Is this Chloe?
Who’s this?
So this is Chloe, right?
Um, yeah, but I don’t know this number. Who is this?
You know me, Chloe.
Is this Brian?
No. Not even close. But it doesn’t matter. I need something from you.
Sure you do. Fuck off creep.
Nothing like that. I just need to ask you a question.
Is this Lindsey? Did you get a new number, or what is this?
Just a simple question. And then I’ll leave you alone for now.
Fine. Ask your stupid question. LINDSEY.
What does your baby taste like?
Chloe Merrick was being housed at the Broadview Psychiatric Hospital for the Criminally Insane when the video transcribed below was made. The other party was Dr. Sylvia Peters, a newer member of the treatment staff that was taking over the case from Dr. Richard Talpin, a senior doctor who had recently left the hospital for a chief of staff position elsewhere. Despite his expertise, Talpin had made little progress during his six months of working with Chloe, and it was hoped that Peters’ fresh perspective and approach might yield better results. The transcript below reflects the final portion of their first and only session together.
You’ve seen these before, haven’t you?
The photographs of your texts? Yes, Chloe, I’ve seen them. I’ve gone through your file thoroughly, and it has lots of details in it. Including those texts you say you received back when you first found out you were pregnant.
No, no. See, that’s just it. I wasn’t pregnant. Or, I guess I was, but I didn’t know it yet. Not for another month.
Mmm-hmm.
And I know you don’t believe me. Any more than Talpin did. And after what…what they found, I don’t blame them. They think I’m crazy. I guess I probably am. But that happened. It fucking happened. Those texts prove that, right?
Chloe, I don’t know how productive going back over this well-trod ground is going to be, but you’ve been cooperative today, so I’m willing to go down this road with you just a bit further. Just a bit though, okay? Okay. Now, to answer your question. I know you showed these texts to police. And to your other doctors. And you say that you received these texts back in October of 2017, almost nine months before you gave birth to your baby and well before the…well, the incident seven months ago.
Yeah, that’s right. And that proves that…
Chloe, all that proves is that you got strange texts. Or that you manufactured these texts yourself to try and provide a strange justification or alibi for what you’ve done. I know, I know what you’re going to say. How could you have made up those texts? To which I say, people can do all kinds of things on computers these days. I’m not accusing you of anything, of course, but I always want to have an honest relationship with you, and I think it can be fruitfuI to explore such possibilities.
So what, I made up texts somehow, took pictures of it, and then waited to have a baby and…fuck, that’s so stupid and horrible. It makes no sense.
Maybe, or you could have made it in the days leading up to the incident. The dates could be faked just as easily as the rest, right? Perhaps you don’t remember doing it, just like you don’t remember…well, the other.
You stupid bitch. Listen to…
No. Chloe, I’m sorry but no. I won’t tolerate abusive language. We’re going to treat each other with respect or this session is done and you can go back to C Wing. Is that what you want?
No. No, I’m sorry. I just. I didn’t fake this. Any of this. And…and I didn’t hurt my baby.
Then tell me what happened. Did you ever find out who sent those texts?
No. You know I didn’t. And I was creeped out a little, but I figured it was just a weird prank. Some kid who knew me and used a burner or something. Then I found out I was pregnant, and sure, I thought about it again, but it seemed so silly, and I was having to navigate things with Jackson…um, the father, which was already a complicated relationship before there was a baby in the mix. But we worked it out, got engaged, and everything was going well. We had the baby, he was a sweet…a sweet and healthy…little boy…
Chloe, I know this is hard. Believe me, I wish it wasn’t. But if we’re going to do any real work in here, we have to be able to talk about the rough stuff, okay? Now take your time, and then please go on.
Yeah…okay…um, so everything was fine. And then one day…I woke up with people shouting at me. Police and one of the neighbors. My hands and face were sticky and covered in dirt, and I was in the back yard. They kept asking what I’d done with Paulie, with my baby. Where was he, what had I done with him? I told them I didn’t know. It was the truth. At the time, I didn’t.
At the time? So later you remembered?
Not exactly, but…look, when I was little, I used to play in our garden. And I have these memories of…well, it was like music, except it wasn’t, because it was talking to me. Only to me, okay? And people thought I just had an imaginary friend.
Ah, I see. And you think this friend wasn’t imaginary? Some kind of ghost or demon or some such?
God. I know what this sounds like. A twenty-five year old trying to talk herself out of a murder or…Look, I’m not stupid. I know that age-wise and genetically I’m in the spectrum for schizophrenia. Believe me, all I have to do in here is read and fucking hate myself. I know what Talpin thought was wrong, and I’m sure you’re just the same.
Don’t be so quick to judge, Chloe. I can assure you that I’m very different from Talpin. My question was an earnest one. I wasn’t trying to mock you or imply anything. Did you think that something supernatural was going on when you were a child?
I…back then, I don’t know. Everything is kind of magic when you’re little, right? I just had this special friend for awhile. A fairy prince or whatever that was going to carry me away to his magical land. But of course that never happened. And as I got older, I talked to it less and it answered less. At first I thought it was sleeping, then I thought it had gone away, and then I just forgot about it. I mean, it was just stupid kid stuff.
But when I was in that hospital bed, wrists strapped to the rails and a deputy staring at me with that disgusted fucking look from the corner of the room, like I could have done something like that…I just wanted to die. And I was so desperate to give them answers…wanted to help…hoped they’d still find Paulie and he’d somehow be okay…that’s when it came back to me.
What came back to you?
That I was in the back yard with Paulie. I was showing him a caterpillar I’d found on one of the bushes out there. He was always such a happy baby, and he was laughing and…then there was music. That talking music saying something so loud and fast and then…then they found me like that.
Covered in your baby’s blood.
Fuck you. Yes, okay. Yes. But I swear to God I didn’t hurt him. I could never. I…I’m ready to go now. I don’t want to talk about this any more.
We’re almost done, Chloe. Just a few more…
No. I’m done now. I want to go.
Chloe, I think we’re very close to a breakthrough here. I want to try something. I call it trust whispering. We take turns whispering things to each other. Things that are secret or that we are ashamed to admit or that we’ve just never shared with anyone. And it’ll be both of us sharing, so it won’t feel so one-sided. How does that sound?
Like shit. I want to go now.
I’ll go first. And what I’m going to tell you…well, it’s something I know about all this. Something I think you’ll be very interested to find out. Something that will change everything for you. But…
What? What is it? What did you find out?
…but, just like everything between us, you have to agree to it. I’ve never lied to you. Never forced you. So? What do you say?
Fine, fine. Just tell me. What did you find out about Paulie?
No, no. I just told you the rules. We’re going to whisper. So I’ll just come over here and whisper it to you, just…like…this.
It’s at this point in the video that several things happen in short order. Dr. Peters, having stood and then crouched down near where Chloe is seated, leans close as though to whisper to her. Immediately, the sound breaks up into a high-pitched static whine that is first taken as a malfunction, though processing of the audio has since shown it to be something else entirely. This lasts for several seconds, an expression of awakening terror spreading across Chloe’s features. At first she appears frozen, but then, as she recoils in horror from Dr. Peters, the other woman grips her shoulders and starts savagely biting her. Blood sprays across the floor and walls, and the video ends due to what is being classified as a camera failure.
The interview was not being independently monitored at the time, so it was nearly an hour before anyone went to check on the doctor and her patient. Neither were found, with only the sprays of blood and the recording itself as evidence of what occurred. The only new evidence has come from the completed audio restoration of what was said during the “feedback” right before the attack on Chloe. The “clean” version is still far from pristine—there appear to be at least three different melodical sounds being played simultaneously with the isolated voice. And while the voice itself matches Dr. Peters according to several utilized pattern recognition metrics, it is also inexplicably different along several others. Regardless of these irregularities, the words themselves have been identified and are reproduced without further commentary below.
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