MAG 113: Breathing Room

Statement of Adelard Dekker, regarding the near-death and subsequent activities of Justin Gough.
== Pre-Statement ==
John, Martin, and Melanie investigate Gertrude's storage unit, which is packed with unmarked cardboard boxes. They find the remnants of gorilla skin she destroyed, a notebook full of nonspecific names and dates, and a large amount of plastic explosives. Then Melanie notices the sound of the tape recorder, and she and Martin shout at John for bringing it along.
== Statement ==
Adelard Dekker has delivered the plastic explosives on Gertrude's behalf, to evade some sort of surveillance. He warns her of something "that might come to nothing," and delivers it in the form of a statement.
Dekker was alerted to a series of suspicious deaths while researching what he calls "a new emergence." The victims apparently died in their sleep of carbon monoxide poisoning, but there was no carbon monoxide found in their homes. In addition, each victim was found with badly damaged vocal cords and blood in their throat. All three scenes had shown evidence of a second person in the home.
Dekker investigated the matter and concluded that the perpetrator was Justin Gough, an avatar of The End. Gough had given himself severe carbon monoxide poisoning on a camping trip, and was clinically dead for 52 seconds while being treated in hospital. When Justin regained consciousness, he was deeply distressed and spoke of awful visions and some sort of terrible debt he now had to pay. After being discharged, Justin quit his job and became a recluse, as far as anyone could determine.
Dekker staked out Justin's flat and caught him leaving under cover of night. Justin had cherry-red blood dripping from his nose and did not appear to be breathing. He walked, and Dekker followed him, to a house in Hackney Wick, where Justin walked inside and directly into the bedroom. Dekker found Justin sitting in a corner, apparently asleep, while the man sleeping in the bed began to gasp as if being smothered.
Dekker concluded that dreams were similar enough to a near-death experience that Justin was using them to attack his victims. He also felt sure that Justin was too far gone to easily kill. Instead, he used a metal skewer from the kitchen to lobotomize Justin, which he hoped would render him unable to dream. When the police eventually came to take Justin away, Justin was not even able to speak.
== Post-Statement ==
John explains he found the note tucked into the case of explosives, and wonders if Gertrude ever even read it. He also finds it oddly refreshing to once again be completely baffled by a statement.
Basira found records of Justin Gough in a care home until 2015, but no sign of him after that date. Several staff of the care home died of carbon monoxide poisoning around the time Justin disappeared.
==Continuity==
*Related Entity: The End
* In MAG 134: Time of Revelation the "new emergence" that Dekker is investigating is revealed to be a fifteenth Entity, The Extinction.
Category:The Magnus Archives Episodes