CW: discussion of child abuse, mentions of blood/violence, implied death/su!c!de, kidnapping
There is so much gutwrenching about Petscop but one of the most gutwrenching things I have sort of uncovered in my most recent rewatch is the fact that Paul's last true interaction with Rainer before Rainer died was the night Paul was taken. And I came to this conclusion by the fact that Tool refers to Paul as "Newmaker" and early in the gameplay, Rainer is referred to as "Rainer, Newmaker". In some parts of gameplay, Paul played Rainer. But where, exactly?
Petscop 11.
Rainer was left with Care one night, maybe Anna had left for some sort of important legal thing, maybe she just needed a break. In any case, she asked Rainer to watch Care, to stay with her. She stuck a paper on the wall. "My husband may come here after 6:00 pm. Please stay overnight if you can. Thank you so so so much."
She knew Marvin had an idea, she knew what he was capable of. She trusted Rainer. Rainer was the oldest cousin, he could watch Care. Her beautiful Carrie. Make sure she was safe. Marvin wouldn't get to her. He had been risking it too much. That's why visitations only happened on weekends now, after all.
And dammit was Rainer going to take care of her. He loved Care, that was his little cousin for goodness' sake! He never liked Marvin anyway. Not after they found out how he used that Tool on Belle. Not after the digging digging digging, the hole filled with Marvin's sins that Rainer had found himself in. No. Rainer would protect Carrie.
It wasn't Rainer's fault the closet locked from the outside. He tried to get out, he really did. He heard Carrie scream, the crash of the air conditioner, the struggle. And Rainer fought with that doorknob, slammed himself against the door, used every ounce of strength in his adrenaline spiked body and the door did not budge.
And when he finally got it open, he was too late. She was gone. Window shattered, stuttering air conditioner smelling like smoke and electricity on the carpeted floor. Droplets of blood staining it. It was just Rainer and the air conditioner and the whistle of wind outside the window.
Anna blamed Rainer. He hadn't done enough and now? Now her baby was gone. Missing. Never coming back. Rainer was supposed to protect her and he failed. Failure.
So when her baby returned, Rainer wasn't allowed to see her anymore. They wouldn't even give him a picture of her. They were all scattered in graves. Maybe he spotted her once, one more time, at a Christmas party as he set down a carefully wrapped PS1 game disk under the tree, a note with vulgar words plastered on the wrapping paper, before slipping into the bathroom one final time.
But she doesn't remember. So when he is in his 20s, all he can say is: "I saw him at a birthday party once. All the older kids were down in the basement playing video games to hide from everyone. He was down there, too. He was older than the rest of them, though."
