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Midnight Scenes Ep.2: The Goodbye Note is the second episode of the Midnight Scenes series. It was released on Steam for Microsoft Windows on September 8, 2020.
Plot[]
The game opens with a mysterious narrator known as The Eye welcoming the player. They go on to explain that tonight's episode will be following Dr. Richard P. Griffin during the scariest journey of his life before cutting to an in game sponsor where an alien woman presents a message saying "Support your indie devs!".
The game actually begins with Dr. Griffin writing a letter to his wife, Madison. He explains that he does not have much time left and that if he'd have known that their goodbye was the last time they'd see each other, he would have told her everything. The scene then moves to an airport runway where Dr. Griffin is saying goodbye to Madison before boarding a plane. According to the doctor, he'll be traveling to Washington for a business meeting and will be back in a few days, but Madison expresses her dislike at the sudden trip, Griffin assures her its important and that the gas leak in the lab the previous night has put everyone on edge, so he needs to go. The couple then kiss goodbye and Dr. Griffin enters the plane. After taking his seat, the air hostess approaches Griffin and asks him to give her his briefcase so she can put it in the overhead compartment. He tells the hostess that he'd prefer to keep the case on him, when the hostess tells him it's part of regulations, Dr. Griffin insists on keeping it to witch the hostess gives up and leaves. Cutting back to Griffin writing his note, he reflects that it was a mistake to board the plane and that he had ended up only trapping himself.
During the flight, the plane enters a thunderstorm and begins to experience turbulence. A young boy then asks his mother if lighting can make the plane explode, to which she replies that he should just try to get some sleep. Suddenly, a bright light envelopes the whole plane and everyone aside from Dr. Griffin disappears. Realizing what this must mean, Griffin shouts to an unseen entity that they will never get the Elysian while he is still alive. Once again, the scene returns to the doctor writing his letter to Madison, where he admits he was hiding something from her and that everything started the previous night while he was in the lab. Moving to the night before, Dr. Griffin is seen in a laboratory talking to Madison on the phone, he apologizes for working so late and says he'll be home soon, he also says he won't be going to his co-worker, Coleman's birthday party as he doesn't even have a present for him. As Griffin is about to leave, he hears a noise come from the Control Room and goes to investigate. He finds his other coworker, Linda, looking inside an airduct for something. Griffin asks her what she's doing and Linda explains she was working on the Control Room's main console when she heard a noise in the vents, fearing that an animal might be living inside, which could compromise the Clean Room next to them. The news makes Dr. Griffin worried since if the Clean Room is compromised it would ruin months of research and potentially hurt the Elysian stored inside. Using Coleman's code, Griffin enters the Clean Room in a protective suit to check on the vents inside, he finds nothing and believes it must've been a false alarm, right before exiting the room, Linda asks him over the intercom to check on the Elysian before leaving. Griffin tells her there's no reason to but Linda convinces him as he is the only person with fingerprint access.
Dr. Griffin opens the refrigerated container holding the Elysian, revealing it to be a small, glass pyramid. Griffin explains in his letter that the Elysian had been discovered in Antarctica a month prior but their study of it had yielded inconclusive results, all they could prove was that it wasn't made by humans, though Griffin feared it was still made with humans in mind. After checking to make sure the Elysian is fine, Dr. Griffin begins to make his way to the door when the lights go out. Something bright then glows out from the window connecting the Clean Room to the Control Room, Griffin goes to see what it is only for it to go out and some kind of alien creature press its hand on the window, scaring the doctor. The temperature in the room begins to drop quickly and Dr. Griffin realizes the creature most likely killed Linda and had tricked him into opening the Elysian's container so they could steal it. Before he can freeze to death, Griffin short-circuits the refrigeration system, shutting it down, he then takes the Elysian and crawls into the vents to escape. Whilst crawling through the vents, Griffin finds a broken toy robot and realizes it was the source of the noises instead of an animal, the doctor also sees a strange figure running through the lab, most likely the creature from before. Griffin escapes the vents and hides the Elysian in a led coated briefcase as it's too dangerous to touch with bare hands, he then leaves through the lab's backdoor, into the parking lot. While leaving, Griffin finds Linda's car abandoned but with the engine running, claw marks on the passenger seat, and her glasses broken on the driver's side floor, proving that she is most likely dead.
Dr. Griffin gets into his car and flees, concerned for his wife's safety, he decides to spend the night at a motel and lies to her over the phone, saying that a gas leak is forcing him to spend all night at the lab. Griffin then contacts his superior in Washington and explains what has happened, in response, they tell him to travel to their headquarters immediately, as it is most likely the safest place now. The game finally returns to the plane, where Griffin is still alone and attempting to find a method of escape. Using a fire extinguisher and an umbrella, Griffin opens the door into the cockpit and finds the pilots have disappeared as well and the radio is broken. With no other choice, Dr. Griffin takes a parachute and attempts to jump out of the plane with the Elysian, but before he can, another bright light envelops the plane again.
Griffin wakes up with the plane having perfectly landed on the ground in the middle of knowhere, knowing there's nothing he can do now, Griffin throws the briefcase, causing the Elysian to fall out whilst he yells that whatever they are, they can take it as he doesn't care anymore. After receiving no response and expecting to die soon, Griffin begins writing his goodbye note to Madison from the beginning. Once he's finished recounting the story's events, Linda suddenly walks up to him with a disfigured face and grabs the Elysian off the ground. Dr. Griffin realizes that the alien creature had disguised itself as Linda, though it's left ambiguous whether or not the creature killed the real Linda and assumed her identity, or if the creature and Linda were always the same being. Griffin begs Linda to tell him what the Elysian actually is, to which she cryptically explains that it's a "fascinating work of engineering" that they had been using as their eyes and ears on Earth for over a century, until the humans had found it a locked it away in the lab. Now that the Elysian is free, it has begun transmitting again and Linda states that "You'll have some really interesting neighbors very soon." A spotlight then shines down on the two of them and envelopes them.
The game cuts to the following day, where Dr. Griffin and Madison are sitting at the kitchen table eating breakfast. Griffin seems quite happy and normal, though as the two talk to each other, their voices start to become distorted. Griffin stands up and approaches the kitchen window, as he opens it, a blinding light shines into the room and Madison's eyes begin to glow as she rocks back forth, Griffin's eyes also start glowing as he states that he thinks today will be a great day.