MAG 59: Recluse

Statement of Ronald Sinclair regarding his years spent in a teenage half way house on Hill Top Road, Oxford. 
==Statement==
Ronald Sinclair's mother was an alcoholic and he was sent to the halfway house at Hill Top Road, Oxford after his 15th birthday. At his time at Raymond Fielding's home, he constantly felt as though his actions were not entirely his own. No one ever returned to Hill Top Road after they left, which was odd, and there were never any drugs in the house.
They would have meals together every day and attended church. On Sunday evenings, Ray would gather all the children for dinner and take off the table cloth, revealing a hypnotic pattern of lines crossing the table, leading to a small square box in the middle, also covered in the same hypnotic patterns. On those nights, Ronald could never remember afterwards what they did or ate.
Ray was around 30, with long brown hair and seemed friendly, but was a recluse. As they turned 18, the other residents of Hill Top Road would be taken away by a suited government official.
Agnes' arrival was unusual, as Ray did not introduce her as he did the others. She never came to church and was never at the table when it was uncovered, and Ray looked at her in fear.
When Ronald turned 18 it was his time to leave. The day he left, Agnes kissed him on the cheek. He went outside and waited for the government official to bring his car, but found himself going back into the house against his own will. He went down into Ray's basement which contained his study. 
The study was covered in spider webs, coating the walls and light bulbs. The room was large and mostly empty, with bare earth walls and ceiling, and the hypnotic table in the middle of the cavernous room. Around the edges of the chambers were the bodies of previous occupants who were supposed to have left the house: Doris Hardy, Dick Barrowdale, and Greg Montgomery who all had warped bodies as if engorged with spider's eggs.
Ray sat in a chair in the study, his jacket shifting with things unseen and seeming like brown fur. Ronald was compelled to pick up the small square in the middle of the table, which turned out to be a box with a small green apple, fresh with morning dew. He felt compelled to bite into the apple, although he desperately didn't want to. As he moved the apple to his mouth, he felt a searing pain in his cheek, snapping him out of his dazed state. Raymond looked angry and confused as Ronald fled the building, getting on the first train out of Oxford.
Since discovering the house burnt to the ground he has been able to sleep again, although he has started to have unsettling dreams once more when he discovered that another house is being built where the old Fielding place used to be.
== Post-Statement ==
Martin mentioned that a great amount of the records of halfway houses at this time are missing, so it's hard to pin any details down. John remarks that this statement raises further questions about the relationship between Raymond Fielding and Agnes. Between Ronald Sinclair, Ivo Lensik, and Father Burroughs he feels that there is more to learn about Hill Top Road.
== Supplemental ==
His colleagues are trying to keep away from John. He feels like they are planning something.
== Continuity ==
*The box holding the small green apple matches the description of the one found under the uprooted tree in MAG 8.
* Related Entity: The Web and The Desolation
** Hill Top Road is a stronghold for The Web
** Agnes Montague is the messiah of The Desolation 
** The table mentioned is an artefact of The Web and is later used to contain the NotThem 
Category:The Magnus Archives Episodes