TRANSCRIPT: SOMNARIUM. S.016 – Hit and Run
Experiment Log of Subject 08, experimental observation volunteer for sleep disturbance, recurring nightmares and debilitating feelings of guilt regarding a recent traffic incident involving a minor.
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INTRO
[hdd spins up]
ALEX
Hold on… Wait… Yep, now it’s recording.
Okay, what were you saying?
MADDY
You need to look at this file.
ALEX
Did you find something?
MADDY
[annoyed]
Just. Read it.
ALEX
Hold on.
What about the Oneironauts?
You said you found something.
MADDY
I did.
ALEX
Okay, and?
MADDY
It’s real. Or it was at least.
ALEX
So it’s gone?
MADDY
It is. But I found a partially cached copy of it on the Wayback Machine.
ALEX
Okay…
MADDY
Don’t look at me like that, I tried okay?
[sighs]
Your patient, Nick, was definitely on there.
The details of Renwyck’s case file line up to a couple of posts I was able to recover.
ALEX
Wait, which details?
MADDY
Okay, so.
Nick’s final diary entry was October 13th, 2008 right?
ALEX
I… think so?
MADDY
His final post on the forum is on the same day.
[pauses and inhales]
It took me a little while to figure out which username was Nick, but there was mention in other threads that user dreamenthusiast08 hadn’t posted since that day.
One of the comments below it said something about him probably not heeding the warning.
ALEX
Right, yeah.
Uhh… The file mentioned that if he saw a large figure watching him that he had to wake up.
MADDY
And he didn’t listen, right?
ALEX
Exactly.
MADDY
That’s what I thought.
[continues her explanation]
So I searched through what was left of the forum and found some other posts from the same username that lined up with the details you gave me.
ALEX
Which ones?
MADDY
The missing statue, the changing layout and the concrete maze.
[short pause]
He was posting daily logs of his exploration in this dream world and after a while people accused him of trolling.
ALEX
Trolling, how?
MADDY
Because a lot of the details that he was mentioning didn’t line up with the established structure that the Oneironauts had described.
And more than that, he described seeing new places as well. Like the concrete hallways.
[inhales sharply]
But, that wasn’t all I found.
ALEX
You’ve already piqued my curiosity. Tell me.
MADDY
There were other users who started spiraling and then suddenly disappeared.
ALEX
Nick wasn’t the only one?
MADDY
Nope.
I found evidence of at least 3 more users disappearing in the same year.
ALEX
Interesting.
MADDY
Which leads me to why I’m here.
There are exactly 3 experiment logs that talk about sending people into a concrete maze.
ALEX
What are the odds of that being a coincidence?
MADDY
That was my reaction as well, it’s a little bit too convenient.
But none of those are the file I wanted you to see.
ALEX
Wait, you found even more?
MADDY
I’d be an amazing detective, I know.
ALEX
Very funny, so what’s the file about?
MADDY
Just read it.
ALEX
Come on, just explain what you found.
MADDY
[gritting her teeth]
Just read. The damn. File. Alex.
ALEX
Alright, alright. Fine.
[shuffles mic closer]
File of… Subject 08.
SUBJECT INTAKE
Subject: 08
Chamber: VD-01
Pattern: Unknown
Subject accepted for experimental observation following reported sleep disturbance and intrusive recollection tied to a recent traffic incident involving a minor.
Subject reports a collision with a child while driving at moderate speed. Subject was not intoxicated at the time but rather inattentive to his surroundings.
Describes exiting the vehicle briefly and observing the victim on the ground before returning to his vehicle and fleeing the scene.
The incident was not reported by the subject. Victim was found several minutes later by an unknown party who proceeded to contact emergency services.
Though an investigation was opened, due to the lack of surveillance or any witnesses the case was closed.
The subject reports feeling as tough he, in his words, “got away with it”.
Primary complaints include persistent insomnia, recurring nightmares and an overwhelming feeling of guilt tied to the event.
Though the subject admits to the crime, he remains evasive about being at fault.
Subject expresses a desire to be rid of his feeling of guilt, without reporting himself to the proper authorities or facing the victim’s family.
Suitable for guilt reinforcement and controlled exposure study.
Attached is the subject’s transcribed intake statement, cut for brevity.
Subject Statement
I don’t know how many times I have to explain this.
There was nothing I could’ve done.
I know what you’re thinking. “Hit and run.” Felony. Responsibility. I get it. I do. But people keep acting like stopping would have changed something, like it would have fixed it.
It wouldn’t have.
By the time I got out of the car, it was already… it was already too late.
[pause]
I saw her.
That’s the part everyone keeps circling back to, right? That I saw her and still left. Like that’s the moment that defines everything.
But you weren’t there.
It was dark. She just… stepped out. No warning. No time to react. One second the road is empty, the next…
[short exhale]
I hit the brakes. I did. It just… wasn’t enough.
The sound…
[pause]
I got out of the car. I remember that part clearly. I didn’t just drive off immediately like people imagine. I got out. I walked around to the front.
She was lying there.
Not moving.
[pause]
I remember thinking… “this isn’t happening.” Like my brain just refused to catch up. Everything felt slow, like I was watching it happen to someone else.
I looked up and down the road. No cars. No people. Nothing.
Just me.
And her.
[pause]
I took a step closer. I don’t know why. Instinct, I guess. Like I was supposed to check. Like that’s what a normal person does.
But I already knew.
Her body was bent so out of shape that I knew.
I didn’t need to check for anything. I just… knew there was nothing left to do.
[pause]
And then my head started filling in the rest.
Police. Questions. Prison. My family. My job. Everything just… gone.
All because of something I didn’t even have time to prevent.
I kept thinking: this isn’t fair.
I didn’t choose this.
[pause]
So I got back in the car.
That’s it. That’s what you want me to say out loud, right?
I got back in the car… and I left.
[pause]
I didn’t speed off. I didn’t panic like you see in the movies. I just… drove. Like if I kept moving, it wouldn’t become real.
Like it was still… undecided.
[pause]
I went home. Parked the car. Sat there for a while just gripping the steering wheel tightly
I told myself it was shock. That I’d figure out what to do in the morning.
But morning didn’t fix anything.
[pause]
I checked the news. Nothing.
Next day. Nothing.
No reports. No mention. Like it never happened.
And that should have been a relief, right?
It wasn’t.
[pause]
Because it didn’t go away.
Every time I closed my eyes, I was back there.
Same road. Same moment. Over and over.
Sometimes I hit her again. Sometimes I don’t even see her until it’s too late. Sometimes…
[pause]
Sometimes she’s already lying there before I even get out of the car.
Just… waiting.
[pause]
I started sleeping less. At first it was just restlessness. Then it got worse.
I’d wake up thinking I heard something.
A sound.
[pause]
I know how this is going to sound.
I’d hear… laughing.
Not loud. Not like something in the room. Just… there. Like it was part of the memory.
At first I told myself it was just my head filling things in. Kids laugh. That’s normal. My brain just… attached it to her.
But it kept happening.
Not every night. Just enough that I started dreading going to sleep.
[pause]
I tried everything.
Cut caffeine. Stopped drinking. Went for walks before bed. Left the TV on. Turned it off. Silence. Noise. Doesn’t matter. None of it matters.
The second I fall asleep, I’m replaying that same scene. Over and over.
[pause]
Sometimes I see her face.
Sometimes I don’t.
Sometimes I just know she’s there.
[pause]
I haven’t told anyone.
What am I supposed to say?
“Hey, I think I killed someone and now I can’t sleep”?
That’s not a conversation you have and then just… go back to normal.
[pause]
I looked up clinics. Sleep specialists. Anything.
That’s how I found you.
From what I’ve heard… apparently…
Apparently you offer… experimental treatment.
I don’t really care what it is.
I just need this to stop.
[pause]
Because I can’t keep doing this.
I don’t want to close my eyes and see her face again.
EXPERIMENT LOG
Experiment Conditions
Subject placed in controlled observation chamber VD-01.
Primary stimulus consists of curated image set labeled Folder 08-A.
Folder contents include crime scene photographs, victim identification images, family photographs and personal artifacts such as drawings from the victim’s school.
Hidden projectors mounted to display imagery on chamber walls.
Primary objective is to induce confrontation with catalyst event and observe behavioral response leading to potential manifestation.
No physical restraints applied. Continuous monitoring via camera and biometric tracking.
Subject Journal – Day 1
They explained the process to me this morning, or at least they tried to. I don’t think I really took much of it in beyond the parts that mattered, something about exposure, something about confronting the event directly instead of avoiding it, like that’s something I haven’t already been doing every single night on my own.
They showed me the pictures later.
At first it was just the road, which I expected, and then the car, and I already knew where it was going after that so I stopped looking before they could get there. I told them I didn’t need this, that I already know what happened and that replaying it in a controlled environment isn’t going to magically change anything, but they didn’t argue with me or try to convince me otherwise.
They just kept the images up longer.
After they turned it off, I didn’t move for a while, just sitting on the bed and waiting for it to pass, and the strange thing is that it didn’t actually feel any worse than before. It just felt the same as it always does, like something that already happened but refuses to stay in the past where it belongs.
Subject Journal – Day 2
They changed the way they presented the images today, which I assume is intentional. Instead of going straight into it, they mixed them in with completely unrelated photographs, normal places, parks, residential streets, things that don’t mean anything to me, and then suddenly it’s that road again before I even have time to realize what I’m looking at.
That somehow bothers me more than I expected it to.
It’s not the images themselves, it’s the lack of warning. You don’t get to brace yourself for it, you just find yourself staring at something you recognize before they force you to see it.
I caught myself looking longer today than I meant to.
The car looks wrong in the pictures, and I don’t mean damaged or distorted, I mean wrong in a way I can’t really explain. It’s too still, too clean, like it’s been frozen in a moment that doesn’t match how it actually felt when I was there.
What I remember most clearly isn’t the way it looked, it’s the sound.
They can’t show that.
Maybe that’s what’s upsetting me so much.
Subject Journal – Day 3
They showed her today.
Not the road, not the car, not anything leading up to it, just her.
I think it was a school photograph, the kind they take every year, the kind that’s supposed to look normal and harmless and completely disconnected from anything like this. She was smiling in it, which is something I don’t remember at all, and that’s the part that’s been bothering me more than anything else.
I remember everything else.
I remember the road, the headlights, the way my hands felt on the wheel when I hit the brakes, but I don’t remember her face. I don’t remember what she looked like before or after, just the fact that she was there.
I don’t know if that makes it better or worse.
Something else happened later.
I wasn’t looking at the walls anymore by that point, I was just sitting on the bed trying to ignore it, and I heard something that I couldn’t place at first. It wasn’t loud, and it wasn’t clear enough to immediately recognize, but it was enough to pull my attention away from everything else.
It sounded like a laugh.
Not loud, not drawn out, just a short, quiet sound, like something you almost miss unless you’re already listening for it.
I checked the walls, expecting something to have changed, but nothing had. The images were the same, the room was the same, and when I asked them about it later they told me there was no audio in today’s session.
I don’t think they’re lying.
And that scares me.
Subject Journal – Day 4
They escalated it today.
There’s no other way to describe it.
The images weren’t just on the walls anymore, they were everywhere, the floor, the ceiling, every surface they could use, like they were trying to remove any possible way to look away from it. I tried to focus on a single image like they keep telling me to, just to have something stable to hold onto, and I ended up locking onto that same school picture again.
I still don’t understand why that one bothers me more than the others.
Maybe it’s because it feels like it belongs to a completely different life, something that has nothing to do with what happened, and seeing it here makes it feel like that line doesn’t exist anymore.
The sound came back. X
Clearer this time, and closer.
I stood up when I heard it, which I didn’t even think about, it was just automatic, like my body reacted before my head had time to process it. I checked the walls again, checked the corners of the room, but there’s nowhere for anything to come from in here that I wouldn’t be able to see.
That’s when it hit me that it didn’t sound like it was coming from the walls at all.
It sounded like it was in the room.
Then I heard it, right behind me.
Giggling.
I didn’t say anything about it.
I don’t want to give them the wrong idea.
Subject Journal – Day 5
I’m starting to think something is wrong with the images themselves.
Not all of them, but some of them look like they’ve changed in ways that don’t make sense, angles that shouldn’t exist, perspectives that don’t line up with where a camera would have been. I know how that sounds, and I know exactly what they would write down if I said it out loud, so I kept it to myself.
The sound isn’t just the sound anymore.
There’s other things now.
Movement, or at least the idea of movement, something shifting just outside of where I’m looking. I checked under the bed, which I know is ridiculous because there’s nowhere to hide anything under there, and then I checked the corners again as if I didn’t check them properly the first time.
I thought I saw something.
Just for a second.
Low to the ground, in the corner of the room where the light doesn’t quite reach properly.
It looked like the silhouette of a child.
I stared at it for much too long, but couldn’t get my eyes to focus.
I keep telling myself it didn’t happen.
That it isn’t real.
That it’s just the lack of sleep, or the stress, or whatever they’re trying to trigger with this whole setup.
That’s the point of this, right?
Keep pushing me until they get a reaction?
Subject Journal – Day 6
They didn’t project anything today.
They didn’t give me any instructions.
They just left me here.
Which is worse, because now it doesn’t feel like it’s coming from them anymore.
I don’t need the pictures to think about it. I don’t need the room to remind me. It’s just there, all the time, like it’s been waiting for me to stop being distracted long enough to notice it properly.
I can feel where she is.
I know how that sounds, and I don’t care anymore.
It’s the same corner every time.
I tried not to look at it, but that didn’t help, because not looking at it just makes it more obvious that something is there. The sound came back again, but closer than before, close enough that I didn’t have to question it anymore.
I didn’t turn around.
I couldn’t.
Giggling.
I keep reliving that moment.
Getting out of the car, walking around, looking down.
That’s where it always stops.
That’s where I stop it.
Because I’m too afraid to face the truth.
Because I ran away, like a coward.
More giggling.
I saw her.
Not in the pictures, not on the walls, not in my head.
In the room.
Standing there.
Looking at me.
Expecting something from me.
I didn’t move.
She didn’t move.
But I knew she was closer than before.
I don’t think this is part of the experiment anymore.
I’m afraid to look.
Observation Log
Day 1
Subject introduced to primary stimulus set (Folder 08-A).
Initial response characterized by resistance and avoidance behavior. Subject deliberately limits visual engagement once progression toward victim-related imagery becomes apparent.
Verbal output consistent with intake statement. Subject maintains position that outcome of event was unavoidable and external intervention would not have altered result.
No anomalies observed.
Biometric readings elevated during exposure but return to baseline following stimulus termination.
Day 2
Stimulus presentation altered to include random neutral imagery.
Subject displays increased engagement, likely due to unpredictability of stimulus sequencing. Reaction latency reduced when transitioning from neutral to event-related images.
Subject fixates briefly on vehicle imagery.
Verbalization minimal. Subject appears internally preoccupied.
Biometric readings indicate sustained low-level stress response throughout session, including during neutral stimuli.
No anomalies observed.
Day 3
Introduction of victim identification imagery.
Subject response shifts significantly.
Sustained visual engagement observed during exposure to school photograph. Subject does not avert gaze immediately, indicating increased fixation.
First reported anomaly.
Subject reacts to perceived auditory stimulus (“laughter”) not present in system output. Full system diagnostics confirm no audio playback during session.
Subject scans environment and requests clarification post-session.
No external cause identified.
Biometric data shows sharp spike at time of reported perception.
Day 4
Full environmental projection initiated.
Stimuli displayed across all available surfaces within chamber.
Subject demonstrates inability to disengage visually. Repeated fixation on victim school photograph noted.
Second anomaly event recorded.
Subject reacts to auditory stimulus localized within chamber space rather than speaker system. Reaction includes immediate standing response and full environmental scan.
Subject pauses near rear of chamber following event, suggesting perceived proximity of stimulus.
No audio recorded by system.
Biometric readings indicate heightened stress response sustained for extended duration.
Day 5
Subject enters session with visible fatigue and reduced baseline stability.
Reports of altered perception increase.
Subject demonstrates repeated attention shifts toward lower corner of chamber not associated with projection output.
Visual tracking suggests subject perceives movement independent of displayed stimuli.
At 23:08, subject freezes in place for approximately 6 seconds while maintaining eye contact with empty space.
No visual anomaly recorded.
Biometric data indicates acute stress response consistent with perceived threat proximity.
Note: Projection system verified. No discrepancies in image set or sequencing.
Day 6
No stimuli introduced.
Chamber maintained in neutral state.
Subject exhibits continued distress without external trigger, indicating internalization of stimulus pattern.
Repeated attention directed toward same location within chamber.
Subject displays hesitation to turn or visually confirm perceived presence.
Auditory reaction observed again. Subject does not physically investigate source.
Subject responds verbally, acknowledging a presence in the room.
Biometric readings briefly stabilize following verbal response.
At 22:45, subject appears to track movement at close range followed by a full body reaction.
Subject is displaced across chamber without identifiable external cause.
Impact occurs against rear wall. Subject collapses immediately upon contact with floor.
No visible mechanism responsible for displacement.
Post-event positioning documented.
Subject found on the chamber floor with limbs oriented in a configuration matching the crime scene photographs.
Biometric readings spike sharply at moment of displacement and cease within seconds.
Subject was pronounced deceased by medical team at approximately 22:53.
Cause of death: blunt force trauma and internal bleeding.
Experiment Terminated
Researcher Note
After reviewing all recordings of the experiment, it has come to my attention that our current equipment set is inadequate.
Both audio and visual manifestations are impossible to observe with the current available resources.
While we have made great progress on pattern reinforcement and triggering manifestations, the point of these experiments is lost if we cannot observe what we set out to study.
Authorization request has been submitted to Dr. R. for immediate equipment upgrade.
CONCLUSION
MADDY
Well?!
ALEX
Well, what?
MADDY
Come on, you’re not that dimwitted.
Dr. R?
ALEX
Maddy, it can’t be.
MADDY
Why not?
Why can’t it be Renwyck?
[small pause]
Why are you so sure, that Renwyck has good intentions?
ALEX
She’s a doctor!
MADDY
Oh my god, you are so naive.
ALEX
There could be any number of Doctor’s names that start with an R.
MADDY
Really Alex?
You’re trying to tell me, that there could any number of sleep medicine specialists that go by Dr. R?
ALEX
It’s not impossible!
MADDY
No of course it’s not impossible, but given the very specific circumstances of all of these cases, I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that that’s Renwyck.
ALEX
I’ll believe it when I see it.
MADDY
God, you are so stubborn sometimes.
ALEX
Yeah, same goes for you.
MADDY
Ugh, why are we even arguing over this?
[pause]
What are we gonna do now?
ALEX
Keep digging, I guess.
MADDY
Go through the other 3 files I brought. See if you recognize any of them from Renwyck’s files.
In the meanwhile, I’ll keep looking for any other traces of the Oneironauts.
With any luck, they should still be around. Maybe under a different name?
ALEX
Where did you put those files?
MADDY
Are you being serious right now?
ALEX
I don’t see any files, there’s just a bunch of HTML open on screen.
MADDY
What? Let me see.
[pause]
Oh my god.
ALEX
What?
MADDY
Where did you find this?
ALEX
I dunno, I just started click-
MADDY
[interrupts loudly]
WHERE?!
ALEX
Right here!
MADDY
I can’t believe this.
ALEX
Believe what?
MADDY
How did I miss this the first time I went through it?
ALEX
Miss what?
What’s going on?!
MADDY
[silence]
See this line of code here?
ALEX
Yeah, it’s BASE64 right?
MADDY
Good eye.
It’s how May and I used to leave hints for each other.
It’s BASE64 that decodes into an encrypted string.
And only May and I hold the key.
ALEX
This is from May?!
MADDY
I hope so, let me decrypt it.
[keyboard typing]
[silence]
[more keyboard typing]
[loud sigh of relief]
ALEX
Maddy, are you crying?
MADDY
The key worked.
It’s May.
ALEX
What does it say?
MADDY
[reads out word by word]
Find Detective James Raynor
ALEX
[starts laughing]
MADDY
[sniffles]
What’s so funny?
ALEX
That the first thing that popped into my mind was that this has to be a coincidence.
But it can’t be.
None of it is.
MADDY
That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you.
ALEX
You were right.
MADDY
About what?
ALEX
Being stubborn.
MADDY
[small chuckle]
Yeah well, same goes for me buddy.
ALEX
I need a drink.
MADDY
Yeah, same.
ALEX
[clears throat]
NO FURTHER MATERIAL RECOVERED
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