Free Manipulator by Thom Parsons

tuned in correctly. If you looked closely enough, you could just about see the outline of someones head. This is someone talking into a camera. But going on from that, the audio quality was just as bad as the video quality. The voice coming in through the static was scrambled and heavy with interference. It was almost robotic, but yet oddly understandable.
    “You were born on February 27th, in the year 2000,” the synthesised robotic voice continued. “By the time you are watching this, you will be 35 years old. Don’t be surprised to see me, I can guarantee you that this is real.” Owen’s eyebrows lifted as he listened and watched, trying desperately to make out the mans face from the video. That’s even if it is a man. He thought. The video and audio were so badly scrambled, it could of easily been a woman talking.
    “Today, is your wedding anniversary, and Annie is not with you. But she should be, and there are people to blame for that.” Owen took a deep breath, feeling a cold shiver run through his body, making him cold inside. The hairs on his arms suddenly all stood on end at the sheer mention of Annie’s name. How do they know about my wedding anniversary?! How do they know about my wife?
    “First of all,” the synthetic voice continued. “A very important address that you need to know. 45 Redford Avenue. That address will mean everything to you, and only you know why.”
    It was starting to get personal, and Owen just couldn’t figure out how he was supposed to be feeling throughout all of this. Going from the first few details, he genuinely thought that it could be some sort of a joke. Okay Owen, this could be some sort of prank, that information is readily available to anyone who knows me, or anyone who is willing to look far enough into me to find it. But now? Now that this voice is starting to talk about Annie’s death? The place where she died? This isn’t a joke. This is personal. This is serious.
    “I will keep this short, because I don’t have much time,” the voice said. Just as it finished speaking, a huge banging noise could be heard in the background. There was clearly something else going on wherever this video had been recorded.
    “There are three people responsible for Annie not being there. Their names are Marcus Ortega, Alex Morgan and Ethan Darkes.”
    What?! Owen thought, taking a sharp breath inwards, thoughts running crazily through his mind. Annie’s death was an accident, how can anyone be responsible for that? The rain was pouring down, she couldn't see the red light and…
    It was starting to make him feel angry. Owen could feel himself clenching his hand into a fist.
    “You must find these three,” the voice said urgently, still barely understandable. “They, and only they, can tell you the truth about everything.” Owen noticed that there was more noise in the background of the video now. There was something building up, harder and louder than what he had heard earlier. It was obviously making whoever it was that was recording the video feel massively on edge. You could hear the sharpness in their voice, they were trying to get the information out as fast as possible.
    “They can tell you the truth about Annie,” the voice continued, referring back to the three names that had just been given to Owen. “That’s because they had everything to do with it. Fight for the truth.” The static, scrambled voice stopped, and the entire video cut to darkness and dropped into silence. Three words appeared on the dark display in front of him.
    *END OF TRANSMISSION*
    Owen read the words on the screen as the video cut off. He couldn’t find the words in himself after watching it. He just sat there in the silence trying to think about what it was that he had just seen. He didn’t mess with the computer, he just let himself sit in silence and throw the possibilities around in his head. Annie's death was no accident. Surely that can’t be true. Owen thought about it deeply. I