MAG 78: Distant Cousin

Statement of Lawrence Moore, regarding something that was not his cousin.
==Statement==
Lawrence Moore used to have a cousin named Carl who lived in Peterborough. Lawrence and his parents would go over to see Carl and his family, but they would rarely return visits to the Moore household. As they grew up they grew apart and did not keep in touch even when they accidentally met in Covent Garden in London.
When Lawrence went to his brother's wedding, he met a man who was not Carl. Everyone else said this man was Carl, including his humourless father. Lawrence left and drove back to London, wondering if he was having some sort of episode after his recent divorce.
Later, he went into his attic and found countless pictures of this NotCarl that matched the man he saw at the wedding. The only exception were two Polaroid photos which showed the original Carl.
There was a knock at his door. NotCarl stood on his doorstep and said that he was sad to see Lawrence leave so abruptly. The two of them sat, NotCarl almost too still with a mad glint in his eye. Lawrence tried to focus on him, but had difficulty, at one time seeing his neck longer than normal. They sat in silence for a long time before NotCarl stood up, saying they should do this again soon, and left. Lawrence wept.
Later that evening, there was another knock on the door. He found a black, grey haired man with a crisp white shirt and a thin necktie. He was thin and short and had an imposing presence. The man asked if Lawrence knew the person who came to his house, and when Lawrence said no, the man became very excited. 
He asked Lawrence to get any photos that had not changed, and he brought them down from the loft. By this time the man was sitting in the place where NotCarl had been sitting, and introduced himself as Adelard Dekker, saying he was an exorcist of sorts. Adelard fished out the photos that had not changed and asked Lawrence to follow him. He did, and they brought a large wooden box into Lawrence's house. When it was inside, Lawrence tried to look inside the box, but Adelard slammed it closed and said it was not for him. The grey haired man told Lawrence to go to his room and stay there. He said that his cousin was dead, and that he should stay out of the rest of the house lest he suffer the same fate.
Lawrence slept fitfully and stayed in his room until the afternoon of the next day. There was a knock at the door at the same time as NotCarl had come the day before, and the air grew close and heavy. After a tense hour, there was an intense, rage-filled scream. Lawrence bolted out of the bedroom towards the front door, glancing into the living room as he fled. In it he saw Adelard mouthing wordlessly in front of a table with an intricate pattern on it. NotCarl stood, limbs stretched and distorted, with spider webs attaching the creature to the table. Lawrence fled.
When he returned home the next day, he found a Breekon & Hope van outside and watched the two burly men take the table away. Carl was reported missing by his parents but was never found.
== Post-Statement ==
John found this tape in the case marked #9910602, where Gertrude's previous tape indicated Adelard's file would be. He deduces that Not-Sasha must be tied to the table. He found the missing tapes with Sasha's voice on them and plays them.
John tells Tim and Martin that they should take the next few days off as he is feeling ill. He starts to make his subtle goodbyes. Martin is concerned, but Tim forces Martin to make a swift exit and is flippant towards John.
Later, John goes to artefact storage with an axe he has bought. He destroys the table to find that it is hollow and full of cobwebs and dust. Michael appears with a laugh, telling John that what he did was very stupid, and that he won't be able to escape the NotThem. It explains that the table was binding Not-Sasha effectively, and that John will probably not survive her attack despite the protections around him. Not-Sasha calls after John in a strange, distorted voice as Michael provides him with a door out.
== Continuity ==
*Michael first warned John about Not-Sasha in MAG 47.
*The tapes that John located were of MAG 24, MAG 26, and MAG 39.
* Related Entity: The Stranger, The Web, and The Spiral.
Category:The Magnus Archives Episodes