Nightmares Vs Magic

"M-ma'am, when are your husband and other kids going to join us?" Dove looked around the living room, wondering why nobody else is coming out.

"All the kids are grounded! None of the kids are coming out! Connie started lying and now the other kids are beginning to lie as well!" The mother screeched, hand out like a claw as she gripped the arm rest beside her. 

"After I put Connie inside her room- she locked herself in!! It was her! I left her in there for hours; I would knock every time! Asking if she wanted to come out! And she said NO! So, I let her stay in there and in that span of time - she managed to pull her bed over and barricade the door!" The mother nearly choked on her spit as she kept talking. 

At some point, it became more of a rant. Dove set her briefcase down and leaned at the edge of her seat. 

"I didn't anything wrong okay- I am trying my best-every day! Every day someone is judging me about my parenting, but does anyone bother to help? NOOO! They all just want to give advice and stare at me!! My husband stares at me too! He doesn't help! He just stands there after coming home from work, stands there- like an idiot!! He stands there and then he barely mumbles anything, and he doesn't help!"

"I see. And, may I ask when the husband will be here? Perhaps I can see how he acts?"

"He's at work!"

Dove was silent, realizing the woman may have lied on the phone. 

"... Has anyone met with your child in the last week, any relatives or I presume shrinks that you took her to before things got worse?"

"Yes, but only the psychiatrists! We rarely go out, I haven't let her see any of our relatives when her behavior just kept getting worse."

"So then, that line earlier about her not wanting to be touched, does that mean there has not been anyone annoying her as of late?"

"No! One time my husband and I were given the advice to just leave her be and hopefully that would quell her tantrums.

Each time I pick her up from school, she goes straight to her room and is quiet the entire time. For some reason- she's fine with whatever imaginary friend she has in there, but she keeps lying every now and then about some monster- there are no monsters!! there are no ghosts, I don't even know what she's talking about!" The mother said with forced laughter.

"Last week on Thursday, she started complaining about some monster in her room at the head of her bed- I tell her to ignore it like I ignored my monsters, and she refuses!"

The woman stood up and paced around the room, too much energy to sit still and too pent up to bring herself back down. Dove stood up after finishing her tea and decided between following her or just observing as the woman went around the room. She walked into the kitchen area, opening and closing cabinets. 

"Has Connie given any physical descriptions about this monster? It might be a character from a show she saw without permission."

"I asked! And then she starts making up the most absurd things, just like she'll make up things that aren't appropriate to talk about in public- the lady in the mirror, the face around the corners, the shadow at the windows, the-the-" The woman interrupted herself. She took a deep breath after speaking, picked up a decorative pillow, and screaming into it.

"She cries and says he has glasses and the face of an old man! She's so abnormal!! Even your gothic looking preacher guy- from whatever church he works at- couldn't handle how crazy I must sound and had to leave the room!"

Dove's eyes widened, and she tore her gaze away from the woman who kept pacing all around the place. While the woman acted as though she was going around, cleaning things, reorganizing, Dove decided to follow behind her, noticing more details of the house. 

Every other door to other rooms, bedroom or not, had a closed door, the thick curtains of the windows, the big towels that hung over the doors of the oven. No blocks for holding knives, child safety locks on the drawers.

"Aside from this specific monster, does she claim to see monsters all the time? Not just when it gets dark and scary?" The girl asked as she discreetly observed everything.

"Yes! She does and I keep telling her to just pretend they aren't there- telling anyone else would just drive people up the wall and there's not much we can do!" 

Dove's eyes flickered.

"Perhaps, if you would allow me to speak to little Connie, I might be able to find out-"

The woman stopped abruptly, spinning around to see the girl, face to face. 

"Why? Are you going to believe her lies?" She asked suddenly.

"No!" Dove put her hands up in defense.

"But the funny thing about lying, as taught in psychology, is that you can still get information from someone depending on what lies they are trying to get you to believe."

The mother tilted her head and knitted her brows together as the girl put her phone in her jacket pocket. Dove nodded as she eased the tension in the mother's shoulders by swiftly and gently taking the cleaning items from her, helping to wipe down the kitchen counter as she kept speaking to her. 

"I know you must've had such a difficult time, raising three kids and one of them just has to be,,, far more interesting than the others. But- and I'm sure you've heard this plenty of times- but plenty of parents go through the same experiences as you. I know I wasn't an easy child to take care of, and I sympathize with my mother every time I look back on my childhood." Dove said with a small smile to the woman. 

She put the cleaning products down in a neat and tidy spot, then helped the woman make more tea.  

"You-you had the same issues as my Connie? But-" The mother looks Dove up and down, seeing the young girl wearing a fitted business casual outfit as they chatted by the stove.

Her eyes then dart back to the living room, seeing the briefcase Dove had set down by the couch. 

"But you look so put together. There's no way. You're just trying to sound like you understand."

Hooked.

"Oh, but I do. In fact, I still remember how my mother used to try the same tricks as you to get me to fall back in line. But they didn't work on me, and they won't work on your child. Hers is a different case." Dove said, turning off the stove after the water came to a boil before carefully guiding the woman to walk some circles around the living room with her.

"W-why?"

"From everything I've gathered so far, Connie must've had this issue for ever since she was in kindergarten. Then when she became old enough to use more words, she would go on tangents, talking about all the creatures she would see with other classmates and teachers, thinking it was normal because she grew up with this imagination." The girl folded her hands behind her back and paced a small circle around the woman, still holding that sociable smile. 

"There are plenty of stories with children having active imaginations, but Connie insists that everything she sees and hear are real. She's so insistent that she can't for the life of her young mind understand why she has to pretend the things she sees as real, are fake."

"How did you..."

Line.

"You don't bring her out often, and so she rarely interacts with anyone outside of school. Some psychologists think that it's exactly because she doesn't interact with many people outside of school that she's acting this way, but that can't be the case if she has friends who occasionally knock on your door to ask for. All of that was bearable before, she was relatively normal, until this one specific monster that began bothering her."

The woman nodded, eyes staying locked on Dove as she began to take control of the room.

I supposed I should be grateful that Bence left the room. I wouldn't know how to explain all this acting and sudden poise. It's just something I learned to pick up, as soon as I realized how helpful it was in situations with certain people. I regretfully admit, I learned it from the one person I loathe. As much as he made me yearn to claw all of certain parts of my skin off my body with a cheese grater or metal sponge, he was awfully smart and brilliant. 

Some tricks that I know, I picked up from him. I feel dirty when I use his tricks, but I can override that feeling with the idea of duty. Nothing matters as long as I can complete my task to 100%. 

"No one has come to visit you, she doesn't have any clubs like her siblings, and yet all of a sudden, her behavior changed. It must be so difficult on you, and no one sees your efforts."

The girl led the woman to the sofa, hands hovering over her shoulders so she could sit down. 

"Yes, I am, so tired." 

"And yet, you keep going. You keep persevering, and such a powerful person you are for doing that."

The mother smiled, looking down as the corners of her eyes crinkled, like she was about to cry from hearing those words.

"You don't need to be so strong anymore. Clearly, you need to rest, and you know this, hence why you reached out for help." 

Sinker.

The woman kept nodding to Dove's words, unaware of the hands hovering over her shoulders.

"So go on and tell me about everything that's draining you, such as all your secrets. I am not here to judge you."

"S-secrets-what?!" 

The woman tried to get but her shoulders hit Dove's hands that hovered just over them, and she was prompted to sit down. She tried to look over her shoulder just as Dove spoke again, this time right next to the woman's ear. The woman did not move her head because of this. 

"It's best that you tell me everything ma'am so that I can be of better service to you. Besides, even without telling me, I can already tell what secret you're keeping, which is that you can also see what Connie can see, can't you?"

She felt the woman's shoulders tremble beneath her hands as she stared off into the distance in the room. Dove continued. 

"How-how, how could I possibly see what Connie sees? S-she's a child and I'm-"

"An adult who has a- let's say affliction. You are all grown up and yet you can see these strange creatures too. They appear in the shadows and the corners of your eyes; you can see them in reflective surfaces and anything too shiny. You cover up what you can, close all the doors so that you can't see any shadowy heads pop out from within the dark rooms, and covered up the windows- not just to prevent monsters from peeking inside- but so you can't see their silhouettes." 

The woman trembled more, now wanting to cry for a different reason as Dove kept her sitting down. 

"They have yet to hurt you, but you know they are capable, and so you keep the drawers with all your knives and dangerous utensils, locked. You would use real locks, but considering how long you've dealt with this affliction, it's wearing you down and you wish for normalcy. Plus, if anyone were to come visit your home, they would think you strange, a reaction you are tired of. So, pushing the paranoia aside, you decide not to cover your house in protective symbols and other things that would only make others think of witchcraft."

"H-how, how did you know?"

"You use child safety locks because they look normal, and you pretend to be like any other mom who likes to decorate their house like it's autumn all year round, but I see the peach-pit necklaces all over the place. Those are meant to be used for protection against evil, right? And yet, they don't work. I saw the symbols drawn on the walls behind your fridge too."

"Please stop." 

"But I'm not done yet."

"But you made your point- what can I do to get you to stop?!" The woman's voice shook as her face contorted into one of fear and agony. 

Her sitting position on the sofa made her face the windows with the thick curtains drawn over. The woman wanted to turn her head away, as if she was beginning to see something terrifying through the window despite the curtains. 

"You know the monster that is haunting your child directly. You might even know the real reason why Connie made that dollhouse too- I just need you to tell me everything, and this pain can decrease. Nothing comes of pretending everything is normal. When a kettle starts hissing, you can't ignore that- it'll only grow louder-"

"IT'S MY DAD!!!" The woman shrieked. 

Dove took her hands off the woman's shoulders and walked around the sofa to face her, taking her phone back out to hear better for the recording. Just as she sat down on the couch, she looked up and noticed Bence. He had come back inside and from the way he was standing and leaning against the wall, he must've come back in a while ago. The girl couldn't ponder too long about when he came in, for the mother then finally revealed something as her body shook. 

"My dad died two weeks ago and has been haunting me. His funeral was Friday. On that Friday, I saw his ghost haunting my daughter." The mother sniffed and kept her head down, eyes shut like she was too afraid and unnerved to open them, afraid of what she'd see.

"Does that mean he's currently with her?" The girl asked with alarm in her voice. 

Bence frowned and went over to the hallways with the rooms. The woman shook her head furiously and put her hands over her ears, her eyes shut tightly. 

"No! No! I can't tell you more! You won't believe me!"

"I can see these creatures too, and so can Bence- you can tell me."

"You're lying! You're lying just like everyone else who has tried to help me!"

Bence saw each of the bedroom doors labeled with names. 

'Matthew'. 'Paris'. 

His eyes darted down at the threshold below the door labeled, 'Connie', and he furrowed his brows even more in concern. 

"Ma'am, there is smoke coming out of your daughter's room-"

The woman lifted her head and got out of her seat. She ran over to her youngest child's room, but not to open the door. 

"NO!"

She ran over to yank Bence away from the door. It was a failed attempt but that didn't stop her from trying in her panicked moment. 

"DON'T GO IN THERE!!!"

"Ma'am, something in your daughter's room-"

"YOU CAN'T OPEN THE DOOR! I OPENED IT WHEN I LET MY GUARD DOWN! I CAN'T DO IT AGAIN!!!"

Bence held up an arm to keep the woman from trying to claw at his face. He looked past her to Dove and pointed his eyes to the door as he let the woman think she was pushing him away. 

Dove snuck past the woman and took a running start to the door. 

*BAM*

The mother nearly snapped her neck when turning at the sound.

"DON'T-"

Smoke and physical shadows emerged from the open entrance. Bence grabbed the woman by her arms to prevent her from going in or blocking Dove.

"Dove. Tell me what's in there."

"Please don't! We're not demons- I swear!!" The mother cried as she wrestled weakly against Bence's grip. 

No matter how many times she flicked the light switch, it wouldn't come on. So, the girl stepped inside and shined light from her phone, soon letting out a groan when she felt her shoe step into a puddle.

The bedroom was pitch black, giving this illusion of it being a large empty space, until she shined her light in certain spots. The first was the mystery puddle she stepped in. It appeared transparent, not completely like water, but not like blood or ichor either. 

Dove cautiously stepped further inside, over more of the mystery puddles on the carpet.

Revealed by the light to be scattered on the floor, was trash and torn up plushies. Pieces of paper, cardboard, cotton, and if the girl knelt down to see better, she could even see red, crimson droplets dried up on the carpet. She kept walking further in until finding the bottom corner of a wooden piece of furniture. 

"Mystery puddle, blood droplets, trash, broken mirror-" The girl attempted to list all she could find, until becoming silent when finding the bed.

Cold, wrinkled sheets, and the body of a little girl in a comatose state as she lay stuck to her bed with the help of the slimiest material for webbing. That slimy web excuse for a cocoon was likely thanks to the creature perched at the edge of her headboard, drooling ichor and saliva over the girl's dress.

"Nightmare." 

Bence let go of the woman as he ran inside, leaving the woman to scream in denial of her reality as she knelt down to the floor, sobbing and screaming. 

Dove was careful not to shine her light over at the creature, only at the girl laying still on the bed and fortunately, still breathing as shown by the rise and fall of her chest. Shining the light any higher would only alert the creature and there was no need to use any light to see him. 

From within the shadows there could be seen pale white skin, nearing gray in tone. Long, lanky limbs with hardly any flesh, rib cages that could be seen through the skin, large and heavy wrinkles of skin around the hips and neck, like all the meat liquefied away. The nightmare looked relatively human, and normally that would be fine were it not for the fact he was clearly naked. The most detailed feature were the rims of the glasses that could be seen in the dark. 

As soon as Bence walked in, unsheathing a blade from a hidden pocket, the creature growled as it kept salivating over the child's body. It looked up, seeing the glint of Bence's knife, and suddenly vanished. 

The shadows engulfing the room got pulled in by the thing as it swam into the wall, alarming the both of them. 

"Dove, open the other rooms!" 

The girl ran out and rammed open the door of the brother's room. 

The creature was just popping its head through the wall, right above the body of the teenage boy who was hanging from the ceiling by webbing made from ichor. The teenager was also unconscious. The creature looked up, seeing Dove, and vanished back into the wall again. 

She cursed under her breath as she broke down the final door of the hallway and ran inside. This room was also a mess, like the girl was also trying to create something before being interrupted. Just like the previous room, she only caught the creature as it popped its head in, right through the wall above the headboard of the bed. The girl laying in her bed was twitching in her sleep, like she was in a bad dream she couldn't escape from, her limbs held down by the sticky slime at her wrists and ankles. 

"Where else could-" Dove muttered and then ran out the hall, Bence followed her and they ran to where the master bedroom was, all the way across the house. 

The mother this time was faster, blocking them from the master bedroom by standing in front. She was crying and holding a knife.

"Wait," She whispered loudly. 

"I know how this looks, but he's not evil." 

"Ma'am, we can't help you unless we know everything. We are not here to judge, we just need to know about that creature."

"And what will you do!?" The woman shouted back. 

"Are you going to make him go away?"

"If he's a danger to you and your family, yes."

"He's not! He's my dad!!" 

Bence was about to retort again, a vein almost popping out of his neck as he listened to the woman keep defending the creature. Dove tapped his chest with the back of her hand and looked up at him with a silent expression. She nodded and took one step toward the woman.

"How do you know the naked creature is your dad?" Dove asked in a soft, quiet voice. 

"He has his face, he appeared to me after he died, it has to be him."

"What has he been doing ever since he began haunting Connie?"

"Nothing!" The woman insists. "He hasn't done anything wrong- the kids are just being dramatic-"

"He's put all three of your children in a coma and I'm guessing he's also done something worse to your husband, didn't he?"

"... Get out of my house."

"Right on the money, Dove." Bence shrugged as he got ready to take out his dagger. 

Dove still urged him to wait. 

"Get out of my house- this is a family matter- it doesn't concern you." The woman said with more grit in her voice. 

"You agreed to meet us here because you know deep down, your dead-dad-turned-nightmare will become a concern when he starts taking over this house, killing you and your family, then spreading to others."

The mother's mouth quivered as it fell ajar and she paused.

"He wouldn't kill us. He loves us."

"Right, he loves you so much that he wants to take you to the afterlife with him. Please, miss..." Dove paused, suddenly realizing she never figured out the woman's name. 

She cursed herself internally. 

The woman, after a brief moment, still holding the kitchen knife with both hands, responded with 'Madeline'. 

"Miss Madeline, we are not going to do anything bad; we're just going to help your family. Could we just look inside and see the state your husband is in?"

Madeline thought and lowered her knife. 

Dove took another, careful, step forward. 

The woman then screamed and raised her knife. 

Bence pulled Dove out of the way and parried her knife with his dagger, then he grabbed both her wrists. 

"Why did I even try?" Dove said with regret and sarcasm as she zipped past Madeline. 

She slammed the master bedroom door open, peered into the dark, and then turned on her light, going inside. 

The floor in this room was clean, the mirror above the dresser was also broken, but the picture frames standing atop the dresser were fine. The girl shined her light over the family photos, looking for the ones with the woman and her father. 

Just outside the room, Bence tried his best to restrain the woman without hurting her. When she attempted to scream so that the neighbors could hear, he egged her on. 

"Go on ahead miss, scream and alert other people here. Then, all of your worries about being called demons and such will come true because let me assure you, not many people are as understanding as us, and you cannot keep up the normal act anymore." He said to her ear. 

She was still holding the knife. Each of her kids' rooms were a mess, especially with the kids all tied up in strange substances of ichor.  

"Whatever your situation is, it is driving you insane. You were never crazy before- there are other people like you and me who can see what we call nightmares- but you will soon become crazy if you don't do something about the nightmare in your home." He told her, making sure she heard. 

"I'm not crazy." She muttered as she stared up at him. 

"I just- I'm just trying to prove my dad is still a good person."

"Why is that? Why are you trying to prove he's a good person?"

"Because I've been spending my whole life trying to prove that to myself!!" Madeline sobbed harder as she dropped the knife finally. 

Bence sighed, first using his shoe to kick the knife away, having it slide across the tiled floor. He cautiously let go of the woman's wrists as he went to go grab it. Then, a shriek came from the master bedroom. 

"Dove?" Bence called out. 

"Don't come in! It's gross in here!" Dove yelled out from the inside. 

"What's in there?" The necromancer asked as he attempted to peer into the room. 

Pitch darkness still, and it made the doorway appear as though it was opening to a completely empty world. He turned on the light in his phone. The light did not reach very far but he could make out two figures. 

There was more noise as Dove appeared in the light, dragging something behind her. He was about to go over and help before she put her hand up. 

"Don't. Unless you want this weird slime stuff on your shoes." The girl was very upset, and very disturbed, marks of something on her face. 

She came out of the room, revealing that she had dragged out the body of Madeline's husband. Still breathing, the only one awake, and the only one not covered in dark slime. 

"I have no idea what this substance is, but it disturbs me greatly and this guy needs a health check. Can we please go?" Her voice shuddered along with her body as she looked down at the floor with that thousand-yard-stare. 

                                               ...

It took a moment to convince Madeline to come with them willingly. It took until Dove offered to simply knock her out and bring her into the car, to get her to cooperate. Not wanting to be knocked out, Madeline agreed to peacefully go with them.

Dove made sure to take extensive photos of each of the bedrooms, and Bence did what he could, writing runes into circles of protection all over the place. As for the outside of the house, to respect the woman's wishes for normalcy and as a shield for social cover, he only used holy water. 

When going back to the agency, Bence helped Madeline's husband up to the apothecary floor as the man still needed some support. The nightmare of the dead father seems to have messed up the ligaments in his legs. Dove took Madeline further up to the detective's floor, where she would be conducting further questioning and testing a theory. She also planned to go to the restroom and get the slime and ichor washed off. Her blazer was already taken off and left in her car. It wasn't likely anyone would take a filthy blazer.

Unfortunately, as soon as the elevator doors opened, one of the workers called for Dove as soon as they noticed her.

After asking for a minute and sending Madeline to wait in the mirror room, she went over to the conference to see what the new commotion was. She furrowed her brows when passing by Laurence's desk, noticing the doll of Laurence was not there. 

Eden waved to her and she rushed over, sighing in relief to see Laurence was just back at the little dollhouse again. That's when she noticed the dollhouse layout changed again. 

Instead of a multi-story house, it now appeared to mimic the three floors of an apartment building. Laurence was now sitting on the third floor, in one room that was designed like a big bedroom for a studious high school student. The other rooms that could possibly fit on the floor was the big fancy kitchen and a fancy bathroom. This indicated that each floor represented an apartment unit.  

Eden made a 'J' using their fist and pinky, then made an 'O' shape and raised it twice, and then another fist with the index and middle finger both extended. They spelled out his name and then stepped aside to reveal Adan standing behind them with a tray in his hand. 

He had an irritated yet apologetic expression as he stepped forward and held the tray out to Dove. 

On the tray was one of the blank dolls now with an appearance. Short black hair, cargo shorts, black shirt with a white coat, and one leg with metallic fabric. 

"Joon, who was to return the dolls back to this floor after I finished my examination, became too curious." Adan grit his teeth with regret. 

"He examined the dollhouse, wanting to take more photos and assumed that as long as he did not directly touch the dolls or the house, he would be safe. He moved the accessories of the dollhouse around, found the magic circle, read the words, and his soul and body now occupy one of the dolls."

"Of course he would do something like this." Dove sighed, raking her hand over her hair. 

"Did you figure out anything about the dolls?" She asked as she made eye contact with him.

He shook his head.

"As far as my research has shown, they are merely regular, hand-crafted dolls made from pillow fabric and cotton from stuffed animals. There is nothing magical or cursed about them." 

"Figures. Well, I brought the mother of the one who crafted the dollhouse, she's currently in the mirror room. Are there any questions you think I should ask her?"

He shook his head to the question too. He took the doll of Joon from the tray and handed it to Eden, knowing they would be cautious and hold their friend gingerly. 

"All that I know so far is likely what you already know as well. Touching the dolls and the dollhouse has no effect, only reading the strange symbol will warrant any danger. But if you can find the words, mind telling me what you discovered when visiting the family?" 

Dove hummed, watching Eden go over and carefully place Joon beside Laurence.

"Family drama. The mother, Madeline, is a haunted folk but has been trying to hide it. At some point, the youngest was discovered to be haunted and unlike the mother, did not hide it. The grandfather is said to have died and turned into a nightmare that is clinging to them. He's put all three of the kids in a coma and almost got the father before we got to him in time. Bence took him to get treated in the apothecary floor."

Adan nodded and then looked the girl up and down. 

"And what is this strange substance that you are covered in?" He asked, the tone in his voice changing into one of concern as he frowned. 

"It, looks, a bit familiar."

"Some sort of mixture of slime and ichor. All of the bedrooms inside the house were covered in them." Dove looked down the hall where the mirror room was as she crossed her arms. 

"After this, I'm going to go back and change into some new clothes, throw these in the laundry. Real shame, I liked this sweater." 

Adan handed her a handkerchief, his face contorting like he was trying to prevent himself from saying something. He had a pained expression. 

"I suggest you burn your clothes after changing." He said suddenly. 

"And come by the labs before you go. I might have a shampoo that you can use to make sure all of that comes off." He gestured with his hand in a circular motion.

Before she could ask him anymore, the alchemist told her that he would have to get back to the labs now, but Enzo would be visiting soon to lend a hand in the research. She thanked him and he wished her good luck with the interrogation and the cleaning. 

Not long after, Dove entered the mirror room, apologizing to the now calm yet still anxious woman for the wait. She sat across from her and placed some items down. One was a sheet of paper with a list of questions she had planned; another was a folder filled with printed photos, and her phone, to record the interrogation. 

"Can I offer you a drink? It would only be fair, in exchange for the tea."

The woman shook her head.

Dove pressed the record button on her phone screen and placed it on the table. 

"Just to confirm the information I have so far, the real incident began on Friday of last week, when your father died, correct? I require a verbal reply." 

"Yes."

"What was your father like before he died?"

Madeline opened her mouth to speak again but caught herself. Before even uttering a sound, she frowned and hesitated, her mouth contorted. Whatever she was about to say contradicted with what she wanted to say, and she trembled. 

Dove had already gone through this several times, but this is the first time she saw someone actually resist it the spells of the mirror room. Normally the words fall out before they realize but the woman was able to resist. At least to an amount. 

"You must've been keeping secrets about him for so long that lying is second nature for you." The girl shrugged as she looked over her material. 

"Don't talk down to me!" The woman finally said after moments of hesitation, slamming her fists on table. 

"Which part my sentence did you interpret as me talking down to you?" The girl responded calmly. 

Madeline seethed as she clawed her fingers into the table. 

"You have a filthy mouth. You're manipulative and you tricked me with sweet words earlier so that you could hurt me."

"Ma'am." Dove looked up again finally. "You're the only one who lied. I did not."

She calmly leered at the woman, resting her head in her hand.

"You were the one who lied- albeit none of them were clean and were very unorganized- I only used words that would be more fitting for what you'd prefer to hear. Everything I told you thus far has been true."

The irritated woman raised an eyebrow in disbelief. 

"Yes, it's true. I and many others here can see nightmares just like you, Bence and I want to help you, and as for the thing about judging you-" Dove looked off to a random blank space as she folded her hands and propped her elbows. 

"That part is also still true. I'm not trying to judge. I just want to know, how best to put your family at ease."

Madeline visibly huffed. 

"Now then, let's try a more, straight forward question." She cleared her throat and scanned the list questions on her paper. 

"What was your father doing to the kids that he has all of them in a coma?"

Madeline was quiet. 

Dove leaned against her hand as the other rested flat on the table, before making a tapping sound with her fingers. 

Tap... Tap... Tap... Tap

Then, she made multiple tapping sounds in rhythm as she lifted each of her four fingers up in order and back down again.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap

Madeline then finally muttered something under her breath, a guilty face as her wringed together tightly underneath the table. 

"Could you please repeat that?" Dove leaned in closer to listen.

There was a tremble in the woman's breathing as she could not bring herself to look Dove in the eye. 

"He wanted to play with them..."

Dove's eyebrow twitched.

"... He wanted to play with them..." Dove repeated.

"Did he purposefully show up naked or was that just how-"

"He just wanted to play with his grandkids like he'd always wanted when he was alive. He never could because he was a frail old man."

"Had he always wanted to slime up their rooms into complete darkness, and put all of them in a coma? Even the father?" The intern asked out of genuine confusion.

Madeline began sobbing quietly again, whimpers escaping every now and then after she covered her mouth and kept her head down. 

Dove tried to offer a tissue, having grabbed a bunch earlier from the restroom before the interrogation. Madeline, without taking a tissue, continued. 

"He's... never touched them when he was alive."

"Pardon?"

"He's never done anything to them when he was alive. My father has an affliction for being sexually attracted to kids, but he's never acted on his urges when he was alive!!!" The woman finally confessed. 

Dove recoiled as her eyes became enormous, alarmed. 

"I thought that meant he would have gotten rid of those urges, and then he died, I missed him so much because he was always a good dad to me! Sure, sometimes there was the porn- but I always deleted it from his computer- he's a good person outside of the times he'd make my daughter Paris give him a bath!" Madeline began rambling and barely catching her breath, the magic of the room now taking full effect. 

She put her hands to her throat as if to choke herself to stop speaking, to prevent herself from revealing more. Her eyes glinted with tears out of regret and betrayal to herself. 

"I thought he wouldn't do anything wrong to us! He really tried so hard not to do anything bad when he was alive- he's a good dad!!"

The intern's eye twitched. 

"... You. You knew he was a- ... Actually, no. No he did do something wrong- all your kids are in a coma! Actually, wait, so if you can confirm that nightmare is indeed your father that's haunting your family- and your father had a thing for some perverse stuff- then what was all that substance in your kids' rooms? Did he have a thing for spiders or slugs???" 

The woman stayed silent again and the girl stood up, her breathing becoming heavy.

"Ma'am. Ma'am, please tell me all those things in the rooms were just ichor and a ton of your nightmare dad's drool."

Madeline's body shook as she finally looked up at Dove at last, guilt plastered all over her face. 

Dove's eyes froze as her mouth fell again, one hand cautiously reaching up to some of the leftover slime still on her hair, the spots she couldn't wipe of completely. 

Now with the brighter light of the mirror room, she slowly brought her trembling hand down, seeing the slime in a different, clearer light. 

In the alchemy labs just upstairs, right above the detective floor, Ingrid and Adan were walking down the halls. Ingrid was helping him carry some supplies to his office, the ones he needed to help him improve the functions of the nightmare compass. 

They both paused as a distant sound could be heard. 

"Is someone screaming? It must be really loud if we can hear it through the floors." Ingrid knelt down to the floor, searching for the sound. 

She looked up and noticed Adan's pained expression as he winced his eyes shut and grit his teeth. 

"Oh, the poor child figured it out."