A Flaw in the Pattern - Pt. 4

Instructions

/What is better, freedom from others, or freedom from yourself?/ Tony was in his apartment, pacing back and forth and thinking about his theories. Though he wanted to deny it, he was starting to believe the voice’s suggestion. It did seem plausible that there could be aliens, and it certainly made sense. It was hard to argue with the voice’s logic. Tony had slowly become obsessed with the idea, and he was almost constantly thinking about it. It had even started to interfere with his job. He got more distracted now, and he was always worried that someone would notice something was wrong with him and would report him. So far, it hadn’t happened, but Tony still feared that it might. Everyone seemed more malicious and intimidating, and he didn’t trust anyone. He wished that there was a way to tell someone about his theories, or to at least get them out somehow. He knew he couldn’t say anything about it, unless he wanted to get in trouble. “Wait a minute…” he realized, “If I can’t say anything, maybe… I could write?” /Yes…/ said the voice, /You could write your theories down. It will help get everything in one place, too. You’ll solve the mystery much faster./ Tony immediately started looking for something, anything he could use to write his theories down. After a minute of searching, he found it: a small, spiral bound notebook, completely empty and waiting to be written in. Another minute of searching later, and he had found a pencil to go with the notebook. “/Perfect/,” he and the voice said in unison. He sat down and opened the notebook up, then began to write. He wrote down all of his theories that he had made, filling up a few pages. He spent the most time on the alien theories, and the voice would chime in with a lot more about them. By the time he was done, about an hour had passed. Every idea and theory he had was written in the notebook, along with new theories and patterns he noticed while writing. He realized how dangerous it might be to have something like that, but it didn’t matter. He didn’t want anyone to see it, but if someone did, there was a chance they would understand. If he got enough evidence, he might even be able to get help from someone. He made a quick note of that in his book, so he might remember it later. Finally, he closed his book and leaned back with a sigh. Writing all of that made him feel both a bit better, and a bit worse. But one thing was for sure: Tony was making progress, and he would soon get to the bottom of the mystery.