MAG 93: Contaminant

Statement of Lester Chang regarding the cleaning habits of his father-in-law.
==Pre-Statement==
As Jonathan starts to record his statement, Georgie's cat, the Admiral, leaps onto his lap. He spends a few moments cuddling with the Admiral before resuming the statement.
== Statement ==
Lester Chang's wife was Dani Russell. Her father, Greg Russell, was fastidious but was balanced out by his wife, Sandra, who liked a little mess, thinking it homely.
Without warning, Sandra and Dani both died from a rare genetic disease a year before the statement was recorded.
Lester decided to try and keep contact with Greg so they could both support each other. However, Greg became more distant and more obsessed with cleaning. Eventually, Lester sat Greg down and told him that he should seek help, as the constant cleaning was not a good way to deal with his wife and daughter's passing. Drinking three sealed miniature gin bottles, he told Lester "There is mould in my drain."
Lester left and tried to forget Greg's problem, but he was not able to. He ended up booking a hotel in Newcastle and started to check in on his father-in-law every day. The cleaning did not let up, and Lester found that he was starting to clean his hands several times.
Eventually Greg allowed him to use his bathroom. It was immaculate, with areas almost worn away. As he went to leave, Lester saw a small ring of purple, spongy mould around the drain of the bath and Lester imagined tendrils coming from the damp-smelling mould. Lester left after Greg appeared with wire wool yelling about privacy. Lester started to check for the mould everywhere, even letting his burger meal go cold until flies started to eat it.
Lester returned to Greg's house. He found him sitting on the sofa, covered head to foot in several layers of clothing. The bathroom door had been sealed with wood and sealant, although the mould had permeated through the sealant. Lester looked into Greg's face and saw the purple mould around the corners of his mouth and eyes and purple veins in his eyes. Lester fled.
A few days later he returned but the smell hit him again and he could not go in. He saw the Breekon & Hope van sitting outside his house, with the two movers removing his items from the house, and remarked that they had a depot nearby. He returned a few days later but there was no one or anything at the house.
== Post-Statement ==
John is moving out of Georgie's house as he does not want to put her in any more danger.
He wonders why Elias gave him this statement, but decides to head to the Breekon & Hope depot in Newcastle. He suspects that the two Russians are linked to The Stranger, but seem to be delivering items from other Entities as well as from The Circus.
Georgie comes in, angry at John because he is recording again. She demands to know where he has been and what happened to him, saying she has taken his tapes for possible evidence and will not return them to him. Defeated, John starts to explain everything that happened to him since he joined the Magnus Institute. He explains that he was a researcher, but when Gertrude went missing Elias made him the new Archivist, although Georgie asks why he was chosen without any qualifications.
He explains that monsters are real and Georgie does not seem fazed, saying that she has seen them. He confesses that he worries that he is turning into one as he gets absorbed into the statements he compulsively records. He also explains and demonstrates his ability to Compel people. He explains about the Entities, their monsters and their avatars as well as that the Institute and Elias belongs to one of the Entities and that he is bound to it too.
He explains that his hand was damaged in an interaction with an avatar of The Desolation and that agents of The Stranger are trying to start a ritual to remake reality but he needs to get more information on them.
He explains that he has several leads, including Gregor or Nikola Orsinov and various aspects of The Stranger.
Georgie believes him and asks if one is related to death. When John confirms there is, Georgie pauses before suggesting she makes a cup of tea.
==Continuity==
*Related Entity: The Corruption, with possible influence from The Spiral.
Category:The Magnus Archives Episodes