#fto ritchie

“Statement of Lucas Anker regarding his attempted murder at the hands of his ex girlfriend

Statement recorded by Archival Assistant Ritchie Diablos

I want to start off by saying. What I did to Blake was shitty, a dick move, and just. Fucked up.

All the bad things.

She has every right to be angry at me.

But I don’t think I deserved what she did to me. I have to think it was her doing, not just.. random act and not anything more..

Just. More.

That being said i dont know… what she did to me. But…

I met Blake about.. 9 months ago now? 

It's… kinda weird to think about now, but I helped get her bag back after it’d fallen off the dock.

She was lamenting the ruined state of some of the things inside, and I just. Kinda dumbly offered to help her replace some of it. Wasn’t anything expensive, I wanna be clear, it was mostly just some notebooks.

The only expensive thing in there was the only thing that seemed fine from the swim her bag took.

It was this… old looking really fancy book. She sighed in relief when she pulled it out unscathed. Could see the title on it, but i did see sorta.. sticker? I guess it was part of a collection. Couldn’t really read the full thing, but for some reason, the name stuck with me? Leitner

I don’t know wht that book bothered me so much, honestly…

…

Anyway, I offered to help her buy new notebooks, and She agreed, and that was kinda our first date. We didn’t call them dates for a while, until like.. around 4 months ago? Ish.

We were only actually an official couple for …. Probably just over 2 months when i fucked it all up.

We were at a party, and I am shit at holding my liquor.

I’d had more than i should

And nothing excuses the fact that I made out with someone that wasn’t my girlfriend. Right in front of her

Everyone was laughing too. Mostly at her. But also at me for being stupid

But Blake she was… she didn't look hurt exactly, she looked so so embarrassed and angry.

I was still drunk like an idiot, and I think I started telling her it wasn’t a big deal. When she threw the water on me.

Which doesn’t sound weird. And in the instance i was more focused on the fact that she was calling me a fucking asshole piece of shit and i was cold than the details but

She threw a lot of water on me. I noticed the next day that my clothes had been absolutely drenched.

Which was.. odd because what she used to toss it on me was a small shot glass. An empty one

And… well. It smelled like salt water.

I really, really wish that was the last of it all. Something weird I could blame on being drunk and remembering things poorly.

But it wasn’t.

… it happened…. Two weeks ago now. According to everyone I've ever met, that is. I swear it has to be longer..

It was stormy, and I got a text from Blake, saying she wanted to talk.

I dreaded the thought of going outside, but I figured I owed her a talk.

So, I told my roommate I was going out, he called me a fucking moron, I grabbed my coat, and went out to meet her.

She met me on the dock. Same one we first met on. She was sitting, not on the edge, but just.. in the middle of it, criss cross.

… She was reading. It was that book. The.. the one from the Leitner collection. She closed it before I could see anything inside, but I swear, it was still dry.

She stood up when she heard me coming, and … this is dumb, but I noticed the wood where she was sitting was perfectly dry. Like she’d been sitting there since before the storm started.

.. but she didn’t look wet. Well, no she looked like she’d been rained on, but it wasn’t that bad. Not hours in the pouring rain bad.

I .. didnt get much time to contemplate this though. 

I walked up to her, and started apologizing for being a stupid fucking asshole, but she… wasn’t listening 

She grabbed my shirt, and used it to shove me off the dock.

I must have thrashed some, because I managed to break one of the planks during my fall, and it came with me. I think that plank’s the only reason I'm still here, honestly.

… when I hit the water, I got.. really, really disoriented.

I sunk for a while. I just. I couldn’t figure out which way was up…

I did eventually make it to the surface, but my lungs were burning. I’ve always been good at holding my breath, but I.. it felt like I was under longer than my record. Longer than anyone’s record probably.

… when I surfaced, the dock, the shore, even the boats I had spotted..

Everything was gone. All.. just gone

I looked around, trying to find anything I could swim to and be saved, but there was just nothing

It was just me floating in the middle of the ocean, with the rain still pounding down on me, almost painfully honestly .. and the plank

I paddled over to it, and just

Clung on.

I tried to use my phone, to maybe call for help somehow, but, obviously it was completely fried from the water.

And I realized I forgot to put my watch on before I left

So I can't tell you how long I was out there.

I can tell you, it was more than a fucking week.

Everyone is saying it was a week. It. Wasn’t.

I was floating out there, kicking my legs constantly to stay afloat for months. At least.

And.. and there was something under me.

I don't know what. I didn’t have the courage to look.

I could just. Feel it, deep under the surface, moving slowly,

But it was massive 

I don’t think it even noticed I was there. If it did, I was simply too insignificant for it to care.

…..

I passed out a few times, but I always got woken up no more than minutes later to water hitting my face.

Until.. finally. I fully conked out. I was pretty sure I was dying, at the time….

But I woke up. Washed up on the beach, still clinging to the plank.

There were paramedics around me. Apparently some lifeguard had spotted me floating just out at sea at the start of their shift and called them after retrieving me.

They told me i’d been reported missing a week ago, by my roommate.. apparently only a few hours after i’d gone to meet Blake.

After that it was just. Boring medical stuff.

I got treated for dehydration and starvation… and the official report is that i fell in, hit my head somehow, and drifted off to sea.

That’s bullshit, but no one’s gonna believe me,

I asked David, that’s uh. That’s my roommate’s name, to grab the plank for me while i was in the hospital.

He’s pretty sure i’ve gone insane, but I want to keep that thing. It saved my life. I’m sure of it.

….

She texted me yesterday. Just. Sent me an image.

It's of the middle of the ocean.

…. I’m scared.

Statement ends.

This statement is.. well in of itself, its not that weird. Not compared to some other statements we’ve had.

There is the presence of a Leitner to consider, of course. Without a title though, there’s not much we can do to look into it.

What’s odd, is that this statement is the first in a collection. Its labeled [Anker, 1 of 4]