time to reflect upon our findings. And though I’ve told Maelle to destroy all things relevant to this case, I am in no way inclined to do so myself. I am only going to dispose of that which ties me to Maelle. If they were to ever come in here… they’d find… It’s too unbearable to think. If they were to find I had any connection to her… I should have been more careful. There just isn’t any way I could have gained so much knowledge about Leviathan without outside help. Perhaps in a couple months when all this dies down… then I can contact her. Until then, I’ll have to mull over the information I’ve collected already.
6:01PM
It isn’t strange for Barney to be absent of my home for this long of a time. However, with reason developments, I fear this could mean the worse. Every noise, every shudder, every creak, I think it’s Isaiah and he’s coming for me. And to think… he and I used to be so close… what could have changed a man so drastically? I heard power does horribly sadistic things to people– but in the name of God? In hopes to prevent some kind of Apocalypse? The past is the past… his grandfather received those revelations… I mean… so much time has gone by. And when is worth the human price? When is it alright to kill in order to keep Leviathan strong. Goddamn it, I never agreed with that.
If I can figure out the tunnel system, perhaps I can find the meeting place. If that be the case, I’ll have to do some investigative work of my own.
William Helmsley
