Case #0040107
Statement of Katie Woodsman, regarding… her existence, or supposed lack thereof. Original statement… recovered January 7th, 2004.
How do you know if you’re real?
I am… not sure if I ever was, real, not anymore. I think at one point I was- or, or I believed it. I thought I was real, at one point, but I’ve forgotten everything before this.
I am sitting on an abandoned playground. It is dark. I do not know what time it is.
This body does not feel like my own. I am not sure who I am. Katie. Katie Woodsman. That’s my name. That was my name, at one point. Maybe. I do not know. I cannot be sure. All I know is that there is a notebook here, and I have a pen in my hand, or there is at least a pen in this hand and supposedly I am writing this down. I do not feel like I am doing anything. I am thinking, are these my thoughts? Regardless, these words are appearing here, on this page, and those are real, and yet reading back the words already written I cannot fathom they came from my hand.
I do not have a hand. I don’t think I do. I cannot be sure.
These hands are pale. This body is strange. Too long, almost. Exaggerated. Not right. Faded at the edges. I don’t believe a person is supposed to be so fuzzy around the edges. I don’t believe an identity is supposed to be so fuzzy around the edges. I’m not sure what an identity is, only that I supposedly have one.
Katie. That’s what I wrote earlier. That’s… it should be right. And yet I don’t know if it is, really.
How can you be a person if you don’t exist? How can you have a name?
I think I had a mother. At the very least, I had a mother, there was an older brother, two dogs, then no dogs. I’m not sure what a mother is. I do not think it was very kind to me. Pretended I didn’t exist.
It doesn’t have to pretend anymore, at least. Though I do not think it is alive anymore.
These hands are… these hands belong to Katie Woodsman. I think.
It is very lonely here. Very quiet. I saw someone, earlier, but I do not think they saw me. I’m not sure who “me” even is.
There is snow on the ground. It’s supposed to be cold. I’m sitting in it, and yet I feel nothing. It’s supposed to be cold. Why isn’t it cold?
Who is “I”?
Whatever is writing these words down, I do not think it is helping it to do so.
… Katie. Who is Katie?
FOLLOW-UP NOTES
Katie Woodsman did, in fact, exist, though supposedly went missing around December of 2003. Family members claim she hasn’t been seen since, but was already fairly distant from the family around that time, so it wouldn’t be surprising if she simply cut ties.
Other notes in this case file, however, say that this statement was found in an envelope on the ground, addressed to the Institute but with no return address on it, just outside in the courtyard. I have... no idea what that means, but it’s probably not the strangest way we’ve received a statement.
