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Alan (V.O.): To get to Parliament Tower, I needed to find a murder site. Zane would know where to find one.
Alan (V.O): Zane’s room, 665, was upstairs. The elevator would take me there. Something told me Zane wouldn’t be happy to see me this time.
Alan: I’m in control now. The second you try anything, I will shoot you in the head. Scratch wrote “Return”, not me. You’re a fucking liar.
Zane: You had given up. You stopped writing. You said it was too dangerous. That we didn’t deserve to get out. And then he showed up. Scratch. He promised to write. To get me the hell out of here. He was magnificent. A visionary. It was art. But then when he finished, he took “Return” and left me behind.
Alan: It’s still here. And so he is.
Zane: I know I fucked up. But you can still catch him before he gets out. Before he gets to your wife. When you get to him, don’t hesitate. Kill the bastard, for what he did to us. There is a murder site, in my cinema. Where my film “Nightless Night” is playing.
Alan: I told you not to try anything.
Zane: Oh mercy. Thousands have gone missing. Beyond the labyrinth of me. When you’re lost, you’re lost in your own company. And… cut! Now that is drama.
Alan: What the fuck.
Alan (V.O.): I had a million questions about Zane. But I had more pressing concerns.
Alan (V.O.): I had to find the movie theater, Poet’s Cinema. The next murder site was there. Zane had created the film in tandem with “Return”, to escape the Dark Place. I could see the searchlight beams of the movie theater on the far side of the plaza.
Alan (V.O.): The light cut through the darkness. The flashlight had done its job.
Unknown Voice: (humming)
Tim: Hey, Alan. Good to see another sane face.
Alan: Not sure how sane I’m feeling. Be careful out there, Tim. If you see me, make sure it’s really me. Not some psycho wearing my face.
Tim: Sounds like you’re having a rough go. Have been there. The missing time. The aliens.
Alan: “Missing time”?
Tim: It’s the same thing I’ve been saying. The dreams. Sometimes I wake up in a completely different place, missing entire days. I have no idea what happened, but I’m trying to find out. Things always get better if you just keep moving forward, Alan.
Alan: Wait, what’s this about aliens?
Tim: Oh, I was just convinced that everything going on with me was because of aliens. Abductions, signals beamed into my head, that kind of thing. Now I know it’s been Door all along. I haven’t ruled out him being an alien though.
Alan (V.O.): The theater appeared to be closed. Maybe the ticket could still get me in.
Ticket Seller: Please enjoy the film, sir.
Alan (V.O.): The cinema lobby was a gateway to other realities on the silver screen. I could set a scene here.
Alan: I see it now. The question. How do you run from an idea? From a thought? From a story that lives in your head? You can’t escape your fears. You carry your monsters with you. The devil on your back. It’s in you. You’re running right back to it. A loop. I have to stop. Stop running. Stop writing. I won’t write another word. It’s too dangerous. Only horror comes out of it. People get hurt. I will let the currents of this ocean wash me away. But what if I forget why I stopped? What if I forget I stopped at all? That is fucked up. If that happens, I’ll start writing again.
Alan (V.O.): Did I stop writing at some point? I can’t stop. There’s too much at stake.
Casey (V.O.): I felt like I’d been on this case, looking for the Cult of the Word, for a lifetime or more. The only case I’d ever been on. They would surface from the dark with their depraved acts of violence and fade back into the night, leaving behind bloody crime scenes and clues heavy with obscure meanings that led nowhere. Arriving at the cinema, I felt a monumental, terrifying revelation trembling before me. Ready to open its jaws and swallow me whole.
Alan (V.O.): This place had significance to the Cult. There was something to use there.
Alan (V.O.): The main event was the murder. I had to find my way to it.
Alan (V.O.): The first step toward the murder site. I was making progress. Someone had barricaded themselves in the room.
Casey (V.O.): It would do you a lot of good to talk, buddy.
Cultist (V.O.): Haha. It was an initiation ceremony. Or so we made our “new members” believe. Two of New York’s finest. They had performed endless favors to earn their place among us. We had something special waiting for them. And something very special for you, Alex Casey.
Casey (V.O.): Who’s your leader? Alan Wake? Scratch? Zane? Give me a name!
Cultist (V.O.): You will meet him soon enough.
Alan (V.O.): There was no end to the corruption. It fit the genre, so I’d use it.
Alan (V.O.): The cops had gotten their fifteen minutes of fame with the cult, and it’d been a scream. They were the murder victims. I had to find a way into the Projection Booth somehow.
Casey (V.O.): Look at you, following your master into la-la-land. A sad bunch of clowns in funny masks and hoods, pretending to be a secret society.
Cultist (V.O.): Maybe it is you who is playing a role, Mr. Casey. A role carefully laid out for you. A puppet blindly performing the ritual steps for the glory of the Cult.
Casey (V.O.): What the fuck have you been smoking?
Cultist (V.O.): Nightless Night. A clip of the lost film survived. You will see, Mr. Casey. In the Nightless Night, you will finally see.
Alan (V.O.): Nightless Night was Zane’s film. It played a role in this story.
Alan (V.O.): What is this? Zane was in the clip holding my lamp. Was he playing me in his film? Zane’s lamp on the screen had no light. I could transfer the light in my lamp to his. The light of the lamp shone out of the screen and revealed a door. I was back out in the night. The seedy alley, away from prying eyes, was a good scene for dark deeds.
Alan (V.O.): Someone had fallen to their death from the rooftop. The scene here had changed. In the city trapped in eternal night, they watched the film where the night never arrives, where the night hides in your mind.
Alan: Augh!
Alan (V.O.): “Straight to the top”. The dirty cops looked down on the city. Their city. They had committed repulsive deeds to get there. They told themselves it was worth it.
Unknown Voice: (humming)
Tim: Hey. You’re Alan this time, right? Just making sure.
Alan: It’s me, Tim. You ran into Scratch, didn’t you? My double.
Tim: Hard to say, but he sure looked like you. It was weird because I heard you got out of this place. Seeing you here, I guess that was just a rumor. Anyway, I’m just doing my thing, still looking for Door. I’ve got a new theory on that front.
Alan: What’s this new theory?
Tim: It’s a lot, so buckle up. You have your doubles, and I keep dreaming about other versions of me, right? This makes me think there must be other realities besides ours. But ours is connected to the rest of them. Door might even be part of the reason why. He seems to be the only constant. But what does he want? What’s he planning? Sorry, you’ve got your own problems. Sometimes I think I’m going crazy trying to make sense of this. Maybe this whole thing is much bigger than what we’re able to see. Or everything I just said is all bullshit. Who knows.
Alan: What was my double doing? Did he have a manuscript with him? I need to know.
Tim: He didn’t have anything. No, no, he had a cocktail. And he was smoking. He wasn’t like you said he’d be. Very touchy-feely. He wore leather pants. He was actually looking for you. Asked the same question about the manuscript. Then he asked if I was going to a costume party and if he could come. I told him this wasn’t a costume and he ran off. Guess he doesn’t like cops.
Alan: That wasn’t Scratch.
Alan (V.O.): The plot changed the details of the word.
Casey (V.O.): Don’t you fucking move, or I’ll blow you away.
Cultist (V.O.): You got me, Mr. Casey. I’m all yours. Go ahead. Ask that burning question in your mind.
Casey (V.O.): How’d you do it? How did you get me into that film clip without my remembering it? Talk to me, damn it!
Cultist (V.O.): You’ve seen the film? Good, good, now you’re ready to meet the Grandmaster. He’s waiting for you in the projection booth, where everything will be revealed, where he will project a new reality onto this one. And now, Mr. Casey, I have played my part to the end.
Casey (V.O.): No! Crazy bastard. Why’d he jump?
Alan (V.O.): The projection booth. Was that where I’d find the murder site?
Alan (V.O.): The shadows melted away. I was alone. For now.
Alan (V.O.): Fuck off.
Alan (V.O.): This thread would create something terrible in the scene, but it’s what the story needed. I found myself in a maze of film equipment. There had to be a way to the projection booth from here. I wasn’t alone.
Casey: I’m here, you son of a bitch! Show yourself. The Grandmaster, my ass. A clown in a mask.
Alan (V.O.): I was back where I started. A loop within a loop. I had to keep going.
Casey: I’m here, you son of a bitch! Show yourself. Who was that— Who said that? The Grandmaster, my ass. A clown in a mask. I’m not the one wearing a mask here, you moron!
Alan (V.O.): The Casey in the story was losing it. I wasn’t far behind. I was back at the beginning again. I had to keep going, find a way to the murder site.
Casey: I’m here, you son of a bitch!
Alan: Hello? Hey!
Casey: Show yourself. Who was that— Who said that? That’s a real clever trick, asshole! You can run but you can’t hide! The Grandmaster, my ass. A clown in a mask. I’m not the one wearing a mask here, you moron! Why don’t you come say that to my face, buddy! Then we’ll see who’s the moron!
Alan (V.O.): He’s gone! But I saw someone.
Alan (V.O.): I was back at the beginning again. I had to keep going, find a way to the murder site.
Casey: I’m here, you son of a bitch! Show yourself. Who was that— Who said that? Shut up! That’s a real clever trick, asshole! Shut the fuck up! Shut up! You can run but you can’t hide! I’ll get you! I’ll get all of you fuckers! The Grandmaster, my ass. A clown in a mask. I’m not the one wearing a mask here, you moron! Why don’t you come say that to my face, buddy! Then we’ll see who’s the moron!
Alan: Casey?
Actor: Who’s there? Look, you got the wrong guy. I’m not Alex Casey. I only play him in the movies. He’s just a fictional character!
Alan: What’s going on here?
Actor: You don’t have to kill me. You don’t have to go get that knife and stab me. You can just give up and go back. Forget about the ritual sacrifice to open the way forward.
Alan: The ritual sacrifice to open the way?
Actor: No! Don’t do it! You don’t have to become a monster! Just leave the knife where it is in the back and go!
Alan: The knife in the back?
Alan (V.O.): Everything about this was absurd. Our dialogue forced and ridiculous, in desperate need of another pass. But I’d play along to see where it took me.
Actor: Let’s forget about the knife. Don’t go looking for the knife. There is no knife.
Alan (V.O.): The knife.
Actor: Oh no! Oh no you don’t! You’ll be sorry!
Alan: What the fuck.
Alan (V.O.): I was getting close.
The Grandmaster (V.O.): Welcome, Alex Casey. You have done well. You played your role perfectly.
Casey (V.O.): Everything out of your mouth is a damn lie. The only place any of this makes sense is in your psychotic brain.
The Grandmaster (V.O.): As a functional character in a story, you have fulfilled your purpose. You brought the writer of the story here. You can go now, Casey.
Casey (V.O.): I’m not going anywhere before I get some answers! How was I in that movie? Why does this all feel so familiar? Who the fuck are you? Who the fuck am I? No!
The Grandmaster (V.O.): And welcome to you, Alan Wake.
Alan (V.O.): What the hell?
The Grandmaster (V.O.): “This is the ritual to lead you on.” We are just one step away from your final destination, Mr. Wake. But first, here’s an unanswered mystery for you: if Casey was fictional, and you assumed his role as the detective, are you now fictional too? Whose story are you living, Mr. Wake?
Alan (V.O.): The visions were getting under my skin. Coming too close for comfort. Not a separate layer, but mingling with my own reality in the Dark Place.
Alan: Wait. A dead end. This can’t be right. Did I miss something?
Alan (V.O.): The murder site. The mask was the key. I was traveling deeper into the Dark Place. The poem on the wall was growing at the same pace, dogging my footsteps like my unwanted shadow moving in the corner of my eye. It wasn’t my writing. I didn’t know what it was. A terrible prophecy, a curse, looming over me.
Alan (V.O.): This is how I could help her.
Saga: Wake?
Alan: Saga Anderson. Listen. I’ve been tricked. Scratch wrote “Return”. I tried to fix the story, but he stopped me before I reached the end. He has it now. It’s the key to escape.
Saga: What do you mean “escape”? … is Scratch.
Alan: I need to stop him. I need to stop him before he gets out. He’s after Alice.I’m still trapped, but I’m making progress. I wrote you in to be the story’s hero. Scratch made a horror story. I need to match the genre. It has to be dark, but the hero can break through. Save her family. Save us all.
Saga: “Save her family”? Are you talking about…
Alan: Yes! Whatever you’re doing, it’s working. You just need to keep going.
Saga: … in the horror story?
Alan (V.O.): I was closer now. Closer than ever before. But there was no time to lose. Everything was hanging in the balance. I could still lose it all. Parliament Tower. I had to make it work this time. I could stop Scratch. Get the manuscript, fix its ending.
Alan (V.O.): A film that was a ritual. Literal movie magic. In a theater that hailed from a time when there was still magic in the silver screen.
Alan (V.O.): The phone was ringing again. Somehow I sensed it wasn’t Zane this time.
Alan: It’s closed. No!
Alan (V.O.): The building was condemned. Closed up. Something was wrong. Something was missing. I had to get inside.
Alan: Hello?
Familiar Voice: Hello.
Alan (V.O.): It wasn’t Zane. It wasn’t Scratch either.
Alan: Hah. You’re me? Me. I don’t understand. There’s a lot I don’t understand.
Familiar Voice: The Dark Place operates in loops. Time is a story. I’m calling you from a different point in that story.
Alan: From the future? I’m never getting out of here, am I?
Familiar Voice: Yes, you will. And no, you won’t. And this is by your own choice.
Alan: What does that mean?
Familiar Voice: I’m sorry for what you will have to go through. Alice’s photos you found from the shoebox in the talk show studio basement. Before you can go to Parliament Tower, you must put them into the shoebox at her statue at the plaza. To help you. To help Alice. To help Saga Anderson.
Alan: I’m my own deus ex machina? Really?
Alan (V.O.): How many writers does it take to finish a story? One for each draft. It’s the same writer, but in a different point in time. I’d follow the steps he laid out for me. Alice’s photos from the talk show building basement. Ahti guided me there. I’d bring the photos to the shoebox by the statue.