The Talented Mr. Harris

I received an e-mail asking to see my copy of The Babbling Brook, so I thought I would share it publicly on here for all my readers to witness it in all its small town glory (and unfortunate formatting).

I would photocopy the whole issue and post it here, but I can't imagine that going over well with Mr. Drew Harris. Anyway, it isn't impressive enough to share, however I'll say it's a bold and concerning move to not credit reporters and article writers. Not one person was credited in the whole newspaper (I use the term "newspaper" loosely, since The Babbling Brook really resembles a glorified bulletin). There is only "written by The Babbling Brook Staff" printed on the first page. Nettlebrook is dizzy for uniformity. I never could stand that. I don't know what possessed me to stay here all those years. I suppose I was lucky I got out at all...

As for an update since my correspondence with the Brook's new editor-in-chief, well, I took Mr. Harris up on his offer to meet. I ankled over to the more cushy side of town and finally revisited The Babbling Brook Printing Press. There, I asked to speak to Mr. Harris. When he came out, he struck me as more of a newsie than an editor-in-chief. Carmen had mentioned he was young, but I had not expected him to be freshly graduated from college. Silly me. This is Nettlebrook. When you're a member of a founding family, you take up the mantel as soon as the spot opens up, and you stay there til you bite the dust. 

It was a brief meeting. He said he's a "busy man" and I held back a scoff. We sat in his office, he behind his large oaken desk and I in a stiff wooden chair too small for any adult. 

He was unnervingly happy to see me, grinning with an eerie nothing in his clear blue eyes. I could tell he was savoring this. I, the thorn in Nettlebrook's side for a decade, seemingly submitting before him, the eager-to-please tycoon-to-be. I almost feel bad for him. I thanked him for the kind announcement in the Brook.

"It was our pleasure. You weren't easy to track down, Hunter, but we heard whispers of your return for weeks and wanted to find out for ourselves. To properly welcome you." Mr. Harris's delivery was hardly convincing. I smiled wryly back at him.

He continued: "You know, I was thinking, the Brook is expanding into the realm of the Internet and I was wondering if you would be featured in our first Citizen Spotlight video? It would be a short interview of sorts. I think it would be a great way to integrate you back into society."

"I prefer to keep my head down," I said.

"Do you?" Mr. Harris pantomimed surprise. "That is fascinating to hear. You know, I heard that you used to show up everywhere back in the day. You left a bold impression on a lot of people around here... But if you would prefer not to do the video, I understand." Mr. Harris leaned back in his chair and his smile dimmed a watt, "I mean, I'm sure you have personal projects taking up your free time now. I wouldn't want to keep you from those."

I chuckled, genuinely surprised by his boldness. He stared at me, silently, the ghost of a smile barely clinging to his lips and the same old nothing in his eyes. Finally, I politely said, "I appreciate the offer, Mr. Harris. I'll have to think about it."

Before I got up and left the room, Mr. Harris piped up again, "Hunter, I almost forgot to ask. How's that brother of yours doing?"

"He's well," I said.

"Great, great," Mr. Harris said nonchalantly, then added, "Best keep your eye on him."

"And why's that?"

Mr. Harris's face filled with pretend sincerity again. "I mean, he lives out in the woods, all on his own, and it's getting cold. Just wouldn't want something bad to happen to him, you know?"

I smiled, unperturbed. "Of course."

I left and breezed back home. Mr. Harris is clearly no knucklehead, but I can smell a chiseling from a mile away. If they wanted and were able to bump off my brother, they would have done it twenty years ago. They would have done it in the twenty years since. I'm not buying Mr. Harris's threat.

But he is playing at something. I don't know what yet. What would he gain from interviewing me? What's his aim? And how much of a puppet is he?

We'll have to wait and see.

Stay safe.

HH

An unfortunate update

I have an unfortunate update, readers. I discovered a copy of The Babbling Brook on my doorstep this morning without having officially subscribed to it. One could chock this up to a coincidence, however the paper came along with a note that read:

Hello Mr. Hunter Holloway,

Welcome back to Nettlebrook! Thought you might enjoy this, since you used to report for The Babbling Brook. So sorry we didn't ask your permission before writing an announcement about your return in this week's issue. Your return was a surprise to our staff, so we thought we would surprise you!

Feel free to stop by the office anytime so we can formally meet. I've heard so much about you.

Cheers,
Drew Harris
Editor-in-Chief of The Babbling Brook

If a founding family member knows my whereabouts, it can't be good... But I knew I couldn't hide forever. Perhaps it's finally time I paid a visit to my former workplace...

Nettlebrook's government and founding families

Hello readers,

I'm back at my keyboard. I hit the road for a few days to evade what Carmen rather accurately refers to as "government snoops." I fear Mayor Hale or others in the local government have indeed caught on to my presence, so keeping my head down and out of sight is of utmost importance.

That said, I just can't keep silent. I feel a responsibility to get this information out into the world, before I'm possibly censored for good. I'll hide for as long as I have to, but once I put all the pieces of this sordid puzzle together, I will take legal action.

Until then, I'll try and keep you all in the loop. This post may not be as exciting as my last ones, but it is just as important. In order to understand what is going on in Nettlebrook right now, you must have a grasp of the many elements at play. Today I'm going to talk about the structure of Nettlebrook's government and its players--including the ones who may or may not have threatened my life and drove me out of town all those years ago.



Nettlebrook's government, plainly put, is an oligarchy. The Mayor and his council are not elected. Only the wealthiest men in town are viable for positions of power, and, as I described in a previous post, those positions of power tend to stay in the family, or are shared by two or more families. The Mayor's council consists of a few of these wealthy men, though all of the wealthy men can exhibit influence on the town, be it through the government or by financial means. Today, the Mayor's council is made up of 5 men (formerly 6, while Peter Chamberlain was alive): Mayor Dick Hale, Police Chief Carney Hawthorne, Pastor Herb Worthington, Finance Director Archibald Harris, and Bogwick Headmaster Alexander Wick. The extent of the power these men weild is unknown, which is more than worrisome. It is also important to note that according to the Nettlebrook history I have managed to dig up in my time as a reporter, the Hales, Hawthornes, Wicks, as well as the Stones and Graves are named as founders of the town. In order to corroborate this and get more solid historical information, we'll need access to the town's archive.

Speaking of the Stones, who have historically owned Nettlebrook Library along with the Harrises. Dewey Stone is the current head librarian. Why is the library important? I suspect that old editions of The Babbling Brook (including ones with my articles in them) are archived there, since they are not kept at the printing press. That is why I've charged Carmen to work there, in order to see if this true. And if it is true, to find a way in.

Another important figure to keep in mind is Funeral Director (and Coroner) Cecil Graves. In the past, he was not forthcoming with some pertinent information and I have reason to believe his reports are not always accurate. More on that another time.

I hope this clears things up for you all.

Stay safe out there.
H

Update on Chamberlain murder

Upon reviewing the crime scene photos and reading the official incident report, I thought I'd share some more details.

When police and EMTs arrived at the scene, they found Mr. Chamberlain face down on the floor of his living room, his body contorted in such a way to suggest a fall down the stairs, which were to his immediate right. The coroner's report said he shattered bones in his right foot, so that also suggests a stair fall. Mr. Chamberlain was lying in a large pool of blood, that had soaked into the carpet. He was pronounced dead at the scene, and had likely been dead for 5-7 minutes. He likely died of blood loss.

Blood was found on the stairs, likely coming from his wounds, but there was also blood spattered on the wall at the top of the stairs, suggesting this was when Mr. Chamberlain's neck had been slashed at when evading his attacker.

Smaller puddles of blood lead from the top of the stairs to Mr. Chamberlain's bedroom. On the walls in the hallway, there is a trailed blood handprint belonging to Mr. Chamberlain. In his bedroom there were more puddles of blood, as well as his bloody footprints. There was a particularly large bloodstain on his bedsheets, suggesting Mr. Chamberlain had been asleep, facing up, when he was stabbed. Blood spatters on the sheets, headboard, and wall adjacent to the bed, suggest Mr. Chamberlain had been vigorously stabbed several times while in bed.

According to interviews with Abigail Hale and Grace Chamberlain, who were present at the time of the murder, they did not hear the commotion. This was likely due to Mr. Chamberlain's bedroom being heavily soundproofed. Both said they heard him yell "Grace!" then several bumps, as was heard in the video on Instagram.

Detectives at the scene were able to identify one blood footprint that did not belong to Mr. Chamberlain that they believe likely belonged to his attacker. There is the faint outline of a sole, belonging to what could be a man's shoe size 7-8 or woman's shoe size 8.5-9.5. There still don't seem to be any leads, however.

Investigators are still unsure of how the attacker got in the house. There are no signs of forced entry, however the doors were all locked.

I will update my blog with any new info. Thanks and stay safe.

Peter W. Chamberlain murdered

Photo courtesy of Carmen Gonzalez

Peter W. Chamberlain, editor of Nettlebrook newspaper The Babbling Brook for the past 40 years, was found dead in his home this past Sunday, the night of September the 15th. The cops were said to have been called around 11pm and arrived at the gruesome scene 10 minutes later.

I was not able to catch a glimpse of the body, however according to the autopsy report, Mr. Chamberlain died of slashing injuries to his neck and stabbing injuries to his stomach. He also maintained several bruises and the shattering of the bones in his feet upon falling down the stairs.

The police quickly ruled this a murder.

According to an insider, there doesn't appear to be any evidence as to who committed the murder. Mr. Chamberlain's daughter Grace and her friend Abigail Hale (daughter of Mayor Dick Hale) were present during the murder and were questioned, but I was not told whether there are any leads based on this questioning. The investigation continues.

Mr. Chamberlain is survived by his wife Anna, his daughter Grace, and his son Griffin.

College scandal and more updates

Dick Hale has been accused of bribing a college admissions counselor $100,000 to let his daughter, Abigail Hale, into the University of South Carolina. It is unclear whether his mayoral duties shall continue, since he will be going to court, however it is very clear that Abigail will not be attending university this year.

I haven't asked for either to comment on this, because I'm not necessarily a professional reporter anymore, but more importantly because I don't believe Dick or any other higher ups are aware of my presence in town as of yet. I'd like it to stay that way for as long as I can, to avoid any conflict that will interfere with my investigation into the town. However... I don't know how long I can keep myself a secret. Many townsfolk have indeed recognized me and no doubt talk will soon spread.

In other news, I'm back. Sorry, readers, for my hiatus. I have been trying to lay low for the time being, since some powerful people in Nettlebrook are having their people scout the internet for people like me: people who analyze and criticize their system, or otherwise cause havoc. I have recently gotten in contact with one Carmen Gonzalez, a former student at Nettlebrook University and cousin to Flora Gonzalez. Unfortunately, Carmen was likely targeted by an aforementioned internet scout, and thus lost her scholarship to Nettlebrook University for her "disorderly conduct" online. The same goes for her friends (who have chosen to remain anonymous). Carmen and her family do not feel comfortable sharing information on Flora publicly at this time, but they have agreed to help me in my investigation.

The Bog Days Festival cancelled

The Bog Days Festival was officially cancelled this year due to weather concerns. As far as I know, the festival has never been cancelled in the town's history. Not even the year after 9 children were struck by lightning and killed while on a roller coaster at the festival in 1989. I actually reported on that incident. I was there when it happened. It was a tragedy and a traumatic experience that shook the town. And yet... the show must go on. Bastards.

The torrential rain and flooding has continued, so it makes sense that Mayor Hale would want to reschedule the festival, which was his original plan. The mayor deciding to cancel the festival altogether, however, is puzzling. Townsfolk appear disappointed and some have publicly dissented, but Mayor Hale has not backed down on his decision.

Greetings

I noticed my audience has grown immensely -- literally overnight! I can only hope none of you are townsfolk, as many of them would not take kindly to my nosing around.

Through a couple emails I was alerted that there is a group of young people in town also investigating the disappearances. I will be contacting them shortly to see if we can help each other out. Honestly, however, I don't want anyone else looking into this. But I can't stop them. I was the same as a young person... But that's why I had to get the hell out of dodge 20 years ago.

If anyone has never heard of or visited Nettlebrook, I don't encourage you to do so. While it has it's small town charm, it certainly has secrets. I suppose any place does, but this town's secrets seem to be especially sinister. However, that is only speculation. I haven't been able to get my hands on any hard evidence yet.

Nettlebrook is a strange place. If you didn't grow up here or somehow end up here for college, you would never know it existed. It doesn't exist on any maps, physical or GPS. There is almost no trace of it on the internet. Many folks here distrust strangers, so it makes sense they would distrust the internet, a network of strangers.

Anyway, thank you for visiting my blog, strangers. Stay safe.

H

The Hale legacy and weird observations

The current mayor of Nettlebrook, Dick Hale, is the son of the former mayor Richard Hale. And Richard Hale's father was the mayor before that, and so on and so on. Nepotism is not only a common practice in this town, but a hallowed tradition. Positions of power tend to stay in the family. This is also true of the newspaper I used to work for as a reporter. The Babbling Brook's editor has been a Chamberlin for decades and same goes for the headmaster of Bogwick Academy always being a Wick.

Some weird observations: The weather here of late has been godawful. There have been torrential rains for nearly a month. The town is worried that the bog may flood...

Flora Gonzalez and Zoey update

I will be making a few posts based on my recent findings.

Through word of mouth, I have gathered that the last disappearence (besides Zoey Bent) occurred in June of 2009. Like Miss Bent, this missing person was also a young woman, also a student at Bogwick Academy (a private Catholic school in Nettlebrook), and also there on scholarship. Her name was Flora Gonzalez, daughter of Maria Gonzalez who still lives in town with her husband, her sister and her niece. I don't know much about Flora, since people in town don't seem to be keen on speaking on the subject of missing persons. I have not contacted the Gonzalezes directly as of yet, but I plan to. I will document whatever information I learn about her and other missing persons here.

I will also include here an update on Zoey Bent:

I was able to contact her mother, Mazie Bent who lives on the outskirts of town. She declined to answer my questions and appeared aggravated. Much of the townsfolk unanimously agree that Mazie Bent is an unfit mother who did not watch her daughter properly. Rumor has it she is addicted to narcotics and that the Bent home was not a pleasant space for Zoey. Unfortunately, I cannot confirm if this is true.

Zoey Bent

Unsurprisingly, Nettlebrook hasn't changed much since I left. In a lot of ways. I will be making a seperate post about all those ways soon, but first I want to talk about the one that most disturbs me.

Here it is: Disappearances. All of them technically unsolved, and yet all of them closed cases. It's suspicious too that the police chief has been a Hawthorne since long before I arrived here 20 years ago (Nettlebrook tends to keep things in the family--more on that in my next post).

18-year-old Zoey Bent went missing at the tail end of her senior year at Bogwick Academy. I have not been able to look at her case file despite the fact that it is a closed case, not an ongoing investigation, and therefore is a part of public record. Rumors state she was ruled a runaway, despite the fact there is no apparent evidence that could lead to such a conclusion (however, I don't have all the facts on hand, so I can't say for sure whether the police department is really justified or not).

If I could somehow get a list of all the missing persons in Nettlebrook... It must exist somewhere. Likely not on the Internet (Most people over 30 here have an issue with using the Internet--in fact, the only public places that have computers here are Brooks College and Nettlebrook University, the two colleges here). I know they wouldn't allow me access, especially with my record here. Maybe if I got in contact with the Native reservation not far from here, they could share with me their record, since, from what I can remember, many missing persons were actually from their reservation, not just Nettlebrook.

I will certainly investigate more into this. Updates shall abound.

Worried about Scout

The reason I've returned to Nettlebrook is my brother. He's gotten more and more erratic over the years and I worry about him. He's a completely different man from the one I knew when we parted ways all those years ago. He's driven himself mad isolating himself from human contact and concocting elaborate conspiracy theories.

Though I don't think he's completely mad. In fact, I think he's right about some things. And that could put him in danger here. I know I have to look after him. It's my brotherly duty, I suppose.

Introduction

I created this blog as a means to archive my previous writings, however, things are not going according to plan...

I have copies saved from my articles written while I was on the beat in New York City, but I didn't save a shred of my articles from the small town of Nettlebrook, where I got my start. The reasons for this are numerous. I didn't feel safe there. I didn't want to carry with me any part of that town. But here I am again, back in its throes, its clutches. And it doesn't seem like much has changed since I left two decades or so ago.

Anyway, I asked the town library and newspaper if I could check their archives for my articles and they told me I don't have access to them. I, the writer of the articles, does not have access to them, despite them being public record? The legality of it is tenuous and I would argue it if I didn't know any better. But I do know better. I know that there is no place for justice or truth in a town like Nettlebrook. History is written by the rich and the rich alone here.

Now that I'm here again... I wonder what I should do. I'm retired, I'm no longer a reporter or a law man. I'm just a tired batchelor. That said, I know I can't just sit back and do nothing. Even shouting into the void that is the internet is better than that, at this point.

Hunter Holloway, signing off. For now.