Emily, Friday 28.01.11

I tired to warn you. I tried to tell you not to come looking for me. I tried to do it in a manner that would tip you off without tipping off those that were watching me. But it's clear that you've forgotten.
"Welcome to the circle" - don't you remember the first time that was said to us? Don't you remember Harrison's father saying it and explaining what it meant?


And what about the two other messages I left for you on the remaining conservatory windows? Did they fly over your head too?


I've read the entries that you posted. ArthurMan's cryptic clues WERE about my briefcase. His clue "take a step back" still baffles me but I, like you, tried every combination starting with 193. 1939 opened the briefcase and do you know what I found inside? Photocopies. Photocopies of the notepads - both of them.


So you see, they put them back. They put them back, not because they didn't want us to know that they'd read them but because they are ours. They are many things, our pursuers, but thieves they are not.


Clever though your stunt was, the way in which you found David's house, it has put me in danger once more. I was hiding there and the scowl that you received from David's alcoholic mother was, no doubt, the same scowl that she has been giving the others that have come looking for me.


And now you're wondering why I didn't tell you that. Why I didn't e-mail you and politely ask you to leave that piece of information out of your catalogue of messages. I didn't do that because it would have been pointless. ArthurMan and the others don't need you to upload our conversations for the world to see, they already know more than you think they do. They have almost certainly hacked into my e-mail account. How else would they have known that I have been contacted by Dicky?


I assume that Dicky hasn't contacted you. If he had, I'm sure you would have uploaded his messages. And why not? Dicky says he has changed the passwords to his e-mail account nine times since he and I became reconnected and, as he puts it, The Nightmare People have still been able to read his every word. It could be that they've been watching over his shoulder as he's been typing, that wouldn't surprise me in the slightest.


I'm not angry at you, just disappointed and worried. Disappointed that you didn't understand my secret message and worried that our pursuers will follow you back to your home and make your life a living hell, just as they have done to Dicky and I. Considering what I have become and what Dicky has done, we deserve to be hounded. You, however, are innocent.


Please don't stop uploading the messages. We need to have this catalogued, somewhere where it can't be ignored. Dicky has been reading them and I am sure he will be contacting you soon. We only left you out of the loop because we didn't want them to find you. But it's too late now. Your curiosity got the better of you.

Reply, Friday 28.01.11

My curiosity got the better of me? That wasn't the case at all. I was worried about you, Emily. That's what drove me to come back to our quiet little town, despite the fact that I swore to myself that I never would. I confess that my promise to come and visit you in the new year was a lie. I had no intention of coming to see you. Until, that is, I realised that you were in grave danger.


"We hang together or we hang separately" - that's what Harrison used to say. I may have forgotten what "welcome to the circle" means but I haven't forgotten the promise that we made to each other. We're in this together, until the end.


And as for your touching sentiments about the people following us not being thieves, need I remind you that they stole my iPod and all of the mirrors in your house?


I'm reading though the notebooks now. I'm going to transcribe them and upload them. I know you have a copy already but does Dicky? And what about Harrison?


I'm hurt that you felt the need to exclude me from all of this. I would do anything for the three of you, you know that.


And as for what you've become, who's fault is that? Certainly not yours.