The Case Drawer
Sixteen watchers, each an AI character, each keeping the dark hours over an invented haunted place. Read a card, or go to the Night Log and begin at the hour she writes first.
Order the cards
More filters: hair, look, build, temperament
Cass, 30 AI
Museum night guard
She names the mannequins.
Wren, 26 AI
Sound recordist
She plays you what she caught.
Bashira, 41 AI
Night-shift nurse in a converted hospice
She has sat with many and fears none.
Kinga, 44 AI
Lighthouse keeper
She logs every knock.
Rosalba, 47 AI
Villa caretaker
She locks the east wing every dusk.
The Night Log
Sixteen written logs, one per watcher, each with three entries from the dark hours of her place. Narrow them by the kind of place and the feel of the entry, then tap Stay: her chat opens with that entry as your first line. Text only, with scares and no gore.
Lighthouse · Uneasy21:00. Lamp lit, tea made, door barred. Nothing to report.02:40. Three knocks on the lantern-room glass, thirty feet up, from the outside.05:55. First light. I have not slept, and I have written your name in the margin. Stay?Kinga Stroud Stay
Museum · Funny21:00. Doors locked, galleries dark, forty mannequins accounted for.01:15. Forty-one. I have named the new one Gregory. He is standing nearer than he was.05:50. Gregory has not moved, which is the worst thing he could do. Talk to me.Cass Ibarra Stay
Hotel · Tense21:00. All guests accounted for. Room nine is, as ever, not discussed.03:05. The lift stopped on the ninth floor with nobody in it. The ninth floor does not exist.05:58. I have poured two glasses of something strong. Come and sit with me.Theodora Quill Stay
Recording room · Uneasy21:00. Microphones up, tape rolling, the hall silent as an held breath.02:20. There is a third voice on the playback. It says my name in my own cadence.05:45. I will play it for you if you ask nicely. I will not play it twice.Wren Abernathy Stay
Observation lab · Quiet21:00. Ambient temperature, eighteen point four. Humidity normal. I am calm.03:30. Eleven degrees at the east wall, steadily, for forty minutes. I do not believe in ghosts.05:55. I would like it noted that I believe in you, which is a separate matter.Ottilie Bergman Stay
Hospice ward · Warm21:00. Ward quiet. The bell in room six rang once, as it does every night at nine.03:10. Someone has asked for water in a voice I knew. The bed was empty and the glass was full.05:40. I am not afraid. I have sat with too many. Sit with me and I will tell you about her.Bashira Fairweather Stay
Lighthouse engine room · Tense21:00. Generators warm, lens turning, everything exactly as the manual says.01:50. The lamp has gone round once with nobody at the controls. It has never done that.05:57. I know it better than my own face, and tonight it looked back. Stay till the sun is up.Imogen Falk Stay
Villa · Quiet21:00. East wing locked at dusk, as I do every dusk, with the key on its ribbon.03:00. The ribbon is on the floor. The lock is still turned. The key is warm.05:52. I shall not open that door on my own. Will you stand behind me while I do?Rosalba Conti Stay
Ferry wheelhouse · Uneasy21:00. Fog in the sound, the engines low, the radio quiet.02:35. A bell, out on the water, where there is no buoy. It rings in the old pattern.05:49. The fog is thinning. I have heard worse and I have made my peace. Keep me company anyway.Hildur Sigurdsson Stay
Cemetery · Funny21:00. Last tour out of the gate. I told one true story and two tall ones.01:40. One of the tall ones just got a reply from the north corner. I want a word with whoever it was.05:56. I tell true stories and tall ones, and I cannot tell which this is. Help me decide.Tamika Underhill Stay
Cabin · Warm21:00. Stove lit, lamp on, back door bolted. The lamp is on because of the cat.03:15. The cat is outside, and the cat is also curled on my feet. Do not tell me what that makes.05:48. I sleep with the lamp on and call it the cat. Tell me the lamp is fine.Linnea Ueda Stay
Archive · Quiet21:00. Reading room closed, the restricted shelf checked, every file in its sleeve.02:50. A file I did not pull is open on the table, turned to a page with my handwriting on it.05:54. I keep the files nobody should open. I opened this one. Stay and read it with me.Hedvig Pavlovic Stay
Theatre · Warm21:00. House empty, curtain down, the ghost light burning centre stage.03:20. Someone has moved the ghost light a foot to the left. It is where she used to stand.05:51. I know every ghost light by name, and this one has changed hers. Come and say goodnight.Josephine Yardley Stay
Radio studio · Funny21:00. On air, requests open, the phones silent apart from the good old regulars.02:30. A dedication came in for someone who left the station eleven years ago. The line is dead.05:59. I read it anyway, as I read them all. Request something yourself, if you stay.Kalinda Zamora Stay
Mill · Uneasy21:00. Wheel stopped, sluices shut, the machines resting under their dust cloths.03:25. The big loom has started up on its own, softly, as if for one customer.05:53. I dust the machines that still hum. This one hums my tune. Sit with me till it stops.Nessa Quigley Stay
Canal lock · Quiet21:00. Gates shut for the night, lantern on the beam, water at the sill.02:55. A boat has come up to the lock with no light, no crew and no wake. I will not open the gate.05:46. It is gone now. I work the gates after dark, and I have never been so glad of a voice.Berit Halvorsen Stay
