Seeking Snow White

*Searching...*

*File found.*

*Date: Feb-3-08*

*Author: J. Quincy*

*You wouldn't be able to tell an Object just by looking at one. They can be anything, from a sword to a thumbtack. The problem is getting them. Once you enter the Holder's world, your life is fair game. What they can do to you is more awful than can be described. However, it's important to remember that it doesn't always follow the formula.*

*Some Holders will never give you a chance to win your prize. Some Objects can't be touched. Some Seekers can not exactly be called human. There are exceptions to every rule.*

The more I read about the Seekers, the more I begin to see why the man from before was serious. They are all off in some way. What I at first mistook for simply being unsociable was much more than that. They were obsessive about Seeking, and completely unpredictable. They hardly trusted each other, constantly lied, and were more often traitorous than they were generous.

Yet, this was not nearly as startling as the turnover rate of Seekers on this site. Some of them would be regulars for months, before suddenly vanishing mere days after they supposedly retrieved an Object. If that person was popular, the disappearance would be sometimes discussed; otherwise, they were treated as if they had never existed in the first place. The common disappearance of Seekers here was matched only by the arrival of curious newcomers.

The Seekers risk their life for the Objects. Why do they put themselves through it?

I am driving to meet the Seeker in Central Park. He would only identify himself as Thompson, and that he could help me find the woman known as "Snow White."

I arrive at the park shortly before sunset, stepping out of my car carefully and scanning my surroundings. There isn't anyone I can see from here, except for a few women walking their dogs. The silence here puts me on edge; the man's mannerisms over the phone before had been creepy enough to make me watch my back.

As I make my way down the path into the park, I spot a shadow on a park bench, hunched over. Somehow, I know this is the right person; the chill that runs up my spine reminds me of the phone call.

"Thompson?" I ask, approaching cautiously.

Rather than confirming, he looks up and asks, "Are you Eric?"

I nod. He straightens his posture. "Ask me what I know about Snow White."

I'm caught off guard a little. What a strange thing to say. "W-What do you know about Snow White?"

"I was the one she was following last week," he starts, like a storyteller.

"She followed me to work, to school. She stood outside and stared at me through the window. She tried to get closer to me, and I ran. I didn't know what she wanted. She would follow me everywhere."

I listen, still puzzled. He is very calm--a little too calm--but there is an air of uneasiness about him. Even though he shows no emotion, it feels as if there is dangerous energy just under the surface.

"I asked around, talked to a few other Seekers. I found some others that had been followed by Snow White. One of them, the most recent one, was a guy that gave me the Pendulum. Right after he gave it to me, she stopped following him, and started following me. And the same thing happened with the person who gave him the Pendulum. So, I gave mine away to another Seeker. She stopped following me. Ask me about the Pendulum."

I pause for a moment. The calm way that he says it makes me even more uneasy. "What's the Pendulum?"

"An Object. We couldn't find many stories about it. We don't even know which Holder the first guy got it from."

The Objects again? What does she have to do with them anyway?

"So, why would--"

"Ask me why Snow White would be following the Seekers with the Pendulum."

Thompson is starting to disturb me. I clench my fists a little to let the feeling pass. "Why would the woman be following Seekers with the Pendulum?"

"Who knows."

I feel like I'm ready to punch him, or run away, but neither feeling wins out over the other. I'm having difficulty keeping up, but allow him to continue.

Thompson continues, "I gave it away pretty quickly when I found out she was after it. I didn't tell him about Snow White. We wanna keep it secret so we always have someone to give it away to. Ask me how you can find the Pendulum."

My nerves have had enough. "Would you stop doing that?"

His foot shoots out and cracks against my ankle. With a sharp cry, I tumble to the ground, gripping my ankle, and Thompson steps on my neck. The fierce look on his face makes him look like a wild dog, about to start foaming at the mouth.

"Don't you tell me what to do, you brat."

I struggle with the boot, but my efforts are futile. I'm alone with him here, and no matter how much I try to cry out, I can only rasp faintly.

Suddenly, he lets up his foot, and I buckle over, coughing and clutching at my throat. When I look at him, I see something incredible. How did his face get so stained with tears in such a short amount of time? He sits back down on the bench, and puts his head in his hands. He's crying like he's just lost a family member.

After a few minutes of silence, he raises his head and looks at me with red eyes.

"I can't help you anymore. Look up the Librarian. If anyone knows about the Pendulum more than anyone else, it's him. He knows more about the Objects than most of us."

Still rubbing my throat, the only thing that still keeps me glued to the spot is one lingering question.

"Are they seriously real?"

He looks up at me with a bitter and hateful sneer on his face.

"Tell me about your dreams," he growls at me.

"What do you mean?" I say, taken aback.

"What do you want to do with your life?"

I clench my jaw a little, and for reasons I can't explain, I suddenly get sick to my stomach.

"An actor."

He laughs bitterly. "I wanted to be a farmer. A farmer! But, there's no future for Seekers. As soon as you start Seeking, it consumes you. You're doing it for life. Whatever dreams you had are eaten away. Eaten by the Objects. Until you die."