143. "He's Always Watching." The Timekeeper Ep. 2

Summary

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Heart Starts Pounding: Horrors, Hauntings and Mysteries

Episode 143: "He's Always Watching." The Timekeeper Ep. 2
Release Date: October 10, 2025
Host: Heart Starts Pounding
Featured Cast: Judah Lewis (Charlie), Chandler Kinney (Zoe), Arjun Atelier (Gamma), Matt Anne Spa (Buzz), Guy Kent (Jacob Fairchild / The Timekeeper)

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Episode Overview

In the second episode of the chilling "Timekeeper" arc, Charlie, Gamma, and Zoe delve further into a sinister video game connected to a burned-down mental hospital. As they try to uncover the game’s secrets and its link to a string of disappearances and deaths (including their friend Tim’s), they wrestle with supernatural paranoia, complicated friendships, and the ever-present ticking of both the virtual clock and the real-life dangers that surround them. The story blends haunted technology, urban legend, and unresolved grief in a tightly layered mystery.

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Key Discussion Points & Story Beats

1. Reuniting & Old Wounds (02:37–04:12)

• Charlie, Gamma, and Zoe awkwardly reconnect at Zoe’s window after a month of estrangement, fallout from grief and changing friendships.
• They share updates about their missing friend Tim and deceased acquaintance Blake.
• Notable quote:
  -"I hadn't actually seen her — not on the screen — in a month. That was at Tasty Burger... I stuffed an entire carton of fries in my mouth and ran out the door." (Charlie, 02:56)
• The dynamic is tense, punctuated by jokes masking discomfort (“Did you bring a bomb?” “Basically.”).

2. Shady Pines and the Game’s Origins (04:12–05:39)

• The team discusses Shady Pines, a former mental hospital turned tech company, Next Level, rumored to be the origin point of the mysterious and deadly game.
• Zoe accesses Tim’s laptop, revealing that it's connected to a VPN named Shady Pines, confirming a Borden County location.

3. The Game’s Peculiar Mechanics (06:08–07:16)

• Multiple attempts to control the game show that only Charlie can move the player character. For others, the game remains frozen.
• Zoe jokes about "ghosts," but posits it might be facial recognition or an experimental controller system.
  -"You guys have controller brains. Probably part of what they’re working on out there. You said it was a tech company, right?" (Zoe, 06:55)

4. Stakes and Competition (07:17–08:54)

• Zoe and Charlie make a wager on who can beat their respective games first (“I’ll beat it before you beat Elden Ring.” — Charlie, 08:28).
• A playful bet adds tension: three days where the winner picks the loser’s school outfit.

5. Friendship Fractures and Grieving (08:54–10:29)

• Gamma pressures Charlie to speak to Zoe and stop avoiding conflict. Charlie reflects on his family’s tendency to bury grief and “keep moving.”
  -"What I knew how to do was stay busy. So that's what I was gonna do this summer." (Charlie, 10:29)

6. Diving Into the Game: Puzzles & Paranoia (12:18–19:25)

• Charlie narrates his attempt at the game:
  • Solves a number code to exit the hospital room.
  • Finds an ID badge for Jacob Fairchild (the “Timekeeper”).
  • Encounters a looping video of Fairchild delivering a cryptic speech on sleep, evolution, and time.
• Notable quote:
  -"Time. That's right. Time is for living organisms like us a mechanism for decay." (Fairchild, 14:20)
• Elevator with 13 floors, each floor inaccessible without the proper key.
• Descent into eerie, dark hallway on floor B12; the sound of ticking resonates with the episode’s title and theme.

7. The Notebook and the Game’s Watchfulness (19:25–22:11)

• Charlie finds answers to game puzzles in Tim’s notebook.
• Discovers disturbing notes:
  -"He takes your days, he takes your nights, and then he takes your life... He's always watching." (Notebook reading, 21:10)
• Reveals that Tim had blacked out the laptop camera, negating the facial recognition theory.

8. Testing, Theories & Refuting the Supernatural (22:13–25:37)

• The group tests the camera; the game still only lets Charlie play.
• Zoe concludes, "I don't know what it is" (24:56), suggesting the need to see the source code (possible only with admin access).
• The team speculates the 13th key might be related to a name and numbers in Tim’s notes.

9. The Missing Players (26:08–28:55)

• Zoe identifies the numbers as geographic coordinates, tied to a local landmark—Nine Mile Bridge—where Tim’s truck was found.
• Investigating the game’s leaderboard, they uncover that several top players (including Maria Shepard, the first to achieve 13 keys) vanished mysteriously after playing.
• Notable quote:
  -"The 12 people we knew played the game were all dead or missing. Whatever was going on there, it had to have started with Maria." (Charlie, 31:29)

10. The Night of the Fire & Fairchild’s Motives (32:13–34:33)

• They discover the game file was last modified on the night of the fire by user ‘jfairchild.’ (32:32)
• Theorize that Fairchild may have tried to embed a confession or clue within the game.
• Discuss whether Fairchild was a villain or a whistleblower locked in as events spiraled.

11. Next Steps: The Plan (34:46–36:10)

• The team hatches a plan:
  • Charlie continues playing using Tim’s notes and watches for possible passwords.
  • Zoe tries to access the game at a deeper level.
  • They decide to investigate Nine Mile Bridge in person.
• Gamma remains wary: "Bad plan. Terrible plan, but plan." (35:17)
• The protagonists pile into Buzz’s truck, with the literal and metaphorical clock ticking.

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Memorable Quotes & Character Moments

• Fairchild’s Riddle and Philosophy of Time:
  "This thing all things devours... slays king, ruins town, beats mountain down." – (Jacob Fairchild, 14:04)
  "Time is for living organisms like us a mechanism for decay." (14:20)
• On Avoidance and Grief:
  "It wasn't a plan so much as my default way of handling everything in life ... what I knew how to do was stay busy." – Charlie (09:25–10:29)
• On the Game’s Dread:
  "He takes your days, he takes your nights, then he takes your life. He's always watching." (Charlie's reading from Tim's notebook, 21:10)
• Group Humor Despite the Tension:
  "My dad has a bottle of holy water... I’m going to drink it. Anyone want anything?" – Gamma (28:57)
• On Fairchild’s Motivations:
  "Maybe he was locked in. If he was locked in the server room and the network was offline, he wouldn’t be able to send anything out. The game would be the only thing he could change." – Zoe (34:01)

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Notable Timestamps for Key Sections

• Group Reunites at Zoe’s Window: 02:37–04:12
• Game Mechanics, Only Charlie Can Play: 06:08–07:07
• The Timekeeper’s Video & Philosophy: 14:04–17:07
• Experimenting with Camera & Paranoia: 22:11–24:56
• Discussion of the Missing Players: 27:24–28:55
• Discovery of Last Game Modification: 32:32–32:47
• Formulating the Plan: 35:05–36:10

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Episode Tone & Style

The tone is atmospheric, blending existential dread with gallows humor and authentic teenage dialogue. The friendship dynamics are as crucial as the unfolding supernatural mystery. The ticking clock motif (both literal and figurative) drives persistent tension. The narrative voice veers between wry, confessional, and haunted, drawing listeners into the maze of personal and paranormal unknowns.

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In Summary

"He's Always Watching" masterfully layers uncanny horror, digital-age folklore, and the confusion of grief-stricken friendship. As the protagonists probe deeper into the deadly mystery of the Timekeeper game, the line between research experiment and curse blurs. The episode leaves off with the group set on uncovering the truth at Nine Mile Bridge, with ominous portents gathering and the sense that—just like the game—something is always watching.

Transcript

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[Charlie Fairchild]

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[Charlie Fairchild]

We went to her bedroom window since her mom was on the night shift at the hospital and probably still asleep.

[Gamma]

Zoe. Zoe.

[Charlie Fairchild]

Maybe this was a bad idea.

[Gamma]

Zoe, open up.

[Zoe]

Why didn't you text me back?

[Charlie Fairchild]

Hey, Zoe.

[Zoe]

Hey, G. You didn't answer my question, Charlie.

[Charlie Fairchild]

I hadn't seen her. Actually seen her. Not on the screen in a month. That was at Tasty Burger. I'd stopped by to see my dad on my way home from Funland, and she and Buzz came in for milkshakes. I tried to act normal, whatever that means, but instead, I stuffed an entire carton of fries in my mouth and pointed to my cheeks as if apologizing for not being able to talk while I ran out the door and got in my car and drove away. I wished I had more fries as I stood there with the rain dripping down my face and the laptop ticking under my arm.

[Ad Voice]

No.

[Zoe]

Okay, well, see you later.

[Charlie Fairchild]

Wait. We need your help. I need your help. I'm sorry.

[Zoe]

Go around. You bring a bomb?

[Gamma]

Basically.

[Charlie Fairchild]

Cool. How's the stream?

[Zoe]

I'm gonna need more coffee. Hey, Chat. Can I take a break for a few? I'm really sorry, Charlie. For real. About Blake. I know you weren't super close or anything, but it still sucks.

[Charlie Fairchild]

Thanks. That's. That's actually why we're here. Do you know anything about Shady Pines?

[Zoe]

Haven't heard anyone talk about that place in forever. Old mental hospital that burned down. I mean, it wasn't a hospital anymore. I just remember someone in class had a cousin who was a fireman up there or whatever. So the kid was telling all these stories about what he'd found. Burned bodies and stuff.

[Charlie Fairchild]

Well, do you remember any of them?

[Zoe]

The stories? No. I was, like, eight.

[Charlie Fairchild]

Well, yeah, it was a tech company called Next Level. We think this game is part of whatever research they were doing. Tim was cleaning the place up and found it on an old server. He and Blake were both playing it? Yeah.

[Gamma]

And Blake's dead, and Tim's missing.

[Zoe]

Missing? Like, he won't call you back?

[Charlie Fairchild]

Missing? Like. The Borden County Sheriff called his house and said they found his truck.

[Zoe]

Oh, shit. You think it has something to do with the game?

[Charlie Fairchild]

Yes. No. I mean, not really. We just wanted to see if you could tell where the server was. Like, is it really at Shady Pines?

[Zoe]

Sure. Just need the VPN address so I can get the IP here. Is this your laptop?

[Charlie Fairchild]

No, it's Tim's.

[Zoe]

Ugh, gross. I don't want to know why the keys are sticky. Why is it ticking?

[Charlie Fairchild]

Because I'm not playing the game.

[Zoe]

God, this OS is old. Let me see. So, yeah, Shady Pines is the name of The VPN Tim is logged in as a guest. Let me just get the ip. Looking it up and. Yep, checking the map. And we're in Borden County.

[Gamma]

Shady Pines looks that way.

[Zoe]

X marks the spot.

[Gamma]

Yo, we looking for treasure Bus.

[Ad Voice]

What the hell?

[Zoe]

Oh, Jesus. Didn't hear you pull up.

[Charlie Fairchild]

Hey babe. I thought you wanted to go to Burger Barn.

[Zoe]

No, not until I finish the game.

[Charlie Fairchild]

Oh, cool. What's up, Charlie Brown? G Money? Sup, Buzz, babe? Somehow hearing Buzz say it was more grating than the constant tick tock of the laptop. Well, that's all we really needed. Thanks, Zoey.

[Zoe]

Wait. I want to see the game. Is it cool?

[Charlie Fairchild]

I don't know. We haven't really played it. Zoe brought the game up and tried to move around the hospital like room, but the character was frozen.

[Zoe]

Is it not Wasdi?

[Charlie Fairchild]

No, it is.

[Gamma]

Keeps doing this.

[Zoe]

It just.

[Charlie Fairchild]

It just freezes. Here, let me try. It worked fine for me. I moved the character around the room back and forth, side to side.

[Zoe]

Weird. Okay, let me drive.

[Charlie Fairchild]

Zoe sat back down to nothing. Huh.

[Zoe]

GMA you try.

[Gamma]

Nah, I'm good.

[Zoe]

Come on, G, just play.

[Gamma]

Fine.

[Zoe]

And Charlie, you try again.

[Charlie Fairchild]

I sat back down and it worked perfectly.

[Gamma]

Ghost. I. I knew it was Ghost. I told you not to play, but you didn't listen.

[Zoe]

Yo, chill, Gamma. You think your phone has Ghost in it?

[Gamma]

I don't know.

[Zoe]

It's facial recognition. You look at your phone, it knows it's you, it unlocks. Wow, you guys have controller brains. Probably part of what they're working on out there. You said it was a tech company, right?

[Charlie Fairchild]

Super smart, babe. There it was again, babe. So familiar. So annoying.

[Zoe]

Thanks, babe.

[Charlie Fairchild]

Babe, babe, babe, babe. It was one thing when Buzz said it, but when Zoey said was like that feeling you get when you know you're about to vomit and you can't think about anything else but sprinting to the nearest toilet. Let's go. Gamma, wait.

[Gamma]

Don't you want to ask about the leaderboard? How someone could stay awake that long? Zoe. Only one person beat the game and she stayed away for like a month.

[Zoe]

Wait, really?

[Charlie Fairchild]

Thanks for your help. Zoe.

[Gamma]

Yeah, she played almost non stop for 30 days to get all 13 keys. But she was the only one.

[Zoe]

Charlie, wait. If you're gonna play it, just play here. I'll be up all night anyways. It'll be like the old days.

[Charlie Fairchild]

Yeah, just like the old days. I looked at Buzz when I said it, but it's not like Zoe didn't know what I meant. Buzz was oblivious because Buzz lived his Entire life in a state of blissful oblivion. I don't want to play, okay? I just wanted to make sure it wasn't my fault.

[Zoe]

That what wasn't your fault?

[Charlie Fairchild]

Blake dying. I wanted to make sure I couldn't have played.

[Zoe]

Oh, I get it.

[Jacob Fairchild / The Timekeeper]

What?

[Zoe]

You don't think you can beat it and you don't want to be embarrassed. It's only one girl who beat it, so. I understand.

[Charlie Fairchild]

I'll beat it before you beat Elden Ring.

[Zoe]

Yeah, right. I will bet then. If you're that confident.

[Charlie Fairchild]

Three days.

[Gamma]

No, no, you guys, this isn't that serious.

[Charlie Fairchild]

Fine.

[Zoe]

Three days.

[Charlie Fairchild]

I don't think. Deal.

[Zoe]

Deal.

[Gamma]

Charlie, wait up.

[Charlie Fairchild]

Three days meant three days where the other person got to choose what you wore to school, which usually meant at least one trip to the principal's office.

[Gamma]

Dude, what's your problem? You need Zoe to help with the game.

[Charlie Fairchild]

I don't need, okay? I have Tim's notebook. It probably shows how to get the first 12 keys anyway. All I need to figure out is the last one.

[Gamma]

Yeah, the last one is the hard one.

[Charlie Fairchild]

Yeah, and I don't want to hang out with the fuzz.

[Gamma]

Yeah, I know that, dumbass. But what, you're just gonna avoid Zoe Olive senior year?

[Charlie Fairchild]

I don't know. Maybe.

[Gamma]

Well, I'm not choosing between you, so.

[Charlie Fairchild]

You two need to figure it out. Do whatever you want.

[Gamma]

I just said what I want. I want you to figure it out. Talk to her, man. You can't just put your head down and ignore things forever.

[Charlie Fairchild]

I don't have to ignore them forever. I just have to ignore them for another. That's your plan? It wasn't a plan so much as my default way of handling everything in life. When my mom got sick, she kept her head down and kept working like everything was fine. She just went about her business until she was too weak to stand. And even then, she tried carrying on like normal from the hospital bed. After she died, dad and I did the same thing. Because dad said it's what she would have wanted to keep moving. And we had. We just weren't going anywhere. I pulled up in front of Gama's house and gripped my steering wheel so tight I could feel the disintegrating bits of rubber turning to powder in my hands. Charlie. What?

[Gamma]

The vein in your head is doing that thing where it looks like it's going to explode.

[Charlie Fairchild]

Ah, it's just years of pent up rage.

[Gamma]

Okay, cool, cool. Well, if you want to play the game over here tomorrow, let me know. But seriously, you guys gotta figure it out and this stupid competition does not count.

[Charlie Fairchild]

Gamma was right. I didn't know how to figure it out. What I knew how to do was stay busy. So that's what I was gonna do this summer.

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[Charlie Fairchild]

I was going to beat the game. I knew one person had done it, even if it had taken her a month. Tim got 12 keys and he only played for two days and I had all his notes if I needed them. Surely I could figure out the last one. I at least knew it was possible. The first thing was getting out of the hospital room. The door was locked, but there was a number pad I could interact with, so I needed the combination. When I stood in front of the computer monitor on the desk, I noticed a set of numbers would flash every 10 seconds or so, barely long enough for me to see them, and then they were gone. Nothing I did would make them stay up, but the numbers were the same each time. 15 numbers. I figured maybe at the facility people wouldn't have been allowed to write things down when they played, which would have made it Harder. Maybe everything in the game was that way. Which would explain why Tim had gotten the key so fast. I copied the numbers down and entered them one by one. The door opened and I walked into the hallway. It was empty except for an ID badge on the ground. It said Jacob Fairchild. I remembered the name from the articles it showed up in my inventory. Jay Fairchild. The floor I was on was a square with hallways cutting it into four equal quadrants and one hall all around the perimeter. There were rooms around the outside, offices with glass walls, some with two way glass looking into empty patient rooms like the one I'd started in. But most of the doors were locked. There was a lot of generic art on the walls, geometric shapes and colors, bland stuff you always see in hospitals. And a waiting room with a coffee pot and a vending machine and a TV looping the same video. The weird thing was, it was a real video of the guy talking on a stage. The screen said it was Jacob Fairchild.

[Jacob Fairchild / The Timekeeper]

This thing all things devours, birds, beasts, trees, flowers, gnaws iron, bites steel, grinds hard stones to meal, slays king, ruins, town, beasts, mountain down.

[Charlie Fairchild]

I remembered the riddle from the Hobbit.

[Jacob Fairchild / The Timekeeper]

Of course, we probably all know the answer to the riddle. Time. That's right. Time is for living organisms like us. A mechanism for decay. You probably can't hear my watch ticking there in the audience, even though it's quite loud. Loud enough to annoy my colleagues who've given me the, I like to say, friendliness of the timekeeper. But I like the reminder.

[Charlie Fairchild]

The timekeeper. The man in the mask, covered with eyes I'd seen when Tim ran out of time. If it was Fairchild's program, Fairchild's game, I guessed it made sense that he was the timekeeper, the one who was always watching.

[Jacob Fairchild / The Timekeeper]

Humanity has always had dreams of beating time back. The search for the Fountain of Youth still goes on today, though it's in, well air conditioned Silicon Valley laboratories instead of the sweltering jungles. But I've decided to go down another path. The rear guard against time. Assuming we can't get more of it, could we perhaps use more of it? Or even all of it?

[Charlie Fairchild]

At this point I decided this was the worst video game I'd ever played. But if I had to listen through an actual TED Talk to get a key, whatever.

[Jacob Fairchild / The Timekeeper]

Think about this. Let's say you live 80 years, which for a person in a rich country today is pretty good. Of those 80 years, you'll probably spend about 26 sleeping a third of your life. You can't say It's a third of your life wasted because the human body, the human mind, requires sleep. If you don't sleep, you die. But what if you didn't? The human brain, like all animal brains, has a evolved to become what it is today. There are animals like horses that sleep 15 minutes at a time, just a couple of hours each day. Proponents of the so called Superman sleep schedule, and perhaps one or two James Bond villains have tried this out, but I wouldn't encourage it. What I find more interesting is animals like dolphins and many types of birds who use what we call hemispheric sleep, where they shut down the left brain for a while and let it rest, while the right brain works in the vice versa. Why did their brains evolve this way? Well, dolphins live in the water, but they need air. If they slept like we slept, they drown. Birds have to migrate long distances. Fall asleep while you're flying and you probably won't wake up. So what does this have to do with us? Well, the brain evolves. And unlike birds and dolphins, humans have the luxury of shaping that evolution in new ways. And that's the focus of my research, which I am grateful to announce today, is what we'll be working on at next level. The next stage of evolution in the human brain. This thing. All things devours.

[Charlie Fairchild]

And then it started over. The next stage of evolution in the human brain. Brains that didn't sleep. Zoe would love it if that's what they were researching. The game made sense. See how long people could stay awake while you bore them to death. Give them more money the better they did. Pretty much how the world seems to work anyway. I went back to the elevator in the center of the floor. I could open it with Fairchild's badge. There were 13 floors, one through B12. I was on one. I went through every button and the elevator moved to each floor. But I couldn't get out on any of them because every time the elevator opened to a different style door with a different style key. One was huge and wooden and looked like it had been ripped from a castle. Another had a padlock connected to a chain. Another was covered in brightly painted flowers. Another was made of dark glass and had a keypad. One had a sensor for a badge, but Fairchilds wouldn't open it. And then there was B12. B12 opened in a long dark hallway. I could get out, but I didn't want to. At the end was a door and behind the door something was ticking. I stepped out. It felt like the hallway narrowed as I went on and the light from the elevator seemed very far away. The only other light was a red light coming through the keyhole that ran through the center of the door. A keyhole with teeth on the top and bottom. A double sided lock. The ticking wasn't my time counting down. It was the tick of a watch coming from behind the door. In my mind it was the sound the watch Fairchild had held on stage would make. It felt like the eyes of whoever held it were on me. I turned and headed back toward the light of the elevator as fast as the character would go, which was maddeningly slow because I hadn't found a way to sprint. I went back up to the first floor and laughed at myself for getting so scared. I remembered Zoe and I staying up all night playing Amnesia and Gamma huddled in the corner covering his eyes because he was too afraid to watch. I figured I'd better check in and see how far along Zoey was, and I opened her stream on my phone.

[Zoe's Stream Persona]

Do you think I'm going to sleep, Jess? Well, you're wrong. Are we still hours and hours and hours away from sleep?

[Jacob Fairchild / The Timekeeper]

Finishing?

[Zoe's Stream Persona]

Yes. Do I have a constant stream of coffee?

[Jacob Fairchild / The Timekeeper]

Yes.

[Zoe's Stream Persona]

Buzz, buzz, coffee.

[Charlie Fairchild]

I got you, babe.

[Jacob Fairchild / The Timekeeper]

You want orange juice or something?

[Charlie Fairchild]

What?

[Jacob Fairchild / The Timekeeper]

On tv, you know, it's always like.

[Charlie Fairchild]

Here'S a cup of coffee and a.

[Jacob Fairchild / The Timekeeper]

Glass of orange juice for like breakfast.

[Zoe's Stream Persona]

Yeah, okay. You know, 2:00am OJ. Why not? I'd love some.

[Charlie Fairchild]

I wanted to sleep, but I didn't want to lose Zoe had had a head start, so it was only fair I used Tim's notes. I opened the first page of the notebook he'd written in thick black Sharpie front and back, so it had bled through and made it hard to read. But I could tell it was the same number sequence I'd written down to get out of the first room. Below it were a lot of symbols I recognized from the elevator. I went back to B1 in the elevator. The door had an abstract pattern. Reds, blues, greens. I realized the colors and shapes were the same ones in the boring paintings upstairs. Tim had written the symbols in a specific order with the words vending machine. I walked to the vending machine in the waiting room and noticed it didn't have normal buttons for sodas. Instead of brand names, there were shapes and colors. I could interact with it. So I hit the buttons in the order Tim had written down and a key dropped out. One down, my key counter went up and when I stopped playing I could tell the clock had sped up just a fraction. I flipped ahead in the notebook. He takes your days he takes your nights, and then he takes your life was written across one of the pages. He's always watching. That same phrase filled a whole page over and over, then scribbled through in thick black lines. Facial recognition. Using the camera, of course. He was always watching. I guess Tim had figured it out, too. I looked right at the camera, and I noticed something. Something I hadn't noticed at Zoe's. The light in the kitchen caught the laptop just right. And there was a glare on the screen, but the reflection over the camera was dull and flat. I looked closer and over the pinhole. It seemed like someone had scribbled over it with a black marker. I minimized the game and opened the webcam app. A black screen loaded. I ran my fingernail back and forth across the camera, and cracks of light began to appear. I kept scratching until I could see my face. Tim had blacked out the camera. There was no facial recognition. No way he could know who was playing.

[Gamma]

Hey, it's Gamma.

[Charlie Fairchild]

Leave a message after the town thing.

[Zoe's Stream Persona]

I swear to God, if this doesn't work, I'm throwing my computer out the window. Not answering that.

[Charlie Fairchild]

Come on, Z.

[Zoe's Stream Persona]

Okay, quick break, chat, then we beat the shit out of Mr. Blackblade.

[Zoe]

What do you want?

[Charlie Fairchild]

Hold on. Gama's calling me back. I'm adding him. What's up, guys? The camera is blacked out. What? Tim's computer. The camera on the laptop. He scribbled over it. It doesn't work.

[Zoe's Stream Persona]

I mean, it has to work. It's recognizing your face when you play.

[Charlie Fairchild]

No, that. That's what I'm saying. It can't. It can't recognize anything because it doesn't work.

[Zoe's Stream Persona]

Okay, then how does it know who's playing? Ghosts.

[Charlie Fairchild]

It's not ghosts.

[Gamma]

And what is it?

[Charlie Fairchild]

The Timekeeper is always watching.

[Zoe's Stream Persona]

The Timekeeper doesn't exist.

[Charlie Fairchild]

He did exist. Fairchild was the time.

[Zoe's Stream Persona]

What are you talking about?

[Charlie Fairchild]

There's a video in the game. Fairchild says the people he worked with called him the Timekeeper. Shady Pines was his program. It's.

[Gamma]

It's his game.

[Zoe's Stream Persona]

Charlie Fairchild is dead. He's been dead for 10 years.

[Charlie Fairchild]

I know.

[Zoe's Stream Persona]

So the Timekeeper isn't watching.

[Jacob Fairchild / The Timekeeper]

Shit.

[Charlie Fairchild]

I could make up a believable story for Blake. Writing TikTok on the door as a joke and dying in the accidental fire. And there were plenty of reasons Tim wouldn't have texted us back. But I couldn't explain how it knew Blake was playing, how it knew Tim was playing, and now how the game knew I was playing.

[Zoe's Stream Persona]

Okay, look, we'll figure it out. Yeah, G will be there in 10. Okay. Wait.

[Jacob Fairchild / The Timekeeper]

What?

[Zoe's Stream Persona]

Why are you bringing the ghost here? Buzz, grab the coffee.

[Charlie Fairchild]

My dad was asleep. I left a note telling him I was spending the night at gmas and sprinted through the neighborhood. When I got onto Gama Street, I saw Buzz's truck pulling up to the curb. What up, Charlie Brown? You want some oj? Nah, I'm good.

[Gamma]

Hey, keep it down. If you wake up my brothers, you're dealing with them.

[Charlie Fairchild]

Sorry. Hurry up and come inside. We spent the first hour experimenting. We all agreed the camera was useless, but we still tested it. Me sitting in front of the screen, Zoe or Gamma trying to type. Didn't work. Zoe sitting in front of the screen. But my hands typing character moved fine. Even the most basic things, like interacting in the elevator to move to a different floor. I was the only one who could do them. And I was the only one the clock would stop for. By the time we gave up, I had 15 hours and eight minutes left. And I was still sitting on one key.

[Zoe]

Well, I don't know. I don't know what it is.

[Gamma]

It's a cursed ghost game is what it is. And you brought it into my garage.

[Charlie Fairchild]

Yeah. The good news is you're not playing.

[Zoe]

It's not cursed. It's just.

[Charlie Fairchild]

What?

[Gamma]

Magical? Extraterrestrial? What are the other options here, Z?

[Zoe]

I. I don't know. I need to see the code, and I can't get to the code because we're logged in as a guest. And the only thing you can do as a guest on this stupid VPN is play the game.

[Charlie Fairchild]

So what if you were logged into someone else?

[Zoe]

Sure. If I could log in as an admin or something, I could probably see all the reference files. I don't suppose you've found a login.

[Charlie Fairchild]

No.

[Zoe]

Maybe that's the 13th key. Get to see how the game actually works.

[Gamma]

Too bad nobody gets the 13 key.

[Zoe]

You said one person did.

[Charlie Fairchild]

Yeah. Maria Shepherd. See, Charlie?

[Zoe]

I was joking.

[Charlie Fairchild]

The only person on the leaderboard with all 13 keys.

[Zoe]

She was up for a month straight.

[Gamma]

That's what I said.

[Charlie Fairchild]

It's easier now, though. I mean, I don't think they could write anything down. It was all mental. That's why Blake and Tim could get keys a lot faster. Wait. The last thing Tim wrote down was Maria's name with a bunch of numbers beside it. Maybe it's a login. Here, Zoe, look. What do you think they look like?

[Zoe]

Coordinates.

[Charlie Fairchild]

What?

[Zoe]

Yeah, latitude and longitude coordinates for where? I'm about to tell you.

[Gamma]

Look here Nine Mile Bridge. That's right. By Nine Mile Bridge.

[Zoe]

You know it?

[Gamma]

Yeah, it's where the sheriff found Tim's truck.

[Charlie Fairchild]

Everything else he wrote down is a clue about the game. I mean, whatever's there has to be a clue to the 13th game.

[Gamma]

Uh, Charlie, video game keys are usually in the video games.

[Charlie Fairchild]

Yeah, yeah, but maybe this one isn't. Maybe that's why only one person ever found it.

[Gamma]

So the 13th key was a 10 mile hike from Shady Pines.

[Charlie Fairchild]

Okay, in the video, Fairchild talks about dolphins and birds being able to do these basic physical functions like fly and swim while half their brains asleep. Maybe people had to, like, sleepwalk.

[Gamma]

I think we all need to sleep because that's the dumbest idea I've heard.

[Zoe]

I agree.

[Charlie Fairchild]

Well, with who?

[Zoe]

Both of you. Super dumb. But he had to have written down Maria's name for a reason. It just doesn't make sense. Why Maria would be a clue to a key in the game she was playing.

[Gamma]

Maybe she worked there and it was like an Easter egg.

[Charlie Fairchild]

Wait. Yeah, the other people who worked there would still be alive. It was just Fairchild who died.

[Zoe]

Well, shouldn't be that hard to find out. There's gotta be something online. Okay, Marie Shepard, Borden Next Level, 2010.

[Charlie Fairchild]

Anything?

[Gamma]

Oh, did she work there?

[Zoe]

No, but she was definitely there. It's a missing persons report. Marie Shepard, age 26. Last seen at a Greyhound bus station on March 26. Participated in a study at Next Level Technologies. Taken to the bus station by the staff after she finished. Left on the next bus. Bus driver remembered her, but that was the last time she was seen.

[Gamma]

Please tell me there's a found persons article.

[Zoe]

Doesn't look like it. What are the other names on the leaderboard?

[Charlie Fairchild]

Let me see. Stephen Schiller.

[Zoe]

Okay, Stephen Schiller. Board in Next Level.

[Charlie Fairchild]

I could see the search hit. The report was filed in 2010.

[Zoe]

Stephen Schiller reported missing. Last known whereabouts, Helping Hand's halfway house. That's only a few hours from Borden. Who's next?

[Charlie Fairchild]

Danielle Sharp.

[Zoe]

Danielle Sharp. Missing Persons Report 2010. Missing June 2010. Last seen Friday evening near a corner of Powell and St. Mark's. Who's next?

[Charlie Fairchild]

Philip Rona. We went through all 10 names on the list. Four died the night of the fire, two didn't turn up at all, and four had missing persons reports. People who were last seen at homeless shelters and halfway houses in big cities a few hundred miles in every direction. But the only one who was reported missing after they left Shady Pines was Maria.

[Zoe]

Kama. Where are you going?

[Gamma]

My dad has a bottle of holy water. He got it when the Pope visited his hometown. I'm going to drink it. Anyone want anything?

[Ad Voice]

Nah, I'm good, bro.

[Gamma]

Jesus, Buzz. I forgot you were here.

[Charlie Fairchild]

Had to get a little power nap in. Gotta keep the mind fresh.

[Zoe]

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[Gamma]

At Marisa's.com Hey, Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile. Now I don't know if you've heard.

[Charlie Fairchild]

But Mint's Premium Wireless is $15 a month. But I'd like to offer one other perk. We have no stores. That means no small talk.

[Jacob Fairchild / The Timekeeper]

Crazy weather we're having.

[Charlie Fairchild]

No, it's not. It's just weather.

[Jacob Fairchild / The Timekeeper]

It is an introvert's dirty dream.

[Charlie Fairchild]

Give it a [e-mail] Switch upfront payment.

[Zoe]

Of $45 for 3 month plan, $15.

[Ad Voice]

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[Zoe]

This doesn't mean anything. Okay Charlie, we already knew a bunch of people died in the fire and like, okay, they were Running experiments. So they got people who were desperate. We still don't know what happened to. To them. We still don't know what happened to Tim. For all we know, he's fine.

[Charlie Fairchild]

Yeah, Zoe was right. But it wasn't exactly comforting. The 12 people we knew played the game were all dead or missing. Whatever was going on there, it had to have started with Maria. The high scores all show the date they were set, and Maria's was first. March of 2010. Everyone else is after.

[Zoe]

Is that really holy water?

[Gamma]

No, it's from the Brita. I forgot my sister knocked the holy.

[Charlie Fairchild]

Water over last week. What were they doing out there?

[Gamma]

Burning people alive?

[Zoe]

Eventually, yeah. But Fairchild gives that talk, right? Hey, we're starting this really cool program to change the evolution of the human brain or whatever. He's not going to announce whatever they're doing. If the program is actually a murder factory. Something had to have gone wrong.

[Ad Voice]

Yeah.

[Gamma]

You think Fairchild went wrong. That's what happened. Didn't you read the articles?

[Zoe]

Yeah, I read them. God, I hate this stupid ticking. There's got to be a way to shut it up.

[Charlie Fairchild]

Zoe messed around with the volume, but it still didn't work. It never had. But when she gave up, she left the cursor hovering over the file. And I noticed something. Hey, Z. You see that?

[Zoe]

See what?

[Charlie Fairchild]

The metadata for the game file.

[Zoe's Stream Persona]

It.

[Charlie Fairchild]

It was modified. January 10, 2011, at 1:58am that's the.

[Gamma]

Night of the fire.

[Zoe]

Who changed it?

[Charlie Fairchild]

Let's see. Modified by user jfairchild. Joey. Can you tell what he changed?

[Zoe]

Not without comparing the code to the version before. Which means I'd need to log in as Fairchild.

[Charlie Fairchild]

I'd been thinking about the night of the fire, and something about the story hadn't made sense, But I was pushing 24 hours awake, and my brain was Jello. I knew I had a thought I wanted to share, but every time I tried to grab it, it evaporated. Jello. What? I like Jello. Red, usually. Green's okay, though.

[Zoe]

Charlie, what about Jello? Is that the password or something?

[Charlie Fairchild]

No. No, I. I mean, maybe that's what Fairchild was doing that night. Putting clues into the game. Clues about what? About what really happened. Or was about to happen.

[Gamma]

We know what happened. He chained the doors, dumped a bunch of gasoline, and cooked everyone inside.

[Zoe]

And locked himself in the server room.

[Charlie Fairchild]

Right, and then he dies, wrapped around the server like he's trying to keep it from being destroyed.

[Zoe]

Which he did, apparently.

[Gamma]

Okay, so what, he goes insane and lights the place up and then has A change of heart. And it's like, no, no. I gotta protect my life's work.

[Charlie Fairchild]

Exactly. Zoe, you've been building your survive the Night game since, like, eighth grade. Would you ever just destroy it?

[Zoe]

I wouldn't. And I would murder anyone who tried to.

[Charlie Fairchild]

Exactly.

[Gamma]

Okay, so why not just unlock the.

[Charlie Fairchild]

Doors and run out? Maybe he couldn't unlock them.

[Gamma]

Why not? Did he lose the keys?

[Zoe]

Maybe he didn't lock them.

[Charlie Fairchild]

Wait, what?

[Zoe]

Maybe he was locked in. If he was locked in the server room and the network was offline, he wouldn't be able to send anything out. The game would be the only thing he could change that. Anyone else, anyone who ever logged onto the server would have access to.

[Gamma]

But if he didn't lock them, who did?

[Charlie Fairchild]

Maybe that's what he was trying to tell us.

[Zoe]

Okay, that almost maybe makes sense. Whatever was happening there was bad enough. People didn't want it getting out. Maybe Fairchild was going to expose it.

[Gamma]

Expose it? It's his game. He's the timekeeper. What are you guys even saying? Everyone who plays this game dies or disappears.

[Zoe]

It's just a game, G. Charlie, how many keys do you think you can figure out from Tim's notebook?

[Charlie Fairchild]

I mean, it's kind of a mess, but probably most of them.

[Zoe]

Okay, so keep playing. Look for anything that might be a password and I'll try it. If he was changing things in a hurry, he changed simple stuff. Names, numbers, anything text based. And he wouldn't be hiding it. It would be in plain sight.

[Charlie Fairchild]

Okay, so we go to Nine Mile Bridge and see what Tim was looking for. And I look for a login in the game on the way. Use Tim's notes to get as many keys as I can. Plan.

[Zoe]

Plan.

[Charlie Fairchild]

Gamma.

[Gamma]

Bad plan. Terrible plan, but plan.

[Charlie Fairchild]

All right, I'll go get my car.

[Zoe]

Wait, Buzz, can you drive?

[Charlie Fairchild]

Oh, yeah, babe, for sure. I got a good power nap in. I'm juiced. No, I can drive.

[Zoe]

Charlie, no offense, but your car isn't making it to board, and you need to be playing the game.

[Charlie Fairchild]

She was right. I could imagine my car stalling out halfway there and it taking more than the time I had left to walk the rest of the way. By which point I'd be dead. And that still would have been better than getting a ride from Buzz. Yeah, I guess. I mean, my car would be fine, but, like, it's not. It's not here. So.

[Zoe]

Good. Clock's ticking.

[Narrator/Ad Host]

The Timekeeper Episode two features Judah Lewis as Charlie, Chandler Kinney as Zoe and Arjun Atelier as Gama the Timekeeper was created, written and directed by Matthew A. Brown Sound design, scoring and mix by Jeff Schmidt Sound design, scoring and mix by Jeff Schmidt Original score composed by Joshua Zimmerman Additional dialogue editing by Miracle Perlmutter Executive produced by Kaelyn Moore, Matthew A. Brown and Judah Lewis the Timekeeper is a production from Heart Starts Pounding. Additional cast includes Matt Anne Spa as Buzz and Guy Kent as Jacob Fair.

[Ad Voice]

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