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[Trailhead] IM from i4m4nn4b3ll3

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Kandiman
Decorated

Joined: 09 Aug 2009
Posts: 160
Location: Oxford, England

[Trailhead] IM from i4m4nn4b3ll3

Yep, it's trailhead time. I received an IM about thirty minutes ago from the screenname i4m4nn4b3ll3. I've copied and pasted below:

Quote:

i4m4nn4b3ll3 (23:21:27): Hi, my name is Annabelle.
KSPWEW (23:22:30): Hi Annabelle, I'm Kriss
KSPWEW (23:22:56): How are you?
i4m4nn4b3ll3 (23:23:43): Quite well, thank you for asking, Kris. And you?
KSPWEW (23:24:16): I'm doing pretty well, thanks. It's a good day
i4m4nn4b3ll3 (23:24:54): I have heard that you fancy investigating things. Is that true?
KSPWEW (23:25:49): I do enjoy investigating things. My friends and I are experienced investigators. Is there something we can help you with?
KSPWEW (23:27:50): What sort of things do you have in mind?
i4m4nn4b3ll3 (23:29:4 Cool

: Well, I've had a very unusual experience, and am hoping to find out more about it, or perhaps find others who have had similar experiences.
KSPWEW (23:30:09): Sounds intriguing. Can you describe it to me?
i4m4nn4b3ll3 (23:31:04): I have written a great deal about it on my website, and it would perhaps be best for you to read about it there. Unfortunately my condition prevents me from speaking about it at length without great difficulty.
KSPWEW (23:31:30): Do you have a link?
i4m4nn4b3ll3 (23:31:33): http://iamannabelle.com
i4m4nn4b3ll3 (23:32:07): I made it myself, but I'm afraid it isn't entirely complete yet. ^.^
KSPWEW (23:32:42): I can see that. It must be hard having a secret like this?
i4m4nn4b3ll3 (23:33:21): Oh, quite!
KSPWEW (23:33:40): May I ask, do you know who this Jerry is who commented on your first entry?
i4m4nn4b3ll3 (23:34:01): I'm afraid that I do not, but he echoes a sentiment I know well.
KSPWEW (23:34:27): Do you mind if I take just a minute to read your story?
i4m4nn4b3ll3 (23:35:57): Oh, but of course. I will need to log off soon to go to church, in any case.
KSPWEW (23:37:03): I understand. You certainly have an interesting story. You woke up in the past?
i4m4nn4b3ll3 (23:37:4 Cool

: I'm afraid so!
KSPWEW (23:38:29): Did you ever jump back to, for want of a better term, the present day?
i4m4nn4b3ll3 (23:39:41): Sometimes I would have memories, but they were rather physically painful. But no, I only ever "time travelled" once.
i4m4nn4b3ll3 (23:39:55): It sounds so silly. Time travel! But, 'tis.
KSPWEW (23:40:22): There are studies which show it possible, but certainly not as a natural occurance. Let alone a supernatural one.
KSPWEW (23:41:17): May I ask how old you are now, to what age you regressed and how old you should be now? I assume I'm understanding this correctly. And I apologize in advance for being so rude as to ask a lady her age.
i4m4nn4b3ll3 (23:42:46): I am currently 24. I suppose I should be nearly 30.
KSPWEW (23:43:36): Ah, we're the same age.
KSPWEW (23:44:14): So may I ask what age you woke up as?
i4m4nn4b3ll3 (23:44:39): I woke up at age 10 *nods*
KSPWEW (23:45:0 Cool

: Fourteen years. That's a rough ride. I can't even begin to imagine having to be a teenager again.
i4m4nn4b3ll3 (23:45:21): ^.^ Pleased to meet you, in any case. I'm afraid I must be going now, or I'll be late for church.
KSPWEW (23:45:35): OKay. Can I contact you on this name again?
i4m4nn4b3ll3 (23:45:41): Of course. Perhaps we can talk later.
KSPWEW (23:46:01): I'd like that very much.
i4m4nn4b3ll3 (23:46:11): Adieu ^.^
KSPWEW (23:46:24): goodbye Annabelle

If you visit www.iamannabelle.com she has a Wordpress blog where she has started to tell her story. It's certainly interesting.

This is her 'About me' page:

Quote:

About
Posted on Tuesday, August 11th, 2009 at 8:32 pm

Hi, my name is Annabelle, and I am twenty-four years old. This site mostly concerns the weirder part of my existence, but I have many normal hobbies, too. I enjoy knitting and drawing, but I have not very good at either of them so far ^.^.

I have two cats named Tinkerbell and Miranda.

My favorite color is pink. I collect playing card decks and for awhile I collected stamps, but then I left my entire collection in a taxi when I was fifteen ~~the second time.~~

Right now, my favorite hobby is Pokemon. I know how childish that sounds, but I find them just adorable and collect the shiny ones. I have a shiny Shinx, a shiny ponyta, and a shiny Ralts.

I am finishing up college (hopefully), and living with my parents until graduation. I have a part-time job at a dress boutique in the mall, but my class schedule prevents me from working enough hours to have my own place and pay for school at the same time. This isn't so bad, I suppose. I mean, things could be much worse. ~~I wonder what would've happened the first time around.~~

Likewise, her story in full:

Quote:

My Story
Posted on Tuesday, September 15th, 2009 at 2:31 pm

I do not believe in most paranormal things because I have not experienced them. However, thinking back on my life, I believe something out of the ordinary did indeed happen to me, but whether or not it is supernatural is up for debate. I will tell this story subjectively, as I remember it, though I have no way of knowing whether this is all merely the product of an addled mind, or something far worse.

First Time Around
In 2004, I graduated from high school and went to the local state college. The dorms were shit, the other students were all half-braindead from pot, vodka, and speed, and entire place felt like a higher-stakes version of high school, except with ashtrays. I fit in pretty well. It was easier to get good grades here than it had ever been for me. I slept through lectures, spent my nights searching for a fake ID, and experimented with all manner of illicit substances.

I might consider the possibility that those strange drugs had some bearing in what happened that day, but that thought leaves me grappling with contradictions that shatter my mind and vision with blinding pain. Even writing this down brings up more than a twinge. I have taken a few Darvocet, and that'll hopefully stave off the worst of it until after I've finished typing up this story.

The Seizure
I was in one of those huge-ass freshman classes, psych I think, when I started to notice that the room looked a lot smaller than usual, and began to feel sick. I saw weird, flashing lights in front of my eyes, my head felt split in two, and all my limbs felt tingly and unfamiliar. I must've got up from my seat to go to the restroom, because I remember standing, but I didn't make it to the door.

I stood immobilized by the pain behind my ears, and my vision was entirely clouded. I didn't black out, but those bright lights, and weird shapes, were covering everything. Eventually, I managed to make out a face, and it took me what felt like an eternity to recognize it as a teacher from my old elementary school. I heard her say, "What are you doing?" and then felt someone take my hand, slowly pulling me along even though the world felt like molasses.

I came fully to my senses in the school nurse's office. I recognized it from the ubiquitous kitten posters on the walls and the faded "Just say no" stickers. I had spent many recesses there after taking a dodgeball to the gut or tumbling off that stupid spiderweb jungle gym. Somehow, when I saw where I was, I wasn't confused. I knew exactly what had happened, but I was in too much pain and shock to vocalize it. The nurse told me that I had just experienced a seizure, and that my parents had been called.

Waking to the Past
I thought it was all a nightmare � I must have dozed off during the lecture, perhaps even hit my head on the desk. In a class that large, who would notice? The professor probably didn't even know my name. Hell, I couldn't even remember his name. I struggled to remember it, to remember what the lecture had been about, my roommate's name, anything. Details beyond the basic form of my life were suddenly beyond me. I tried to close my eyes and let the dream take its course.

My mom swears that the nurse told her I ran from her and tried to leave the school building, but I don't remember it. I just remember being brought home in my mom's Mazda Miata and tucked into my little pink-and-white bed, trying desperately to vocalize my sheer horror. My room was a mess, Barbie dolls scattered everywhere, half-naked and staring at me. Mom seemed to notice the terrified look on my face, and turned off the overhead light, leaving only the pinkish glow of my bedside lamp. She kissed me and brought me a Sprite, which I could barely hold, let alone drink and keep down.

On the nightstand next to my bed was my copy of some kind of children's illustrated Bible. The cover depicted a cartoonish Moses parting the Red Sea, and the comical confusion of a legion of stereotypical ancient egyptians wearing headdresses and togas. I hadn't paid much attention to Christianity in years. My head still throbbed, and each time I closed my eyes, I opened them again to see that my situation had not changed.

I closed my eyes, thinking God, God, please let this be over soon, please�

It Never Ended
My mom returned with a bottle of children's Benedryl, and gingerly slipped a spoon of the cherry-flavored stuff into my mouth, whispering words of reassurance. She told me that I had just gotten "stressed" and that I needed to rest. A part of me remembered that my mom had been out of work and without heath insurance for most of the 1990s. It occurred to me that even if something had gone terribly wrong with my brain, like a tumor or epilepsy, we wouldn't have the money to pay for any major treatments. The pain between my ears worsened, spiking sharply as I intuited the contradictions in my line of thought.

If it was my brain, then this wasn't happening; this wasn't real, and I could always hit up the free clinic down the street from campus, maybe bum a ride from a guy I'd met a orientation. It was impossible that it all could've been the product of a seizure; not all of it. Not ten years of my life! No� it had to be a dream. More specifically this had to be a dream, this pink-and-white world of scraped knees and naked, vacant-eyed dolls.

It had to be; it felt so unreal.

Nothing of my life at university had seemed this unreal, had it? Now, when the faces of my new friends, the professors, my cinderblock home in the dorm, my scratched and filthy blue Lumina, the shiny rows of iMacs in the computer labs, the image of my face in a mirror all became strange, like a half-remembered dream or a few bars from a song I'd only ever heard once. Eventually, I felt my freakishly-small limbs growing heavy, and closed my eyes for the last time that day.

Life Goes On
When I awoke the next morning, the strange images that had plagued me since the seizure seemed faint and immaterial, and every attempt I made to bring them to the forefront in my mind was met with resounding pain and a ringing in my ears. I struggled to entangle myself from them, like kicking off a bundle of sheets.

After I dressed, my mother sat me down at the kitchen counter to fix my hair into a sticky right-sided ponytail. Little baubles hung off the bow, and clanked if I jumped up and down in front of the mirror, which I did often, to catch a better glimpse of myself. I lingered in the kitchen, my blue Sailor Moon lunchbox cold and unwieldy in my small hands.

The peculiar sentiment of the previous day still lingered, and my mind was, off and on, assaulted by that strange alternate image of myself.

"My head hurts," i complained, and my mother gave me a few chewable Tylenol before taking me out to meet the bus.

Right Now
It's been well over ten years since the day of the seizure, and I still get those awful headaches whenever I try to think of anything that happened before (or, uh, during, I guess) that first seizure. I've had several since, but nothing like that ever happened again. From that day forward, my life was dramatically different, obviously, but whenever I dwelled on those differences a little too long, or felt a wave of deja vu, I'd feel the searing pain and sometimes black out.

Meta:

Spoiler (Rollover to View):

What makes this especially confusing is that only two PMs have my AIM address. One is 42, the other is DankeToweShow's PM. And this doesn't look Danke-related.

New 42 game?

I'm also interested in the identity of Jerry. I will keep an eye on my AIM and let you know when Annabelle and I speak again.

Posted: Tue Sep 15, 2009 6:56 pm

Nighthawk
I Have 100 Cats and Smell of Wee

Joined: 14 Jul 2007
Posts: 4751
Location: Miami, Florida, USA, Earth

Quote:

...only two PMs have my AIM address...

Uh... Your AIM address is in your profile on this very forum. Smile

_________________
"Omne ignotum pro magnifico"

Posted: Tue Sep 15, 2009 7:08 pm

RAD24
Entrenched

Joined: 26 May 2009
Posts: 795
Location: Behind the wall

^I was gonna say that, lol.

This seems very interesting, I'd like to see how it plays out. Hopefully Jerry is actually a character and not just someone who thinks this is supposed to be real Laughing

Posted: Tue Sep 15, 2009 7:12 pm

Laommi88
Boot

Joined: 03 Jul 2009
Posts: 45

Interesting, I'll have to look into this later when I get off from work

Posted: Tue Sep 15, 2009 7:13 pm

Kandiman
Decorated

Joined: 09 Aug 2009
Posts: 160
Location: Oxford, England

RAD24 wrote:

Shh, blonde moment.

I'd like to think Jerry is a character. Doesn't appear to have an puzzles to solve in this one yet, but I'll keep mining for information. Anything you want me to ask about?

Posted: Tue Sep 15, 2009 7:14 pm

Timetobuzzthetower
Boot

Joined: 22 Apr 2009
Posts: 37
Location: Mesa, AZ

I've been out for a while, but I can see me jumping back in on this, right at the beginning, looks fun...

I'd say Jerry is almost definitely IG, his reply to that post happened on the same day in the same minute as it posted...

Think A would be open to another one of us trying to talk to her on AIM?

Posted: Tue Sep 15, 2009 8:01 pm

Kandiman
Decorated

Joined: 09 Aug 2009
Posts: 160
Location: Oxford, England

Not sure :/ Let me go round with her again first, see if she's open to having more than one of us as a point of contact, k?

Posted: Tue Sep 15, 2009 8:11 pm

natas
PHP Ninja

Joined: 06 Oct 2007
Posts: 3177
Location: Northwest Indiana

Timetobuzzthetower wrote:

Think A would be open to another one of us trying to talk to her on AIM?

I say go for it. That's the whole point of ARGing.... The story isn't on rails. Interaction is key.

Posted: Tue Sep 15, 2009 9:22 pm

mreklektik
Greenhorn

Joined: 01 Dec 2008
Posts: 6

Temporal Seizures
That's just what TS are like

This description is clinically what's called a temporal lobe seizure.

Quote:

I stood immobilized by the pain behind my ears, and my vision was entirely clouded. I didn't black out, but those bright lights, and weird shapes, were covering everything.

I believe that she had a seizure and "thinks" she is traveling through time...I don't think this is a true trailhead(?) What she is describing lots of people have had.

But then again...I should give her the benefit of my doubt! Wink

Posted: Tue Sep 15, 2009 11:12 pm

writernaut
Greenhorn

Joined: 15 Sep 2009
Posts: 8

This looks interesting. I've never done an ARG before and just signed up for Rachel's Walk, but I'd like to stick around for this one. I admit that I'm terrified of saying something stupid. Embarassed

Is it at all significant that she says this:

Quote:

"I do not even remember making the layout images and css, for that matter, but clearly I did." (Do people hide things in css?)

Please excuse me if I'm way off base. Dunno

Posted: Tue Sep 15, 2009 11:37 pm

Rosemarie_Weissenfeld
Decorated

Joined: 08 Aug 2009
Posts: 172
Location: slidell, LA

I've hopped in on this one as well, looks interesting.

Posted: Tue Sep 15, 2009 11:42 pm

SyNeSTro
Veteran

Joined: 27 Jun 2009
Posts: 98
Location: EP

im in as well. seems like RUaWerewolf is about to end, so im gonna need another arg!

Posted: Tue Sep 15, 2009 11:54 pm

natas
PHP Ninja

Joined: 06 Oct 2007
Posts: 3177
Location: Northwest Indiana

Found this in the CSS

Quote:

/*
I AM THE PASSENGER. I AM NOT ANNABELLE AND I WILL NOT HELP HER. LOOK CLOSER.
*/

Posted: Tue Sep 15, 2009 11:58 pm

Rosemarie_Weissenfeld
Decorated

Joined: 08 Aug 2009
Posts: 172
Location: slidell, LA

That does seem to be a bit interesting, I do wonder now where this will lead. That sounds a bit dark and omnious to me.

Posted: Wed Sep 16, 2009 12:08 am

SteganosaurusRex
Veteran

Joined: 15 Sep 2009
Posts: 117

Christian themes?

WHois says it is owned by "Annabelle Tithe". googling that gets no hits with the two words together but does return a Christian discussion site and googling the name iamannabelle gets you lots of hits but one is a Christian discussion forum in which she asks if Christians can get possessed by devils (i.e. "passenger"?).

The sites are real, so tread carefully if you go there...could just be coincidence.

Posted: Wed Sep 16, 2009 12:13 am

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