Nightmares Vs Magic

Bence did the interrogation for Madeline's husband, Cooper, who was not at all what Bence expected. 

Cooper was a shy and timid man, polite and soft-spoken, a man who worked as an electrical technician. At the time of finding him, he may have been awake but he was in a trance of sorts. When he was back in the right mind to speak again, he first asked how his wife and kids were. 

Bence first made sure he was okay to leave the medical ward, getting the 'ok' from Leon, before bringing him down to the detective's floor for the mirror room. Only then did he break the news to the man about the status of his family. 

Before she ran off, Dove had requested for Eden to escort Madeline to the waiting room. She left the list of questions and photos on the table for Bence to work with, along with her phone that was still recording everything. 

When they entered, the necromancer noticed the low battery and took a portable battery from his desk, along with a charging cord, so he could charge her phone while he began his interrogation with Cooper. 

"Has your wife brought her father up often?"

"Yeah, but never about anything alarming. I just knew that they were very close." The family man shrugged as he rubbed his arm.

"I guess, after the kids were born, she was always weirdly insistent on making sure they got to bond with him, and she would always go on and on about how he was a good person."

Bence nodded, following along as he examined the list of questions. 

To simplify it, Cooper was the introvert husband while Madeline was the extrovert wife. They seemed to have had this balanced relationship where Cooper worked the most so that Madeline could have time with raising the kids. He knew she was haunted or rather understood that she had this affliction for seeing what he couldn't and was sympathetic if she didn't like going out. She wished for normalcy and he respected that. 

Sadly, after this day's incident, there would now be an issue with their marriage, since he had seen the nightmare haunting them, and especially after listening to the full recording on Dove's phone when Bence was done with his questions.

Meanwhile, on the alchemy floor, one of the small lab rooms, the door was locked as a concerned Enzo and Ingrid stood outside.

The alchemy labs deal with projects and experiments mainly revolved around alchemy, but they still follow all the safety protocols required of a typical lab. 

An up-to-code lab will have containment gear such as goggles, lab coats, gloves and face masks, along with equipment for fire safety. There are also machines to help wash off anything that may have splashed or fallen onto the scientist, such as eye washers and safety showers. 

The safety shower in the alchemy labs is kept in a convenient location for every lab room, regardless of what purpose of study and experimentation that the room is for. 

The shower that Dove was currently occupying is in the room closest from the staircase door that Enzo could lead her to. 

She clawed at her skin and repeatedly scrubbed, even using the eyewash station right next to the shower.

"Dove? Don't scrub too hard." Ingrid's voice said gently from the other side of the door. 

There was no need for Enzo and Ingrid to be on the other side of the door, Dove didn't bother with her clothes. Why bother? The substance was everywhere. But they did understand that she wanted to be alone.

"I'm not scrubbing hard enough!" 

Ingrid and Enzo cringed, hearing Dove yell through the door. 

"If anything, this is somehow worse than my first ever job where my boss groped me and I couldn't tell anyone about it because he was the town angel!!!" 

"What?" The material scientist asked, fear in her voice. 

"I NEED A KNIFE! My skin is filthy and unclean and tainted everywhere! There is no point in washing- it'll never come off! The only way I can become decent again is if I carve off all of my skin!! And then stab myself!"

Enzo muttered under his breath, trying to remember all the tools that were in the lab room she currently occupied. Then after some consideration, he knocked on the door, asking to come in. 

"Go ahead." The girl responded in a defeated tone. 

"I don't care anymore."

Enzo opened the door and crossed the room to reach the girl sitting on the floor, head leaned against the wall, on the other side. Past the study tables, furthest from the projector screen for lectures. 

The safety shower was still on, her skin was red from her claw marks and scratches. Her curly hair was a damp mess. 

There was a table nearby with a bottle. The shampoo that Adan gave to ensure all the substance was washed out of her hair. It was left open and half empty. Dove used it to get the substance off but her body language made it clear that she could still feel it on her. 

He pulled the lever to make the water stop and then knelt down to meet her at eye level. Or at least at head level as her eyes were blank, traumatized and staring into nothingness.

"If you want, you can leave the rest of the case to Bence and Eden. There are others who can continue this case."

She shook her head. 

"No. I am seeing this through."

"Are you sure? Because I understand if you want to clock out for today."

"There is a nightmare that has-"

Sound interrupted her.

Enzo's phone vibrated in his pocket and he excused himself for a moment.

He held the phone to his ear as he gave Dove some space and paced around the lab. The man still wanted to make sure the girl didn't stick to her words and actually hurt herself as soon as he turned his back. 

"Enzo? Is Dove with you?" Bence was heard asking from the other side. 

"Yes. Do you need her? Because let me tell ya, she is not in a good state." Enzo responded.

"I am, regretfully, all too aware. I don't need her at the moment, it's just she left her phone and I needed to let her know that I'll be going back to our suspect's house. I'm also bringing Chris. Whatever meager amount of information I could find out about the dollhouse, I left the paper on her desk, but make it clear I don't expect her to get back to work right away. For now, Chris and I have three kids to help get out of their comas."

Enzo responded affirmatively that he'd pass on the information to Dove. 

However, Dove is sneakier than he expected. 

As soon as he ended the call, she was already standing nearby, revealing that she had heard everything on the call. Her eyes were still dead, but she was moving again. 

Enzo tried to convince her to perhaps go home and take a break. 

Dove shook her head and instead asked if there was a towel. She was given a towel and a spare lab coat to wear as she returned to work. Enzo went with her down to the floor, and stopped her from going back to the mirror room, showing that Bence already put her phone on her desk, along with a paper with Bence's handwriting. 

The other materials she brought to the mirror room were put on his desk. 

There was also the muffled sound of two voices arguing in the distance. 

Eden greeted her, ear plugs in their ears, and offered some to her and Enzo if they wanted. 

Dove snapped her fingers looking for a pen and paper before Enzo patted her shoulder and signed to Eden. 

He extended the index finger of his dominant hand, waved it side to side, then put both hands, fingers extended, to his ears to emphasize he was hearing something, and finally moved his hand from his body while wearing an inquisitive expression. 

Dove looked over her shoulder at him in slight surprise. 

"... In my, estranged, family, we learned all sorts of ways to communicate secretly." He told her with a blank face, not even making eye contact with her. He could feel her gaze.

Eden pointed over to the waiting room. The door and blinds were closed, but stepping just closer, and you could hear the muffled sound of two voices arguing and yelling at each other. 

Enzo gently patted the backs of both the interns to guide them away from the room. Other people passing by the waiting room cringed internally, some tried to listen in on the tea before flinching after hearing the sound of something breaking. They would soon go to mind their own business after fearing for broken glass.

Dove read the paper on her desk, learning that the dollhouse was something little Connie made when haunted and under the influence of her grandfather's supposed ghost. 

The idea of whether the nightmare actually was the grandfather, or rather a creation born from the mother's fears and lies, was never confirmed. 

The mother confessed to Bence that the dollhouse was a replica of the old house she used to live in with her father. The four dolls represented the number of direct family members that lived in the house. Connie's room was clean when the brother broke down the door to check on her. It was only after the mother insisted on having the dollhouse taken away, did the nightmare get upset and darken the children's rooms. 

It started with Connie's room, then spread to Matthew's, Paris, and then to the master bedroom. 

The woman insistently claimed that her father was only trying to connect with her grandkids at first, because his ghost had been visiting her in her dreams ever since he died. 

'Not sure if it was actually her father, some sort of nightmare, or a demon.' Said the little note Bence wrote next to that passage.

After this, the passage underneath let Dove know that Madeline knew it was wrong. She knew, even with the image of her father from her dreams lying to her, that the children would become trapped after their souls were put inside the dolls. 

Unfortunately, after that, she would have nightmares after nightmares, until eventually becoming close to losing her mind. 

"And the father of the year award goes to..." Enzo responded casually after reading the last few passages with Dove. 

"Don't you mean mother? Madeline was the one who let this all happen to her family."

"The mother is bad, but if the father had just controlled himself from the beginning and never let his daughter know that side of him, she would've lived just fine. Ignorance is bliss."

Dove hummed, wondering if that was true as she set the paper down and pocketed her phone. 

"The naive may forgive and forget, but the wise forgive but do not forget. He could've still done stuff behind her back. Better to know and prevent it, but she decided not to prevent it, and instead acted as if he was free of filth." 

"I can't argue in her defense of what currently happened. Still, should've been on the father to control himself from the beginning, even down to his old age." Enzo retorted, hands on his hips as he leaned against a nearby desk. 

He noticed the girl's eyes go towards the locked conference room. Her gaze was fixed as her eyelids hung lazy, like she wanted to sleep. Her eye bags certainly made her seem very tired of everything.

"Whatever attempts that were made, it's clear that the kids must've known, and became uncomfortable. The mother acted upset with them because she stayed willfully naive, and turned her back when they needed help."

Enzo frowned, noticing the venom in her voice, then saw her walking towards the waiting room. 

Eden stepped in front of Dove, not knowing what she was intending to do, but wanting to keep her from seeing the ugly argument going on inside. 

Eden was still wearing the earplugs. Bence didn't want them to hear the nasty argument inside either. So, the girl took her phone out and spoke into it.

"I have seen worse, social interactions. Besides, we should check on whether they are just arguing or ended up hurting each other." 

She showed the phone screen with the voice recorded text to Eden.  

The young necromancer considered. A louder crashing sound erupted from the room, making them flinch as they could hear it even with the ear plugs. They nodded and stepped out of the doorway. 

"Wait, Dove-" Enzo reached out to stop her. 

The girl went ahead and opened the door. 

The waiting room was a mess, chairs that were clearly thrown, tables flipped, and two grown-ups, standing with great distance between each other. They were silent and refused to make eye contact with each other.

Both were taking a breather from yelling at each other as soon as they heard the door open. Cooper's hands were balled into fists. Madeline was clutching her necklace. 

Madeline looked up when she heard footsteps approaching, and her eyes widened to see Dove approaching her. 

If she thought the girl was curt before, she would soon get a rude awakening as soon as Dove walked toward her and backed her into a corner. 

"You know how to get Laurence and Joon out, don't you?" She asked her rhetorically. 

The woman stuttered, still taking a step back. 

"Wha.. what- who-"

"Laurence and Joon, the two victims, that are currently trapped in two of the four dolls. Your father supposedly visited you in your dreams, correct? The dollhouse was originally a replica of your childhood home, a place Connie shouldn't have any knowledge of but she did. Because he visited her in her dreams as well."

"How would- how would you know? My kids visited their grandfather all the time." Madeline asked. 

"Not the original childhood home. The photos in your master bedroom. One photo had you as a child along with your sister and both parents, there was a two story house behind you. The next photo then showed only you and your father in a new, one story home."

 The woman huffed and didn't make eye contact with Dove. 

"Okay, and? I'm guessing the guy with a scar on his face already told you? So what? I have two childhood homes." 

"Look at me." Dove snapped her fingers in front of the woman's eyes. 

She blinked and flinched. 

"Your parents got divorced, your sister chose to go with your mother and you chose your father."

"How did you know-"

"A guess that I had a big hunch on and you confirmed it for me. Thank you."

Dove took a subtle breath and continued, not letting the woman break eye contact with her. The woman unconsciously put her hands up in self defense, or surrender.

"Now that the divorce is confirmed- you knew since childhood of your father's sins, or at least had a feeling. Otherwise, why would your mother divorce your father out of the blue? She wanted to take both her daughters, but you put up a fight and adamantly chose to stay with your father."

"You don't know that." Madeline retorted. 

"I know you strongly defend your father, even now. I'm guessing it must've started from young. Your mother found your father guilty of something- child pornography? Did he touch your sister? Otherwise, why would your sister choose your mother? You may not fully know, that or you chose to believe him because he worked hard to raise you and the idea of leaving him was too much for you to handle. That's why you so strongly defend that he is a good person, either out of genuine love or he groomed you into always having faith and defending him."

"Shut up!" 

"That's another confirmation. I need no verbal confirmations now, it's written all over your face and now I have a full idea." 

Dove paused as she took another breath to continue the rapid-fire.

"After he died, let's suppose it truly was your father that tried to reach you- wanted you to help him with a desire which was to have you and your family back together because part of him did love you, that or he missed your sister and mother- the issue is that is that you both lost contact with them long ago and so he had to move onto the second thing he wanted most- your kids. Connie was the youngest therefore most vulnerable and so he haunted her next for his goal. She was able to be left alone and take time to craft your original childhood home because you grounded her- that's right, your father either made you ground her so that she'd be isolated and get to work, or used the opportunity you gave." 

Madeline gasped under her breath as her breathing grew heavier. She looked over Dove's shoulder to Cooper. His eyes were wide, his hands still balled up into fists, but he was just as frozen, hearing every bit of Dove's monologue. 

The woman's hands slowly moved to her ears as the girl continued.

"Connie made four dolls out of whatever material she had, you have three kids including her, and for the possibility that he wanted you to go as well, that makes four. It was originally going to be meant for you, your sister, mother, and him, but well, I need not reiterate, do I? He put little Connie into a trance to build your childhood home and planned to have you and your children get put into it via the dolls. You knew all of this."

"Stop- stop. I already feel like shit-" The woman was near gasping as she grew more nervous, leaning against the wall for support.  

"You feel like that because you knew the most of what was going on and let your loved ones end up in this mess. You're about to feel a lot worse if you don't tell me how to get my loved ones out of this dollhouse that was caused by your mess."

"I don't know-"

"You do, you're just not certain."

"Because he promised me that if we all went into it, I could go back to being a kid and have my family again!" 

The woman slid further down the wall, hands covering her ears as she whimpered and gasped for air. Regret, guilt, fear, memories of her father and the conflict of her emotions had wrapped up into a chokehold around her throat. She began to cry again and would not stop crying.

"... Deep down, you know about the awful desires your father has." Dove sighed as she put back on a polite face. 

"Regardless of what he did in the past, how much he tried not to act on them and how hard he worked to raise you- maybe he was a good person and I'm just being harsh- but right now, let's just pay attention to the dollhouse. All I need to know right now, is how to get my loved ones out of the dolls, and then, we can help you with your issue- perhaps a therapist."

"We don't need a therapist! I'm doing all the work in making sure everything is good and perfect!" Madeline screamed back through tears. 

Dove inhaled deeply and bit the tip of her tongue, making sure she did not yell back. Self control was one of the traits she took pride in, and she was not about to let it be ruined, especially at her place of work.

"... Do you know what it's like to have been defiled and not been able to tell anyone?"

The woman did not say anything. She kept her eyes down and shook her head. 

"... Do you know what it's like to have spent a significant amount of time with someone who greatly disturbed you, but if you told anyone about it, no one would believe you?"

Her questions was still met with silence. 

"... You should really answer her Maddie." Cooper spoke up from behind Dove.

"Don't you 'Maddie' me!!" 

"Hey! You don't get to call the shots after everything that happened this weekend!"

Cooper stepped past Dove. 

"You don't get to retreat inside the little bubble of your mind again! You messed up and you should fix it-"

"Don't you think I already feel terrible enough!?" 

"ZIP IT. BOTH OF YOU."

Cooper relaxed his posture as he reluctantly stepped back. Dove stood up and placed her hands on her hips, looking between them.

"I'm talking now. No more interruptions."

The girl turned to look back at the woman. 

"I'm going to have to take a guess and say you've never been in any of the scenarios I described, but if you have, you're refusing to acknowledge it. I'm not gonna bother pressing any more buttons, lest I want you to dissociate further- my point is that I've been in those positions."

It was like the temperature in the room changed. 

Cooper did not dare speak up again, Madeline reluctantly looked up. Dove took that as a sign to kneel again to be at her eye level. 

"You may think that the nightmare is your father, perhaps he is, or, that nightmare was created from the doubts and fears you've kept hidden for so long. Who knows." She shrugged.

"But what I know, is that you keep hoping all of this will pass, that if you ignore the problem, it'll eventually go away and things will go back to normal. Because that's what you did in your childhood, even if the damage caused you to have a new normal, you just accepted it. You're hoping your family will do the same- get over all that's happened, and move on with their lives... Perhaps they could." 

Dove spoke in this slow, soft voice, like speaking in a trance.

Madeline made full eye contact with her again. Hands folded on her knees that were tucked into her chest. 

"Yes. They could..." Madeline responded in a broken voice. 

"That's what I did."

"I thought so." Dove nodded, softening her eyes. 

"And yet, they aren't you." 

Madeline clawed at the cloth of her pants. Dove reached out and took a hold of the woman's face before she could look away again. The woman's eyes became enormous as her breath shuddered. 

"You're children will remember, especially your older ones. They will grow to resent you if you dismiss them every time they bring it up, they'll also remember that the same happened to Connie and when they leave, they'll probably take her away too. You'll lost your marriage as well, let's be honest, and you'll be alone. Whatever happy family you wished for- you're going to lose because you wanted a fictional family and couldn't handle a real one." 

Madeline struggled against her grip, beginning to thrash. Her eyes were staring right at Dove but it was like she was looking through her, seeing a vision in front of her eyes of all that the girl described, but in vivid detail. 

"You don't know that!" She fought back verbally. 

"We can make it work- they'll stay! I can make it up to them and they'll stay- they won't leave my mom and sister. You don't know my family like I do."

"I know people who have been in the same position as me because when my parents didn't believe me, I left them!"

Madeline blinked, then stopped struggling as she finally focused back on Dove again. Her hands were still grabbing onto the girl's wrist as she was fighting against her earlier. Now she's frozen and looking up at her as Dove straightened her posture. 

"... What? Why?"

"I just told you. They didn't believe me when I tried to let them know what was happening to me, and so I had no reason to stay with them. I left as soon as I graduated high school, and currently have both their numbers blocked. Now if you don't want your kids to do the same- which they will- you best help me help you."

"..." Madeline's mouth fell open, her jaw trembling but nothing came out. She frowned deeply and retreated back into her own mind again, letting go of Dove's wrist. The fabric of the lab coat's sleeves were slightly wrinkled.

The girl sighed and stood up, clawing and carding her wet hair back with her fingers, wondering if she perhaps made it worse and monologued for nothing. 

The sound of someone clearing his throat was made from behind her. 

Cooper flinched when Dove glanced at him from over her shoulder. 

He rubbed his arm awkwardly, mouth falling ajar and closing repeatedly as he looked for the words. Dove raised an eye brow. 

"I, I might have an idea that you could try?" He said, unsure. 

Cooper was still confused about the whole situation, having only minutes to wrap his head around the fact that the supernatural exists before learning the state of his family, and his wife's secrets. He spoke with his hands, licking his lips to take another minute, searching for his words. 

"When I'm working on an electrical box with some wiring issue, I typically assess the mess, remember which wires are supposed to go where, and move all the wires into their respective places after untangling everything." 

He wrung his hands together, fiddling with his thumb. Almost the same habit as Madeline.

"You could try the same with that dollhouse? Check for what's wrong, set it right, and then maybe when things are in order, they'll come back?"

Dove looked him up and down silently, turned to the woman in the corner, then back to him. 

"That's a good suggestion, but then I don't have a reference for what's supposed to be correct. The dollhouse was last turned into something resembling my friend's childhood home that I've never seen. I don't know what the story is in order to set it right." 

Cooper was about to suggest something else, before Madeline spoke up one more time. She stood up from her spot in the corner. 

"You're an ungrateful and awful child if you left your parents for something so small."

Dove's face fell, not surprised, just disappointed. 

"I don't know your story, and you also don't know mine."

"But I am a mother and if I had a child like you who threw away your family just because one bad thing happened to you, I'd be glad you were gone."

Dove turned around and had to keep herself from glaring at her. 

"One bad thing?" She repeated after the woman. 

The woman's chest rose and fell as Dove stepped back toward her. 

"One? Bad thing? That's how you're going to simplify it? It was two and half agonizing, uncomfortable years. In between those years, I felt like throwing up and clawing at my skin to remove all the places that were touched-"

"That doesn't matter. You're parents could've helped you-"

"They didn't believe me." Venom crawled back up into the tone of Dove's voice.

"They didn't believe me even though I made it clear I was uncomfortable with that man who kept me under his thumb for years. They were of no help, not even until the end. There is no reason to stay with parents who clearly didn't want me around."

"Well maybe it's your own fault! Maybe they did believe you but wanted to leave you alone so you could learn your lesson!"

"... What lesson? What fault?" Dove sneered. 

Madeline quivered and nearly cowered before she swallowed it all and responded. 

"... I don't know-"

"Exactly. You don't know. You don't what you're saying, you don't know my story, and frankly, I'm now starting to think you've dissociated so much that you barely know what's going on half the time."

This was the final thing she said to her as she brushed past Cooper, leaving the room. 

Her gait changed as she did not even remember to close the door on her way out, nor did she pay attention to anything else. Enzo noticed her keep her eyes on the conference room door. 

"Dove, what are you planning?" He asked with concern, but he did not plan to stop her. 

"Nothing. It doesn't matter anymore. My efforts don't matter and I should've never tried." She told him before opening the door to the conference room. 

Eden knew what she was doing. They tried to stop her. The girl was quicker and went around them, reaching for a blank doll and then removing the little carpet to reveal the pentagram made from the blood of an unconscious child. She read the little words out loud. 

"Your dreams will come true inside this house, whether that means riches or finding your spouse. Go back to your past that you think of the most, the time and place doesn't matter, just don't upset the host."

Dove raised an eyebrow. 

"Seriously? It rhymes? Then again, an eight year old made this, even with her old blood." 

The girl then blinked as she kept looking at the whole pentagram, frowning as she realized it suddenly got bigger, taking up a good part of the floor. 

She realized that she was kneeling on the floor and stood up. 

"What the... How much blood was actually use-"

She paused, looking over her should and not seeing Eden, or Enzo, or the conference room. 

There were no more office noises like the fluttering of paper, the printer jamming, or the sound of people moving and walking about. 

Instead, she was standing inside a white room. When turning back around to look at the circle on the floor, it wasn't there. 

Now, there was a metal table with chains, cuffs, and leather straps to keep anyone restrained. A light hung above the table and a smaller table stood beside it, holding a tray of tools and petri dishes. 

Her eyes shook as memories came resurfacing and she stepped back, unable to take her eyes off everything but also not wanting to be near it. Her hand searched for her phone or anything in her pockets. She none of her items with her, only the lab coat she was wearing. Her hand then reached behind her, searching for anything. 

The girl then bumped into a metallic surface and spun around to see a metal door. This door alarmed her more than anything else and she turned to see where else she could run. 

I remembered that door. I remembered the room. Few may be able to believe me after this, and honestly at this point, I don't give a rats ass if you don't believe me. This is my life and I know what happened. That door is where that man, Simon dragged all the evidence of his crimes to so that no one would ever be able to find them. 

There was another door in the room, a wooden one. She ran towards it, turned the doorknob, and ran out. 

The next room was as she remembered. The basement. 

The door she had just come out of had a large bookshelf right beside it. There were lines scratched into the floor, signifying that the bookshelf was moved often in that one spot. Dove knew where to run. Around the corner of the wall where the bookshelf stood was a staircase leading up. 

The girl noticed the closed door as she climbed up, hand holding on tightly to the guard rails. Light emitted from the slim crack underneath. 

She rammed her shoulder into the door to force it open and found herself in a narrow closet, getting hit by coats.

You think it's the dollhouse doing that usual maze illusion, but it's not. Simon actually had his house built this way. He had another wall built in front of the basement door, had a long pole put inside, and turned it into a comically narrow closet that had a door on the side. Not the front, the side. Then he put dozens of hangers with coats on them inside, preventing anyone from being able to see the door at the other end of the closet door. 

He gave the carpenter an excuse that he didn't like basements and wanted to cover it up, so he could pretend it wasn't there. In reality, it was so others could forget he even had one. 

If a surviving victim ever managed to get out of their restraints, or out of the prison bedroom and out the door- Simon always made sure to keep everything locked- they have to get through all the coats and clothes. It sounds like a weak barrier for preventing someone from getting out, until you realize that all the clothes put inside and hanging in the narrow closet are very noisy. Ugly Christmas sweaters with bells on them, shirts with metal tassels, large coats with pockets full of noisy items that clink together loudly. 

It's an alarm system to alert him of anyone escaping. How I know this is because of the first time I was at his house. 

It was against my will, my parents wanted me to go and 'make some friends' with the other kids who were also forced to go because he was holding a bible study at his house. 

This is not to say that the weekly bible studies at his house are what told me he was a bad person. But Simon was a very good actor, and he knew how to imitate traits that would make anyone view him as a good person. 

The way I found out the truth was when I was the last one around one meeting. I volunteered to help him clean up after the little get-together was over, even though being at his home gave me a bad feeling in my gut- I was only trying to be a good person- and then I heard some noise from his wall of a closet. 

I remembered opening the door and finding some, mangled person crawling out, dried up blood on their face, missing an arm so they had a difficult time crawling. Ears cut off too, so they couldn't hear the ruckus they were making.

I remember the feeling of seeing his eyes behind me when he came back downstairs, and seeing what I discovered. 

Dove knew how to navigate the closet silently. 

She just had to be patient and army crawl, then when She got to the door, she got up very slowly so as not to move the clothes. 

The scary parts were always when she had to open the door, even after checking underneath to make sure no one was standing in front. 

Opening the closet door led her to the living room. You could tell the house was built in the fifties upon seeing conversation circle built into the carpeted floor. Pillows surrounded the inner edges with welcoming colors. Next to the social circle was a curved, on the opposite end was a TV, and bright, blue curtains. A nice and friendly color, until you pull them over and realize that they are thick, blackout curtains. 

Dove crossed the room quickly to reach the front door. 

Locked. 

And then footsteps. 

She cursed internally, taking off her shoes to not make any footstep sounds and went to search for a hiding place. 

The sounds would disappear upon reaching the carpet, so she ran into the kitchen with tiled floors, looked for a knife, and hid inside the pantry. She would've chosen the cabinet underneath the sink, but due to her height, she wouldn't be able to fit. 

The footsteps entered the kitchen, becoming louder thanks to the tiles. 

Dove considered climbing the shelves but opted not to, not with the risk of breaking the shelves, falling, and alerting her location. The pantry door opened inwards so she stayed close to the hinges. The only other issue was the possibility that whoever was coming, might see her through the narrow crack when the door opens. 

Her body trembled unconsciously, from her breathing to her hands. Aside from the mystery owner of the footsteps, her only other worry was accidentally dropping the knife. 

There was the sound of the fridge door opening, glass bottles clinking softly inside. The person closed it, letting out a frustrated groan. 

Dove cupped a hand over her mouth. 

More footsteps on the tiled floor, until eventually, they could no longer be heard. 

The girl hesitantly knelt down to look underneath the door. 

An eye was looking back at her.