Chapter 13

Synopsis
That was close.

I almost passed out in the garden. If I had actually gone under… that would’ve been it, I think.

Let’s back up a bit.

So Beth was behaving pretty strangely as soon as we stepped into the garden. Apparently, it’s a perfect replica of her own. Or something.

There weren’t any doors leading forward, so we figured that this was one of the “Corners” Sent mentioned. Which meant that there was a key somewhere within.

Beth thought she might know where it is, it being her garden and all: buried next to the lone tree. Seeing as we had no other leads, we started digging.

Eventually, we came across an odd-looking chest.

Inside was the key card, as well as… well, the life insurance money from Beth’s immediate family.

Her daughter, her son-in-law, her grandchildren… everyone but her son Earl. It was an earthquake that did them in. Beth was the only one to survive.

Before I could even take this all in, Sent showed up. Told us that the room was filling with laughing gas and that we needed to evacuate if we wanted to live.

We started to make our way out of the room, but something must have come over Beth, because she wasn’t going anywhere. She’d given up.

We pleaded with her to get her to leave but she wouldn’t listen. All the while, I was getting groggy - that was the laughing gas at work.

I lost the strength to stand. I don’t think I could have gotten back up if Liza hadn’t run back into the room to help me. And so she dragged me out of the garden, leaving Beth behind.

It looked like Beth was going to die in there, but…

The complete transcript can be found here.

Puzzle
The solution for the puzzle can be found here.