Jennifer Cook

Jennifer Cook was Evelyn's former best friend and a resident of Pinehaven. During the events of "Accounts from a Lonely Broadcast Station", Jennifer wandered into the forest during a sleepwalking incident and was later found dead, stuffed into a tree with broken bones and several fingers removed. It is unknown what anomaly caused her death.

## Description

Jennifer is described as being blonde, pretty, and taller than Evelyn. On New Year's Eve of 2022, Evelyn recalls Jenny wearing braces into her young adulthood.

She was outgoing, charismatic, adventurous, and enjoyed social events and parties. She was well-loved in the community and generally regarded as being a friendly girl.

## Living with Evelyn

During and after college, Jennifer lives with her best friend Evelyn, first in a dorm and then later in an apartment where Jennifer is the primary renter.

After the graduation party, in which Evelyn is traumatized by the image of her father's face on the body of a mountain lion, Evelyn adopts a heavy alcohol addiction. Jennifer is upset by this and tries on many occasions to help her, to no avail. Finally, after Evelyn nearly dies and is revived after drowning in a bathtub, Jennifer and her boyfriend Elijah tell Evelyn that she should leave if she isn't going to get her alcoholism under control. When Evelyn doesn't improve, Jennifer kicks her out.

## Sleepwalking and Death

One day, while Evelyn is working at the broadcast station, she receives a call from a somewhat familiar voice. It ends up being Jennifer.

Jennifer tells her that she's been taking a new sleeping pill, but it isn't working. She's been haunted by birds with human eyes that appear outside of her windows, including windows that didn't even exist. She hangs up the phone in a panic, apologizing for wasting Evelyn's time. Later, Evelyn is able to trace this phone number and realizes it was Jennifer all along.

That night, Jennifer is officially listed as missing by the Pinehaven police department. After several days of searching, she is found by Evelyn and Daniel in the woods, dead. Her body had been stuffed into a tree, her bones broken, several of her fingers missing, her mouth stuffed with twigs and dry leaves, and her cell phone held in one outstretched hand with Evelyn's text messages on the screen.

In later chapters, Jennifer returns from the woods as a shambling corpse that tries to chase after Daniel. He describes her as "putting weight on any broken part that would support her", and says that her limbs are at impossible angles. When Daniel escapes back into the tower and the fog dissipates, he notices a pile of dead leaves and twigs on the fire escape and leading down the steps, as if Jennifer had been watching him that whole time.

Later, she appears again during the events of "We're Always on the Air at 104.6FM". Her boyfriend, Elijah, sees her coming up the fire escape and recognizes her. However, she is then grabbed by The Amalgamate and assimilated into its body, disappearing forever. It is unknown which parts of Jennifer the Amalgamate chose to take for its own.

Although Jenny does not reappear physically, she makes occasional appearances as a hallucination of Evelyn's, signifying that she is still unable to fully let her go.

## Relationships

### Evelyn McKinnon

Evelyn was Jennifer's best friend before their dramatic break-up shortly before Evelyn began working at the 104.6 FM Emergency Broadcast Station. They had an extremely close friendship, living together and sharing photo albums online of their road trips, adventures, and social events they frequented together. Their friendship came to an end after college graduation, when Evelyn's alcohol addiction soured their relationship and eventually lead to a domestic altercation that involved the police being called to their apartment.

The exact nature of their relationship is never detailed explicitly or clearly, though Evelyn has hinted on several occasions that she had romantic feelings for Jennifer, going so far as to resent Elijah for being the one she 'chose' instead of her. On New Year's Eve prior to the events of "Accounts from a Lonely Broadcast Station", Jennifer initiated a midnight kiss with Evelyn, which the latter states "was never mentioned again".

### Elijah

Elijah was Jennifer's boyfriend at the time of her death. Although we do not see any aspect of their relationship during Jennifer's life, he is presented as a very heartbroken and haunted individual after she goes missing. Going so far as to stalk Evelyn and demand answers at gun-point, it's clear that losing Jennifer to the forest was a dramatic hit to his emotional health.

Elijah moved in with Jennifer and Evelyn after the two began dating, and remained at the apartment after Evelyn was kicked out.

1. ↑ In "Accounts from a Lonely Broadcast Station", Evelyn receives a call while on-air that replays one of the last conversations she had with Jenny, where the latter is trying to convince her to stop drinking.
2. ↑ In "Dead Air", Evelyn finally admits she was rejected by Jennifer in favor of Elijah.