The Sticky Note Killer Prologue - Kiri McCoy

*THIS IS A HYPERLINKED NARRATIVE WHERE A WORD IN THE STORY LEADS TO THE NEXT PART OF THE STORY*



I was walking through the woods by the PPAC, nearing the small bunker that resides nearby. I encountered a strong smell that made me want to throw up, so knowing me I had to investigate. I slowly walked closer to the bunker and saw a pair of shoes outside the doorway. What I saw next was something that would haunt me to the end of time.

The body.

The body was something so unimaginable.  It was something I've never seen, and the smell was so putrid. It took days for the smell to leave my nose. I could not make out who it was that had been there for so long. I immediately called the police and waited inside of Krebs for them to get here.

I was interviewed and brought in for questioning, because I found the body. I was only told that the person was female and our age, so I assumed she probably went to Pitt-Johnstown. I would find her name out later once word got around and people starting gossiping, but mostly because I read the paper.

Two days later she was front page of the local newspaper. Her name was Allison Berekely and she was twenty years old. I knew her from somewhere i just could not place where. She died at the same age as myself. I was freaking out and pacing in my room for hours until my roommate calmed me down, gave me a cup of hot chocolate, and helped get me to sleep.

I kept thinking about Allison all day. I was excused from Tuesday classes to help me cope with what I experienced. I could not stop imaging her mangled body in that bunker. It was terrible that something like that could happen at this campus. The one thing that took me aback about the body was the random sticky note I found on the arm of the person. I took the note and kept it from police not even thinking that it was important evidence.

It said: "I favor the trail between the two tree homes and the place of unification."
There was not a signature to go off of, so I decided to find the killer myself.

Sticky Note Killer Clue #1 - Kiri McCoy

I knew that whoever the killer was wanted this evil scavenger hunt to happen otherwise he or she would not have put the note there for someone to find. I started analyzing the clue to see if I could figure out if it was a place on campus.

First I started with the "two tree homes" which makes me think actual trees, but campus is covered with them and trails so that seems so useless right now. Then I thought about the part that talks about "place of unification" because that could be taken multiple ways. Unification means to bring together several things so it could mean marriage therefore the chapel, or a gathering of sorts, but that is all over campus mostly.

I thought about the note for days and days, but I could not ask for help or someone might tell the police of my little hunt. The riddle made sense but no sense at all at the same time and it frustrated me so much. It kept me from my studies and I lost my focus on everything besides that stupid little note.

Until one day when I dropped the note and a stranger picked it up to give it to me. He had just enough time to read it before I snatched it away from him. He looked at me funnily and I just started walking away. He chased after me and asked why I acted so oddly. I could not just tell him everything, but he noticed my concern on the topic. He then looked at me and said I bet that leads to the trail between Laurel, Oak and the Student Union, and just walked away without another word.

I found it odd that he knew the riddle so quickly, but it shook me that I may or may not have found where the riddle leads. I started running from Biddle Hall to that particular trail. Once I got there I just stood at the top nearest to Oak. I searched the trail up and down and even off a little from the trail, but found nothing.

I got so frustrated that I just lumped onto one of the stones and sat there for a few minutes. Surprisingly (not really) it started to rain, thank you Johnstown for the crappy weather whenever I feel horrible. I stared up into the sky and a yellow paper caught my eye in one of the holes in the one tree. I ran to the tree and figured it was about six feet high from the ground. I jumped to grab it and successfully at that. I then ran back to my dorm to read the note.

The Sticky Note Killer Clue #2 - Jeremy Staffen

Now that I am back at my room, I am able to read the clue on the note.  The note read:


"You'll find me in a place of stone, 

Where silence cloaks the ground.

Be warned, many may fool you."

Now this clue stumped me at first.  I wasn't entirely sure what it meant, so i took it to a close friend.  After looking over the clue a few more times we realized it was talking about a cemetery.  The last line of the clue still stumped us.  We thought there was a nearby cemetery but we couldn't locate one. 

A couple days went by before I overheard a conversation in the student union.  A couple students were talking about Indian burial grounds on campus.  This immediately caught my attention.  They were saying how they are located deep in the woods on campus.

I texted my friend and told him about the new discovery in the search for the next clue.  Later that day, we went on the search for the burial grounds.  After walking for a while we stumbled upon a small cemetery with very old tombstones.  It was a very creepy place to be, especially since the sun was starting to set.  There was a very odd detail that caught our attention.

There were sticky notes everywhere.  Notes were on trees, tombstones, rocks, and some just on the ground.  So, we started to collect all the notes and read them.  A lot of these notes were blank or had irrelevant sayings on them.  I was now able to understand what the last line of the clue meant.  This was very frustrating.  Some had jokes on them.  Is this killer trying to prank us?

After much sifting through notes, we finally found a note that had stars all over it and this note had the next clue.

The Sticky Note Killer Clue #3 - Travis Moulayianis

The note says, "You'll find me in a place where Thursday comes after Friday. Tip toe around and don't make a sound."

The sun was nearly set and I needed to get out of the woods.  I did not even begin to think about the note yet, my first priority was getting back to my room.  Slightly frighten because I have never journeyed into those woods, I was unaware of the direction I came from.  I started to freak out until I realized I had my phone in my pocket with a GPS so I pulled it out.  I unlocked it and saw it was only on 7%.  I typed in UPJ's address and by the time it found the location and I was ready to head back it was already down to 5% and losing battery fast.  I needed to hurry if I didn't want to be stranded out here tonight.  I started to run along the path until it started taking me in the wrong direction.  I ducked under trees, jumped over logs and ran straight through bushes.  It said it would take me 20 minutes to walk back but I got out of there in 5 minutes I headed back to my room where I immediately fell asleep.

I woke up the next morning still holding the note in my hand. I read it again. "You'll find me in a place where Thursday comes after Friday." I had no idea what that could mean. "Tip toe around and don't make a sound."  My initial thoughts for the whole note were blank. I started with this line.  I thought about the last part that said "Don't make a sound." I assumed it was somewhere that you need to remain quiet to either be or get to.  Obviously the first thought is the library.

I headed to the library to try to find a note. People probably thought I was crazy because I was looking everywhere and one of the librarians even asked me if I needed help with anything. "No thank you" I said. I read the first part of the note again.  "You'll find me in a place where Thursday comes after Friday."  Was it leading me to the title of a book? Was it a history book that had events that happened chronologically on a Friday of one week and then the Thursday of the next week? Friday comes before Thursday alphabetically. "It's a dictionary!" I yelled in excitement. The librarian ran over to me with a mean look on her face and told me I needed to leave the library right now and never come back or she is going to call campus security.  I didn't know what to say so I just walked out.

I was in shock with a million questions running through my head.  What should I do about the note that's in the dictionary? Should I try going back in? Or do I ask someone go get it for me? I got back to my room and decided to ask my roommate to go into the library to retrieve the note for me.  I said don't read it just bring it back to me.  Sure enough the door to my room swung flying open as my roommate returned and said, "You need to read this."  I rolled my eyes and grabbed the note.

eXistenZ

The movie eXistenZ was a movie that surprised us all. There were a number of plot twists, and pieces missing that were revealed in the end, but even then we were left questioning the ending. The movie starts out with the game "eXistenZ" being released and a group of people were to test the game out before its official release to the public. The game designer Alexa Geller made an appearance to download the game system into the chosen players from these flesh looking pods. As she is downloading the game a rogue gamer steps up and shoots Alexa in the shoulder announcing death should be upon her. Chaos erupts, she is given a body guard, they run for their lives. Once they are safe, Alexa wants to test the game to see if it is still working properly. Throughout the movie the two are playing the game and an entire plot twist makes the ending (watch the movie to see what happens).

The movie is filled with moments that make you think "What?!" the entire time. The is no strict plot for the movie that stands out enough for the watchers to understand what it going on. It is not until the end of the film that everything pieces together and the plot is understood, however, the ending still leaves us at that "What?!" moment. There were also moments where the movie sort of grossed out the people watching, because of the odd nature of the film. The pods are fleshy looking and they move in an odd fashion that gives you that creepy feeling and a shiver up your spine.

The film was interesting to watch and would definitely recommend it on your watch list. eXistenZ is action-packed and keeps you on your toes throughout the movie. Each scene has its own flare and keeps you interested to the very end. From the beginning to the end the thrill never ends. Also watch for the small changes throughout the story it may help you figure out the end. It has its own style of producing a very confusing story, but keep that popcorn going, because you are going to want to see the end of this.