Sept. 14th (From the Recorded Reports of Kristine Stenger)
“I am here at the mall where Darius Shackles, a simple security guard at a local retail store, has attempted to murder a 75 year old woman, who I've been unable to get an identity on at this time. I am now going to interview several witnesses to find out what I can about this attack.” Kristine's voice is soft and disarming, but the way she says those words makes it obvious that she is a reporter and her only interest is in the story, not the event.
There is a plethora of background noises consisting of sirens, screams, and the general murmur that can be heard whenever people crowd into a small area. Her footsteps can hardly be heard over the rabble as she makes her way across the lobby. There is also the generic mall music playing in the background giving this melancholy recording a cheerful soundtrack.
“Were you a witness of today's horrible attack?” Kristine asks with an inviting and disarming voice.
“Yeah, I saw that crazy son of a bitch. You some kind of reporter or something?” inquires a man with a coarse southern accent.
“Yes, I’m reporting on this attack and trying to find out what could have caused that man to attack that poor elderly woman.” Kristine replies in an easy explicative tone.
“I can't tell you why someone would do such a thing. I just know he got one of them crazy looks on his face when he done it. Looked like he was more scared than angry at that old bag he tried to kill.” the man's voice is more serious while describing the attack.
“Sounds like you believe he was defending himself. Do you not think he was attacking the woman? That he was in fact defending himself or at least believed he was?” Kristine's voice has an excited edge to it that slowly replaces her formerly subjective undertone.
“Don't know just saw he was scared senseless. He screamed like a poor defenseless animal as they tore him off her. He flailed and screamed, though it did look like he was trying to get away, to flee, not to fight. I got to go home lady are you done yet?” his voice is no longer open and lighthearted. Its obvious he is ready to be done with this interview.
“Oh yes, thank you so ever much, mister?” Kristine says in a somewhat disappointed voice.
“Buck Daniels doll, and what might yours be? I'd like to know who interrogated me,” he says with a slight return of his earlier joviality.
“I'm Kristine Stenger. Thanks again for your time; I won't hold you up any longer.” Kristine nearly cuts herself off as her footsteps lead her to the sound of a two-way radio. “Excuse me officer... Andrews, I'm Kristine Stenger with the Explorative News and I'd like to ask you a few questions concerning today’s attack,” the inviting tone returning to her voice with a hint of disarming femininity.
“What sort of questioning is there? The guy went nuts and attacked the poor old woman, which led to some mall patrons tearing him off her, just before he could bash her brains across the floor. They then called 911 and we came here to detain him, case closed. There is no story here, go home.” The tone of his voice reveals he has no taste for reporters, no matter how alluring they attempt to be.
“Can you answer just a few questions?” there is a short silence and she then proceeds with her questioning. “Can you tell me, will the victim be pressing charges? And where has the attacker been sent?” Her tone is a little more forceful than usual; she is obviously trying a different tactic in getting answers from this man, than from the other.
“We have not received any information about if she will or will not, but it is assumed she will. Concerning the attacker he has been sent to the courthouse to be detained and processed.” He is obviously annoyed by the underlying anger in his bass voice. He immediately walks away after answering the questions footsteps that sounded more akin to a flight than an angry trudge.
“I'm now going to try and find out what's going on with the attacker Darius Shackles at the courthouse.”
There is no further entry on this cassette tape. It appears that the cassettes that come between the 14th and 19th have been lost or destroyed. I will now enter the contents of the next cassette in the timeline.
Sept 18th
“I have done more research into Darius Shackles and found that nearly a month ago his girlfriend filed a missing persons report and then recalled it approximately fifteen hours later. The police said that upon checking Darius out that it was obvious he had had some sort of injections, but was in perfect health. Blood tests revealed no harmful or even noticeable alien chemicals, only that he had been using illegal narcotics. His girlfriend denies these claims and they figured it easier to ignore at the time. Also, Darius had no memory of his abduction and denies it still. The woman he attacked never pressed charges and the police were forced to stop all investigations, by the government. The government team has placed Darius into a special psychiatric hospital. It seems the deeper I search the more questions I get without answer. I'm hoping to find some and am blackmailing one of the attendants of Darius to leave him with a pencil and paper, in attempt to get him to write down the truth in his delirium,” she stops for a moment. “My inside man just got off and is heading towards his car. I'm going to question him about today’s encounter.”
The wind blows against the microphone and causes ear piercing static that barely allows one to hear her heels crack down against the asphalt as she quickly makes her way to the informant’s car.
“What are you doing here? You can't come to my work like this, or our arrangements might have to be cut short,” came the weak voice of a man, presumably Kristine's informant. The weakness in his voice has a hint of apprehension to it.
“I just want to make sure you delivered the paper and pencil. Also, I'd like to know how he was acting today.” she speaks with confidence expecting answers. Somehow she owns this man and her voice shows it.
“I did just as you asked. And he is behaving even worse and is in increasingly bad health it is as if he is starving to death. He has become so detached from reality that he attempted to rape the other nurse today.” he has a hint of disgust in his voice. Most likely resentment since he is being forced to entertain this questioning.
“He tried to rape her, the one that you gave a job so that she would have sex with you? What did he do, what did he say? You must be very detailed I need to know everything.” she seems excited and not in the least bit appalled by Darius' actions.
“Yes, her,” his voice betrays him and it is obvious that this is the subject f her blackmail and why she has utter possession of him. “He was perfectly calm; the meds had just kicked in. We were attempting to question him, but he was being unresponsive. Then suddenly he sprung up wrapping his arms around her waist tightly pulling her into his lips and roughly handling her body,” he stops for a moment probably composing himself. His voice cracks often as though he may cry or burst out in anger at any minute. “She wanted to resist, but beyond pushing him away she was unable to for some reason, probably the shock. I went for another tranquilizer, while he just kept saying, “Stop resisting this is a dream,” he said it over and over; I almost started to believe him. He seemed entirely convinced himself. Eventually I was able to remove him after injecting a second tranquilizer. The poor devil just slumped to the floor and we left him, after I put the pencil and paper in the corner of course. All the while, the nurse remained completely composed that frightened me. Is my account thorough enough?” he sounds more upset than annoyed now. He is scarcely able to keep his voice in check and the anger that is bubbling forth with each word makes one fear he may lash out at any moment.
“Yes, that should be sufficient. Thanks again and don't worry once you've finished your side of the bargain, everything will be forgotten concerning your lack of professionalism.” Kristine sounds excited and yet manipulative as she says those reassuring words, the recorder is shut off.
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