"Not Really Camping"

I realized this morning, before listening to the tape, that I never really explained why R----- chose the username PerpetualFriday for me. I don't imagine it's really that important, but I guess it's best to explain everything. When we were kids, we used to play pokemon together. I can't really remember why, but for some reason, I always named my character Friday, and named all of my pokemon, the ones that were the main part of my team, after the other six days of the week. R----- would do the same, but with months. He always called his character August.

I think, from here on out, when I'm transcribing, I'm going to try and use those as aliases. Months and days of the week. He's asked me not to give names, and it will be easier to just use a naming pattern like that.

As for the tape, well...

I've found it, and I've listened to it It's not comforting, to say the least. The Journal says that the tape took place when August went camping with April a few months before he disappeared. April was August's girlfriend. It was the night that she died.

The worst part was, August didn't even want to go camping, not the way April wanted to at least. April's uncle had a cabin, and August and April were going to go camping up at it for a weekend a couple summers back. August wasn't going to tell April straight, but he confided in me that he didn't consider staying in a cabin camping. He wanted to 'rough it,' as he put it. He preferred tents and sleeping bags. He called that real camping, but in the end he went ahead with what April wanted.

They weren't even there a day before she had been killed.

Officially, she was attacked and eaten by a wolf. Listening to the tape, I'm not so sure anymore.

This is, to the best of my abilities, what was on the tape.

August: There, a new tape is in and recording, ready to go.

April: I really wish you hadn't brought that thing along. It was supposed to just be me and you this weekend.

August : April, you know I never go anywhere without recording.

April: I know, I know. It's just...

August : Listen, it won't be recording all the time.

[There's some giggling. Something squeaks. I think it might be bedsprings.]

August : Here, I'll just turn it off and...

[There's a crashing sound, but it's distant.]

April: What was that?

August : I don't know. It sounded like it came from outside. Did you bring the can in?

April: Shit, no, I forgot. Sorry, I'll go...

August : Don't worry about it. Whatever's out there has already gotten into it. It'll be a pain in the ass to clean it up this late at night anyways. Let's just...

[There's another crash.]

August : Great. April, do me a favor and see what the hell that is.

[There's more squeaking noises.]

April: It's dark out there. It... it looks like a goat.

August : A goat?

April: Yeah. Hold on, I'm going to go turn on the porch light and get a better look.

August (mumbling): If this were real camping, we'd have a fire going, and it would keep this shit away. But no, April just had to take us to her uncle's cabin. Now there's fucking goats in the fucking...

[There's a very loud scream.]

August: April!? April!

[There's stomping noises, almost like someone's running.]

August: April! Are you all right, what happened?

April: Jesus Christ, August. It was a man. It was a fucking man and he was rooting through the garbage. He was naked, and covered in blood, and he was wearing some sort of fucking goat head. Jesus.

August: Shh, shhh. It's alright. We'll call the cops, we'll let them know he out there. We'll leave tonight...

April: It's late, August-. I don't want to be on the road this late at night.

August: Fine. We'll leave first thing in the morning. Now come on. Give me a hug and let's go back to bed.

[There's a bit of a rustling sound.]

April: Is that... Jesus H Fucking Christ August, I scream and you bring your goddamned recorder with you? There's some bloody, naked man out in the woods, miles from civilization, and all you can think is to grab is your fucking recorder?

August: I'm sorry, I...

April: No. Fuck You. I'm going to the bedroom, you stay the fuck here.

August: But...

April: Fuck you.

[There's some stomping here. I think it's April storming away. It's quiet for sometime after that. Occasionally there's a deep sigh, presumably from August. After a while the tape just ends.]

I'm... really not sure what to say. August never really talked about that night, but what he did tell me... He never mentioned the man April saw. He never mentioned it to anybody.

When I heard that April had been killed, I had asked him how. He didn't tell me the first time, so I had to go to another friend of mine whose father was a police officer. He told me that August had told them a wolf had eaten her.

I asked August to talk to me about it another time, and he told me it was a bear attack. When I told him I thought it had been a wolf, he corrected himself and told me I was right, that it was a wolf. At the time, I just passed it off. August had just been through a traumatic experience, and he had never really had the best of a life, so I figured he was just stressed and confused. Listening to this tape, I'm thinking he was covering something up. The man April saw, was he the one that actually killed her? The letter from Testament mentioned something called the Phobic and the Carnal. Does this man have something to do with them? Is he them? Are they some sort of cult, or serial killers? August, if this man killed April, why not just tell the police? They could have done something about it. They could have searched for him, maybe caught him, stopped him from hurting more people. I just...

I don't understand what's happening with you.

There's still more tapes to go through. The next one is listed as Last Will and Testament. It's also marked with a red sticky. The writing is darker, like August really ground the pencil to write it. There's also several dark scratches around it. I'll find it and listen to it. Maybe it will clear things up.