Psychology student Brian who tries desperately to figure out what’s going on, and that’s his downfall.
He meets Tim in college and it doesn’t take him long to figure out that something is up with the guy. He’s not a psychology student for nothing—he can tell something is different about him. But his symptoms never quite line up with anything he can find in his textbooks. That, and Tim doesn’t like talking about it, so Brian doesn’t push.
But then it starts happening to him too. At first he thinks it’s some sort of slump or passing cold, but it just keeps getting worse. Before long he’s skipping out on recording sessions for Marble Hornets and hangouts with Tim. He swears up and down he sees some creature out of the corner of his eye but that sounds like hallucinations.
And Brian never had hallucinations.
It’s as horrifying as it is interesting, to watch himself slip away. He loses sleep, he looses memory, even his patience starts to go. But the creature is there. The tall thing that lurks in the trees is always there.
He doesn’t go back to college in the autumn. He’s too busy reading every bit of information he can find on his condition as he pretends not to feel the hole growing in his chest. It hollows him out little by little, and soon enough his research becomes less clinical and more paranormal. He reads histories of people being haunted by things, chased by things that are just out of reach. It sounds like Tim, in a way. Brian still misses him sometimes.
But the Ark makes him forget.
At least that’s what he calls it. That empty space just outside of reality he happened to stumble into entirely by mistake one day. There’s answers in there, so he keeps going back. But it always goes wrong. The Operator always comes. It’s mocking him, he can tell. “Not yet. Not your turn yet.”
It’s frustrating.
One day he finds something peculiar. A little YouTube channel that just so happens to share a name with the student film project Brian had been apart of back when he used to be a whole person. Perhaps it was nostalgia, perhaps it was some sort of longing for connection he misplaced a long time ago, but he can’t help but click on it.
And it’s not about Marble Hornets at all.
It’s about how everything went wrong. It’s about how off things were. It’s about Alex.
And interestingly, Alex’s sudden switch up in behavior is eerily similar to what Brian had been experiencing alone for those past few years. But most importantly, it makes him remember.
Remember the day in the hospital, when Alex left Brian for dead. That night when he found Tim there, trembling and out of it, hiding away in some corner with only a ratty blanket to stop him from shivering. Alex knew the Operator was there. And he sent Brian there anyway. He probably sent Tim there too.
Obsession ensues.
He follows the channel like gospel, every tweet Jay makes, every upload, every development. But it’s not enough. It won’t be enough until he gets answers. Until he gets justice on Alex for ruining Brian’s life. For introducing him to this hell. He can’t even stand to look at his own face anymore.
But Jay is running in circles. He’s not helping Hoodie get any further in his goals. So he starts getting involved directly.
He watches Jay. He makes his own YouTube channel and starts pointing Jay in the right directions. He knows more about this after all, it’s the least he can do.
Eventually he manages to rope Tim into it too. He was there that day in the hospital, he deserves justice just as much as Brian does. And perhaps Hoodie still misses his company. Just a bit.
Until Hoodie finds the medical records. Then it’s Tim’s fault.
Why didn’t he ever say anything? Why did he keep this secret for so long? Was he ever going to open up?
It must be Tim’s fault too.
Tim knew this whole time and he never told Brian. As he began to deteriorate, Tim probably knew what was going on but still chose to let Brian drown in the static.
They stopped working together after that.
But he wouldn’t abandon Jay. And as much as he wanted to hate Tim, he couldn’t. He still needed him to get the job done.
He doesn’t know who he is anymore.
He knows enough now to make it happen.