2020-02-16 - Checking In

(TXT to Isabella) Anne : Hey. Happy belelated Valentine's day.

(TXT to Anne) Isabella : Hey Blue Eyes. Happy Belated Valentines Day. I wanted to check in almost immediately but I thought...we could all probably use the time. How are you?

(TXT to Isabella) Anne : [typing, typing]

(TXT to Isabella) Anne : I don't know. How are you?

(TXT to Anne) Isabella : I was hoping that my Valentines date would be quiet. I was determined to go after...what happened. But we got caught in another bit of craziness, anyway. My hands sting a little, but honestly I'm more worried about you and Alexander.

(TXT to Anne) Isabella : Anything I can do?

(TXT to Isabella) Anne : Is he holding up okay?

(TXT to Isabella) Anne : I don't know. I don't know what to think. Patrick said I'm not lost because I'm here, but I think maybe he doesn't understand.

(TXT to Anne) Isabella : Alexander is coping in his own way, he has a few thoughts about what happened to us, but like us, he needs a few days to get his head straight.

(TXT to Anne) Isabella : Do you think you're still....?

(TXT to Isabella) Anne : Lost?

(TXT to Isabella) Anne : Yes.

(TXT to Isabella) Anne : I don't know what happened, except I think I messed up when I made the door. We should've made it over there. Not.. wherever it was that we were.

(TXT to Anne) Isabella : Or it might not be something you did, Anne. The day the grave was tampered with, things were STRANGE. More than usual. My dreams, Alexander's dreams, and then Gohl's grave disappearing, and this weird...whatever feeling with all of us? It might be that whatever happened that day just affected the grave and took us to...to...

(TXT to Anne) Isabella : ...where do you think we ended up? I've been looking at this stuff for a while but I've never come across any mention of that place before.

(TXT to Isabella) Anne : It was a Dream. That's all I can say. It wasn't where we were supposed to be, I knew something was wrong when I opened the door. It didn't feel right.

(TXT to Isabella) Anne : I've opened enough doors to know when something didn't feel right.

(TXT to Isabella) Anne : But I've never opened a door into a Dream before.

(TXT to Anne) Isabella : Holy shit.

(TXT to Anne) Isabella : ...do we need to warn others like us not to try and open doors for a while? It could have been just a one-off because of the site but...I think the only way we'd be able to test it is to see if a door can be opened in another location that's less volatile.

(TXT to Anne) Isabella : And we definitely shouldn't...not right now. Not right away.

(TXT to Isabella) Anne : The only thing I can think of is that.. I don't know. That there's some kind of boundary line, and maybe we went too far out of it, but that doesn't make any sense because the cemetery's right near the park, and we've jumped through to the park before.

(TXT to Anne) Isabella : Right. Still, Anne, the discovery - YOUR discovery is huge. If that's what happened, if you managed to do it, that means maybe we can open doors out of Dreams, too. I don't know how difficult that's going to be, but...it could save lives.

(TXT to Isabella) Anne : I don't know if that's what it means, Isabella, I think testing that theory is incredibly risky. Just because I can open a door into a Dream doesn't necessarily mean I can make one out of it. What happens if it just leads you deeper?

(TXT to Isabella) Anne : You know what I think it means? I think it means that where we go when we Dream is just another place beyond the Veil. Like we have Gray Harbor's reflection, and then we have this.. Dreamscape place. Two locations on the same map.

(TXT to Anne) Isabella : You mean if you try to open a door in a Dream that it might pull you into another Dream? That's a possibility also. Honestly, I've been thinking about this for a while, the relationship between Dreams and the Veil. They're connected, it's -- yes.

(TXT to Isabella) Anne : Kind of like Seattle and Gray Harbor.

(TXT to Isabella) Anne : And that opens up.. I don't know. An entire world of possibilities. Are there other reflections like Gray Harbor?

(TXT to Isabella) Anne : I've heard there are other PLACES like Gray Harbor. Thin spots. But if I opened a door there, would I go into a reflection just like it? Would I wind up in a Dream?

(TXT to Isabella) Anne : And where the hell is the boundary?

(TXT to Isabella) Anne : Because I know if I open a door downtown, it leads to the reflection. The park? Reflecton. The pond? Reflection. But the goddamn cemetery right next door is a goddamn Dream?

(TXT to Anne) Isabella : I'm not certain. When August went to investigate the thin point in Portland, they got dragged into a Dream. I'm certain that's what happened there, at least. I'm headed out to the UK in a few weeks, and I heard rumors that there might be a thin point in the country. I can take a crew and see what's up, if they would like to poke that particular bear. Lilith and Byron said they might want to meet up with me that week.

(TXT to Isabella) Anne : And what is bugging me is, I don't know if the cemetery was always a Dream. What if it changed? What if it had been a Reflection and now it's not, and what does that MEAN?

(TXT to Isabella) Anne : Do NOT go there alone.

(TXT to Anne) Isabella : I won't, I promise. On my mother's grave.

(TXT to Anne) Isabella : Or where her ashes were scattered. But I promise. As for the rest...

(TXT to Anne) Isabella : Part of me wishes that we managed to get to our St. Mary's investigation before this happened so we could compare, but the chance slipped past us. I don't know what it means but we should definitely look into it.

(TXT to Isabella) Anne : It'd be stupid but we could try to see if it's just the cemetery. Like.. if we open a door on the bridge just outside. Or in the Church.

(TXT to Isabella) Anne : I don't know. This is what I mean, why I feel like I'm lost. I don't even know what I'm looking for. Just answers and I keep finding more questions.

(TXT to Isabella) Anne : I'm so tired of not knowing, and not knowing what it is I'm looking for to begin with. What questions am I even answering anymore?

(TXT to Anne) Isabella : It would definitely be stupid, but we have to test it otherwise we won't know anything. And maybe warn the rest of the movers we know not to do anything like that around the grave right now. I was thinking the same - maybe try some other location not in the cemetery, but close to it. Maybe the church next time?

(TXT to Isabella) Anne : I don't know which movers to warn. Enzo, probably, I will tell him.

(TXT to Anne) Isabella : I'll reach out to Itzhak, Easton and Magnolia too. Mags is less of a risk but she has a child.

(TXT to Anne) Isabella : Hey, you...don't have to tell me if you don't want. But I know that you're wondering about what answers you're looking for anymore and...

(TXT to Anne) Isabella : Why did you start? Looking into all of this. It isn't just because I'm curious but you're my friend. We're doing this together and if there's anything you're looking for in particular, I want to help if you'd let me.

(TXT to Isabella) Anne : [typing, typing..]

(TXT to Isabella) Anne : My mom left us when I was a kid. Took my youngest brother, Tommy, back east where she was from. I didn't understand then, I was real little, my dad just told my brother was sick and mom couldn't take us all. But Tommy wasn't sick. He was like us.

(TXT to Isabella) Anne : and we didn't hear from her, from Tommy, and it ruined my dad. And then George got sick, too, my oldest brother. And he turned 18 and he left and he went back east and he didn't come back, either.

(TXT to Isabella) Anne : And then I turned eighteen, and my dad and I got into a car accident, and it was the first time I learned that I was just like Tommy and George. Except I got lost. And when I came back, I found out my dad died in the wreck.

(TXT to Isabella) Anne : They didn't even come back for the funeral.

(TXT to Isabella) Anne : It's like.. they don't remember this place.

(TXT to Isabella) Anne : It's like this place drove them away.

(TXT to Isabella) Anne : But when I went up to Seattle for school? We would talk on the phone, and things started to fade.. but I kept coming back here.

(TXT to Isabella) Anne : And I don't know. Once I settled here for good, they stopped answering the phone. They kept changing their number. And then Patrick left, too, and I just.. I wanted to know why. Why did he have to leave? Why did my mom and George and Tommy have to leave?

(TXT to Isabella) Anne : I guess that's the crux of it.

(TXT to Anne) Isabella : I remember you mentioned the car accident to me before, and your brothers, but not that they...forgot about Gray Harbor. I'm...oh, Anne. That sounds really rough. When we talked about them before, I got the impression that you missed them but...I didn't think...

(TXT to Anne) Isabella : A lot of the memory issues I came across while exploring Gray Harbor's weirdness tend to be connected or pertain to the Asylum. Either there's an actual connection, or...the place and the way it's constructed and organized managed to utilize that part of Gray Harbor for its purposes.

(TXT to Anne) Isabella : I don't...I don't know why they had to leave, and I don't know if we'll be able to find those answers, but I'll do my damndest to help you find them.

(TXT to Anne) Isabella : I guess I'd already know the answer if I asked you if Patrick ever told you why he had to leave, huh?

(TXT to Isabella) Anne : I don't think they just forgot about Gray Harbor, Iz.

(TXT to Isabella) Anne : And none of us were ever connected to the Asylum. This place just does something to you in general.

(TXT to Isabella) Anne : I know why they left. Why Patrick wanted to leave. He didn't want to be here anymore. He wanted to get as far away from here as possible.

(TXT to Isabella) Anne : It's not about the why. But maybe if I could fix this place, maybe if I could figure out why this place is different, maybe they would remember. Maybe they would even come home.

(TXT to Anne) Isabella : Okay. I understand. I don't...know...how much of it we could actually fix, since I believe you when you say that this place and the way it is might even be older than before the Baxters even came. But hey, we won't know until we actually try.

(TXT to Anne) Isabella : This cemetery development overall is just...really weird. It completely shifts what we thought we knew about this place. If there was a boundary, do you think whatever happened in the last few days MOVED it, somehow?

(TXT to Isabella) Anne : I suppose it's possble.

(TXT to Anne) Isabella : Okay. I guess once we're all ready to chance it again, we can test our thinking in the Church, but only when...we're all ready. As for being lost...

(TXT to Anne) Isabella : I think we all are, to some degree. Even Patrick. Like you said, this place does something to people. I don't think it's limited to the ones like us who keep poking and prodding into things we shouldn't but can't help.

(TXT to Isabella) Anne : I guess the thing is? I don't want to be lost anymore.

(TXT to Anne) Isabella : And I don't want you to be lost anymore. And I don't want Alexander to be, also.

(TXT to Anne) Isabella : He said...after you disappeared in that place that he was lost all his life. I don't want that to continue for any of us.

(TXT to Anne) Isabella : So even if we don't know what we're looking at just yet, let's see if we can stop that from being an issue.

(TXT to Isabella) Anne : I know how he feels. I don't know if you can just stop that.

(TXT to Isabella) Anne : But the two of you have each other. And that's very important.

(TXT to Anne) Isabella : Yeah, there's a lot of things we don't know, but if you don't want to be lost anymore, and presumably he doesn't want to be lost anymore, then we should try to...un-lost. Give it an effort at least. I don't know how but...I'd like to think we're not doing all of this just because.

(TXT to Anne) Isabella : And for however long that lasts. I have a feeling that once my consultation job is done and once I've got my doctorate, Alexander would be the first to try and push me to the city limits and tell me never to come back.

(TXT to Isabella) Anne : I understand that, too. That feeling, of wanting to keep people safe.

(TXT to Anne) Isabella : Yeah, I understand that also. And he's not wrong, you know? I'd be incredibly stupid if I didn't acknowledge that.

(TXT to Isabella) Anne : I might help him push you.

(TXT to Isabella) Anne : But I think a part of me wants to go. A part of me has always wanted to go.

(TXT to Isabella) Anne : It doesn't chase away the part of me that feels this is where I need to be, though.

(TXT to Anne) Isabella : ::laugh emoji:: I welcome the two of you to push, because that just means I can hang on and try and drag the both of you out of this town for a spell. A departure doesn't have to be permanent. I mean, people take vacations. Maybe you and Patrick can take one together.

(TXT to Isabella) Anne : I haven't left Gray Harbor since I went to college. And the ski trip doesn't really count.

(TXT to Anne) Isabella : All the more reason to escape with him for a little bit, if you can. At least Patrick has a passport!

(TXT to Isabella) Anne : Maybe.

(TXT to Isabella) Anne : I don't know.

(TXT to Anne) Isabella : Just an idea. I mean...I know you feel that your life belongs here. Like you said earlier, nobody just forgets about Gray Harbor.

(TXT to Isabella) Anne : That's not what I meant. I meant that my family forgot about Gray Harbor. And me. That's what I meant. This place doesn't exist to them anymore.

(TXT to Anne) Isabella : That's awful. Jesus, Anne.

(TXT to Anne) Isabella : We'll keep digging. I don't know what we'll find but if we don't try, we won't know anything either. Like I said, I'm more worried about you and Alexander.

(TXT to Anne) Isabella : So if there's anything...even if it's just more wine, let me know?

(TXT to Isabella) Anne : Thank you <3

(TXT to Anne) Isabella : And thank you for looking into me. <3 Say hi to Patrick for us.

(TXT to Isabella) Anne : I will. I told him, you know. How I felt.

(TXT to Anne) Isabella : Whoa. Wait. You did?

(TXT to Anne) Isabella : What did he say?

(TXT to Isabella) Anne : He didn't say it back.

(TXT to Anne) Isabella : Men will do that and they always have their reasons. But I largely meant if he said...anything? At all.

(TXT to Isabella) Anne : It was in the middle of everything else. I told him I didn't want to feel lost anymore. And that I loved him, and that maybe it wasn't enough to keep him here but it had to mean something. And he.. told me I wasn't lost, so it wasn't true. And that I was a glutton for punishment.

(TXT to Anne) Isabella : Wait, that it wasn't true that you were lost, or wasn't true that you loved him?

(TXT to Isabella) Anne : That I was lost.

(TXT to Anne) Isabella : I would wonder if he really doesn't know but...Alexander and Yule told me that they got lost with him before when they were children, so it's not as if he doesn't have a concept as to what you could mean.

(TXT to Isabella) Anne : He knows what I meant. I think he was trying to be reassuring regardless.

(TXT to Anne) Isabella : I'm glad he tried, and that he was there. He might not've said the words back but...he stayed with you, yes?

(TXT to Isabella) Anne : He did, he stayed.

(TXT to Anne) Isabella : I'm glad that you weren't alone after all of that, especially after....all you wanted to do was come back to him.

(TXT to Anne) Isabella : And that you told him, and had the chance to.

(TXT to Isabella) Anne : I made a promise to him.

(TXT to Anne) Isabella : To come back?

(TXT to Isabella) Anne : Yeah. To not stop trying to find my way back.

(TXT to Anne) Isabella : Good. I mean, not that I didn't think it was a given. Like I told you before, you're very feisty.

(TXT to Anne) Isabella : In all seriousness, that's important, too. That the two of YOU have each other. I know it's difficult and complicated but most things worth keeping are.

(TXT to Isabella) Anne : I wish he would've said something back.

(TXT to Anne) Isabella : I know, hon.