Nightmares Vs Magic

She gripped her knife and slid it underneath the door.

The eye moved out of the way.

"Dove wait!" Yelled a voice from behind the door.

The girl's breath quickened and she stood back up.

"... Laurence?" She asked through the door.

Whoever the person was, they already knew she was in there, not making noise didn't matter anymore.

"Is that really you in there? Are you alright?" He asked he knocked on the door, either out of muscle memory or a habit.

Dove opened the pantry door to see Laurence clutching his head, having narrowly avoided her blade. Looking him up and down to ensure that it was indeed him, she noticed that he had also taken his shoes off so as to avoid having his footsteps be heard.

"Am I ok? Are you ok!? I almost stabbed you- I am so sorry!"

"I-its okay! Really. I get that you were scared. It wouldn't have been my first time getting cut or stabbed anyway." He waved it off and spoke with a small grin to cheer her up.

Dove responded with a face of deeper regret, her mouth hung open in a silent scream.

"Please don't look at me like that."

Laurence also held out her shoes to her, having found them in the living room and got the idea that she must've ended up here as well. He soon explained to her all that he experienced ever since becoming a doll.

When he first arrived, he was suddenly transported back to his old college dorm. All of the items he remembers were there, but none of his roommates were present, or any other living beings for that matter. It was just him for a while as he tried to figure out how to get back to the real world.

There didn't even appear to be a world outside the building he was in. He showed her to a nearby window and at first glance, the windows are showing the normal outside world. However, upon closer inspection, what was actually being shown was just a two-dimensional, hyper-realistic picture of the outside.

He showed her this by first opening the window, moving the painted glass, and showing that there was nothing but a dark void outside.

He told her that it was the same for when the college dorm suddenly changed into that of an apartment fit for a family.

"That's the apartment Joon grew up in! Did you find him?" Dove asked as soon as the thought came to her.

He shook his head with regret.

"I did have the feeling that if the layout changed into a different type of home, that must've meant someone else got dragged here as well. But I never found him. There was some noise after the layout of this place changed, I tried to follow that noise but no lead."

Then there was the topic about the host.

"If you're here, that means you also read the words hidden in the circle of the tiny pentagram, right?"

"Yes. I was surprised to see it rhyme."

"Well it was written by by an eight-year-old." He shrugged as they explored the house.

Dove was visibly uncomfortable as she clung to Laurence's sleeve by one hand. He walked slowly because of that.

"The poem said something about bringing you back to the past you remember the most, but I don't think it's all that accurate. I haven't thought of my college days in a while. And then there was the line about the host."

"Did you meet the host already?"

"Meet? No. See and hear? Yes. Since I don't have any of my weapons with me, I've been protecting myself by hiding. I would see glimpses of it's limbs, very skinny that you could see the bone. And then multiple hands dangling from long arms, dragging beside the feet."

Dove then decided to guess and list the possible description of the host, basing most of the physical description to be similar to the nightmare of Madeline's father. She asked Laurence if that's what the host looked like.

He blinked in surprise and nodded, asking her how she knew.

"The kid who made the dollhouse, we went over to her family house to investigate further... Long story short, it's now haunted by supposedly the recently deceased grandfather, who haunted the youngest daughter and made her build the dollhouse in the hopes of trapping all his family inside of it with him. From what I gathered, the dollhouse is intended to take people back to the place that had the most impact on them during their life."

Laurence let out a low whistle and then paused, putting a finger to his lips.

There was another pair of footsteps.

Dove wanted to go and check if it might be Joon, but the detective stopped her and told her an easier way to check without getting too close was by listening.

"Joon's foot steps would sound uneven, since he doesn't wear a shoe on his prosthetic leg, and the footsteps of the host also sound uneven because its paired with a dragging noise." He whispered as he had her follow him to the staircase.

The staircase had a little nook below and he opened the door, having her go in first as he kept listening and keeping watch. Then he went in after her and shut the door.

He put his fingers to his lips again and checked that neither of them were too close to the door.

"Listen for a dragging noise." He said before they both fell into complete silence.

Both put a hand over their mouths to quiet any breathing noises. Dove handed the kitchen knife over to Laurence, and they waited.

It was warm inside the little room, but in cases of hiding, it's better than a cold room. The worst you can unconsciously do in a hot room is sweat, but for a cold room, you'll shiver uncontrollably when you should be still, and your teeth might chatter when you're supposed to be silent.

They listened and waited as the footsteps got closer.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Ssshhhh... Ssshhhhh...

Laurence mindlessly put his arm out in front of Dove.

They both knew then that it was the host and waited for it to pass.

There was breathing outside the door. They could see a shadow beneath.

Laurence gripped the knife in his hand, waiting and watching for the doorknob, or for anything to slip beneath the bottom of the door.

They both held their breaths.

Dove pressed both hands on her mouth harder as the shadow appeared to grow bigger, her heart beat so loud in her mind, her forehead sweating more. She feared that the host could hear her heart beat and profusely wiped her sweat off her face before any fell, fearing that if any dropped to the floor it would emit a sound.

The shadow in front of the door then moved, and it went away.

They both stayed still and listened, checking if the coast was clear. Laurence still advised Dove not to go near the door as he lowered his head to look beneath the crack.

He turned the door knob and they left the little room at last. Dove's breathing shuddered as she looked around the living room.

The first they did was stand still to keep listening, and the moving quickly. They went to the kitchen again so that Laurence could find another kitchen knife for Dove, and suggested they move upstairs.

"I know that's typically not a good idea, but considering that this place doesn't exactly follow the rules of reality, there might be a window at the top we have to jump out of in order to escape."

Dove nodded as she kept following, knife in hand. Her face was still in shock, her eyes having that far off look. The detective only knew her mind was occupied by something else when he noticed her looking down a lot.

As they walked up the stairs, Dove in front, she kept moving but also brought something up.

"That was lucky. Simon would be more thorough than that." She shuddered.

Laurence hummed and turned to her, asking what she had meant by that. Dove quickly cleared her throat and snapped out of her throats, taking a deep breath to clear her mind.

"Do you hear that splashing noise?" She asked as soon as they got to the second floor.

The man turned his head to listen and frowned, noticing a faint noise, like someone flailing in water.

The second floor was somewhat similar to what I remembered Simon's house being like. The stair case at the wall takes you up, you look down the corridor, and see the bedroom doors the further down you walk. The typical layout for 1950s two story homes.

The wallpaper had the white with red patterns that I remember. The red patterns were of flowers but the petals were designed to mimic splotches of paint, so if Simon ever managed to get blood on the wallpaper, he wouldn't have to worry too much with cleaning it because chances are, the blood will blend in with the design, doesn't matter the shade.

Don't even get me started on color theory.

Down the corridor was the bathroom just as the girl remembered, in between rooms. The noise was louder and sounded like splashing. She grabbed the doorknob and attempted to turn it, but it wouldn't budge.

There was no key hole to try and pick the lock either but she still attempted to figure out how to get it open. Yelling to know if anyone inside may respond was a bad idea, and banging on the door was also risky.

But seeing as they had no other option, and both had the idea that the person inside may be Joon, Laurence had her step aside as stepped back.

The detective didn't make much distance between him and the door before he rammed his shoulder into it, breaking it open.

Dove nearly gagged at the sight.

The bathroom was darkened and covered in slime. Ichor dripped from the walls, the mirror was permanently fogged, and the slime was scattered around like spider webs that were between liquid and solid string.

The bathtub is where most of the movement was, but there was a blanket of slime covering the top, like it was keeping the moving person trapped inside.

"Dove? Do you know what this stuff?"

The girl hesitated to answer verbally and only gave a grimace.

"Right. I'll assume it's bad and try to avoid touching it as much as I can." The man nodded.

Dove stopped him before he could step a foot inside the bathroom.

"No, please. I've been through this once, no issue dealing with it again."

Laurence did not understand exactly what she meant, just watched as she put her shoes on and stepped inside, avoiding the substance and swallowing her gags. Any time she did inevitably touch some slime or took a step into a deeper puddle of it, she would murmur under her breath.

"Do this for Joon, or whoever else is underneath that..."

Eventually getting to the sac covering the bath tub, she looked back to Laurence, wanting to figure out to cut it out open without hurting the person inside.

He gestured for her to grab the skin, pull it up and away from the body, and stab a hole through that part. The girl grabbed a random spot and pinched it, making sure no finger was inside.

The texture made her want to squirm.

I had no idea what material the skin of the sac was made of, but it felt like moist skin and when I stabbed a hole inside, it deflated like a lung. That was the least disturbing of this whole experience. I was genuinely worried that it would react like a kidney.

She put her knife at the edge of the tub and used both hands to tear the little hole wider, soon hearing a gasp and a yell. She tore the sac open faster and a hand reached out to one of the edges, also helping to tear it open.

Joon popped his head out, gasping for air and soaking wet. He got both his arms out and grabbed onto Dove's shoulders as she helped him out of the material. She could feel him heaving for air and coughing without looking at him, and patted his back.

She also pat his hair to figure out what the substance was that he was soaked in.

Thankfully it appeared to just be water.

The boy first worked on clearing his throat after letting go and trying to stand on his own.

"What are you doing here?" He asked in a hoarse, raspy voice, hands on his knees as he looked up in exhaustion.

He was putting up an incredible fight in that bathtub.

"I didn't know any other way to get you and Laurence out." She answered, looking him up and down to make sure he was okay.

After that, she lifted the skin of the sac, trying to see what else was inside.

"It's just water." Joon told her, shaking his head to get as much of the water off as possible.

"And also don't stick your hand inside. The whole time I was in there, it felt like a person was there with me, trying to drown me."

Dove picked up her knife and offered her shoulder to him again, giving him stability as they prepared to make their way out of the bathroom again.

"Anyway, did you find Laurence?"

"Yeah, he's just right..."

They both looked up after Dove paused.

Laurence had closed the door after entering the bathroom as well. He was standing a couple steps away from it, his back turned to the interns. When noticing that they both became silent, he looked over his shoulder and wordlessly put his finger to his lips, eyes wide as saucers.

Joon patted his pockets and cursed under his breath, remembering he didn't have any of his items with him.

Footsteps paired with that usual dragging sound was heard outside the door. Nobody moved, for any movement, even the slightest shifting of footing could emit a sound. The heavy and slimy ichor underneath their shoes would ensure this, since it was all over the floors.

Joon turned his head to Dove, darting his eyes to the door and then back to her.

'Who's there?' He mouthed and pointed his thumb to the door.

'Monster.' She mouthed back.

'What kind?'

'Bad one.'

'Be Specific!.' He mouthed with frustrated emphasis, wanting more context.

'Then wait!' Dove responded back, also beginning to grit her teeth.

'Just give a name!'

'Grandfather Pedophile!' She mouthed with an irritated face.

Joon unconsciously sucked in a breath. He and Dove both placed a hand over his mouth as he turned to look back at the door with a grimace and regret.

Laurence resisted yelling for both of them to stop talking as he also sharply inhaled but kept silent.

The light emitting from the bottom of the door revealed the shadow of the host, breathing and standing in front of it.

It let out a weak groan, and then a soft thud came from the door as the shadow underneath got bigger.

The host was resting his head against the door, or so I guessed. Based on the breathing sounds that I know I heard soon after, he could tell we were inside, but he couldn't go in. 

It left soon after, and all three of them breathed again. They all sighed and inhaled deeply, having been holding their breaths until they no longer saw the shadow from beneath the door, until they no longer heard the heavy breathing and the dragging sound down the corridor. 

"Let me check if it's gone first." Laurence whispered as he moved to the door first. 

"How about we first get out of here?" Joon whispered back, noticing something coming out of the sac of the bathtub. 

Dove turned to see where he was looking and saw movement underneath the strange skin. 

"And here I thought regular human birth was gruesome and gross." She murmured and put a hand on Joon's shoulder. 

They slowly stepped back from the bathtub. 

As Laurence too turned around and noticed them stepping away from the bathtub with a new figure moving underneath the surface of the skin, he reached behind him for the doorknob. 

"Is it possible the person is someone we know? There was one more doll left." The girl asked, not wanting to think of them suddenly running away from someone who got sucked into the dollhouse too. 

"Don't kid yourself. Remember I told you I felt the hands of someone else in there with me?"

The figure moving underneath the skin then stood up, still covered, and it's head now reaching up to the ceiling. 

"Unless either Leon or one of his brothers somehow decided to be impulsive too, that's not any of our comrades." 

Laurence pulled the door open and pulled both the interns by the collar out of the bathroom. He got out and slammed the door behind him. 

"Run." He said as they heard soft thuds and soon banging against the door. 

He ushered Joon and Dove to hurry and run before he checked the door one more time before leaving. He did not want the interns to be around to hear the creature behind the door whisper Joon's name.

They went down the corridor and back downstairs. Since the host was shown to be upstairs, the best option was to go downstairs to get further away from it, until there is a new indication of where it is. Laurence also wanted to go back to the kitchen to get a knife for Joon now that they've found him. 

"Okay, both detectives are here. Either of you figure out how we can get out?" He asked as they all ran down the stairs and then paused after reaching the carpet. 

He tilted his head, confused when Dove and Laurence both paused to take off their shoes, and then told him to do the same. 

"The kitchen floor has tiles, they can make a lot of sound if your not careful." Dove told him. 

He nodded with a hum of understanding and took his shoe off. Then, when checking the material at the bottom of his shoe, he switched it onto the prosthetic foot of his left leg. An awkward fit since it's not the right foot, but he'd worry about that later as he wedged it on just enough. 

The heel of his shoe are of a softer but durable foam material, different from the material of the heels on Laurence and Dove's shoes. But his left foot was made of metal. 

They quietly made their way to the kitchen. 

"We still haven't figured out any possible way to escape. I have just been busy hiding and figuring things out as I went." Laurence told him as he kept his eyes peeled. 

There was a drawer in the kitchen, one next to the sink. It held all the utensils, but next to that drawer was the knives. 

Dove remembered from memory and made her way over to that drawer like muscle memory. She handed a random knife to Joon, holding the blade with her hand and pointing the handle towards him. 

That is the proper way to hand someone anything with a blade attached to it. Anyone who hands someone a knife by pointing the blade towards them, I have no respect for those individuals. 

"This is just like that one section from Resident Evil Village." Joon gushed as he whispered jokingly even as his voice trembled. 

"Or those other indie games that don't give the player an option to fight back."

"What if we try to find that pentagram from earlier? That symbol is what brought us in here, maybe it can get us out if we find it." Dove asked as she looked through the other cabinets, trying to find other items they could use. 

"Don't open the fridge." Laurence warned. 

As soon as he turned his back, Joon went to open the fridge. 

He reeled back in disgust and regret. Dove kept silent. 

Laurence sighed. 

"I told you..."

"Who keeps chopped body pieces in their fridge?" Joon murmured as he shivered at the new memory.

They pondered where the pentagram might be after now being armed. The stomping and thudding noises from upstairs caused them all to look up in alarm. 

"Oh, great. Now we have two monsters." Joon said in an exasperated tone as they all began moving. 

There was a study room they considered staying in until they could figure out more. The study had two windows right next to each other that let in the light perfectly. She remembered how the desk was placed right where the light would hit best, close enough to light up the room to better read something at the desk, but not too close that the sun would get in ones eye. 

Simon made me sit with him in his study at some points.

The girl then noticed two shadowy figures standing outside the windows. 

The two figures were frozen and stood up stiffly, staring right at her as soon as the three went inside the room. She froze, Laurence wondered what was unnerving her, and squinted at the two figures. The window glass was blurry and the light from the window surrounding the figures made it harder to identify them. 

"I don't wanna be here." Dove murmured as she stepped back. 

"They're not doing anything though, we should just stay here and close the door for now." Joon whispered as he looked back out of the room to hear the thudding sounds getting closer. 

He tried to pat her back and get her stay in the room. 

She did not want to keep looking at the figures, slowly shaking her head and not budging. 

"Why are you stronger than you look?" The boy muttered as he tried harder to shove her back inside the room. 

"Dove, do you know those people?" The detective asked. 

The two figures outside stepped closer. It was still difficult to recognize either of their faces, but Dove say a woman with white curly hair and pink skin, and a man with the complexion of a cadaver, blue eyes, and blonde hair. 

The thudding got louder and they could all hear the sound of a door being broken down. 

"Dove I'm serious, we have to hide!" Joon whisper-yelled at her, urging her to at least move out of the way of the door so he could close it. 

Out of impulsiveness, Dove spun around, pushed Joon inside, and slammed the door behind her. 

"Dove! What the fuck are you doing?!" Joon banged on the door. 

Laurence pulled him away and urged not to make any loud noises. 

"Dove, what's wrong?" The man tried to open the door but it wouldn't budge. 

"Don't worry about me. And don't worry about the lock." The girl said from behind the door. 

"I'm sorry. I just can't be in that room, but it'll keep you safe. I'll just hide somewhere else."

"What the fuck are you thinking?!"

"Dove, why is the knob not turning? what are you thinking?!"

The entire house was now beginning to rumble and becoming louder than the jiggling of the doorknob on the other side. The girl saw how the floors and walls began to darken with ichor spilling through the top inner corners and crevices. 

She only stared, catching her breath as she leaned against the door. She kept her eyes open for whatever would approach. 

"Joon, what's the alchemical symbol for salt?" She asked to the door. 

"What? Why are you asking that?"

"Just tell me."

He muttered another curse word before telling her that it was a circle with a line through it. Dove told him a quick thank you as she took her knife and carved that symbol onto the door and ran off. Right before giving Joon or Laurence enough time to explain what she was doing. 

Joon banged and kicked at the door with his metal foot until Laurence pulled him away. 

"What the fuck is she thinking?! We have to go out and get her now!" The boy exclaimed.

Laurence was only silent, no retort or anything. Instead, he turned his attention back to the two figures at the window. He squinted again, trying to search for any facial features. 

"Do those two look familiar to you?"

"What does that have to do with anything!?"

Laurence simply shushed him lightly as he took a step closer to the window. 

"Hello?" He attempted to converse with the two figures. 

Instead of responding, they instead peered further into the glass, then moved away and disappeared from the windows like fog. 

The two went to find me. I knew this when I went to the living room and saw them both in the big window. I saw their faces in the kitchen too, and then in any reflective surface I could find. The monster from the bathroom came down the stairs, and the only other place to hide was in the narrow closet, but the monster would see me running towards it and that would make it useless, especially since it could break down doors.

Instead of taking her shoes off- there was no point as the monster and host likely heard her- she took the time to carve the salt symbol onto the pantry door, and hit inside of it again. 

She carved the same circle on the other side, slashing a knife right down the middle. 

Sounds came from outside the door. Foot steps running on the tiled floor to the pantry. 

She crouched down and used her knife to carve more of the symbol onto the floor, the shelves, the walls, as fast as she could. 

The creature came closer, whispering. 

"JooOOooOon..."

It got to the door. Dove put her hand over her mouth and crouched down, knife pointing toward the bottom crack of the door again. This time, she knew a monster was on the other side. 

What she didn't know is that when the circle was touched and activated, the symbol would transfigure the matter of the door into salt. 

The monster on the other side touched the symbol, and instead of hearing a screech or a burning reaction, Dove watched as the door dissipated into a pile of salt on the floor. 

She looked up and saw the monster looking above her. 

It was an old woman but not a sweet looking one. She has large eyes with dilated pupils, no eyelids, no lips to cover her teeth that were grinning, and she was also naked. But unlike the way Laurence described the host to be, the old woman arms did not drag across the floor. She also had multiple, but she could lift them up and articulate them. 

The old naked woman looked down at the girl, sitting frozen in the pantry. Her head tilted lower and lower until it was an angle that should be impossible for a normal neck to bend at, and she had that toothy grin the entire time. Her face was eerie enough to make Annabelle's grins look normal. 

Behind the old woman came the host, whom she stepped aside for. Dove theory was further confirmed in person when she saw its silhouette, seeing how it matched the figure of the nightmare back at Madeline's house. 

The grandfather with the hollow eye sockets and a jaw hanging open, causing him to drool constantly. Multiple long arms that hung from his sagging skin of shoulders. No meat or muscle to hold them up, all of that melted into the sac of skin hanging around his hips, and so his arms dragged at the floor. How he even managed to stand on his thin and skinny legs with such an abnormally long body was a unknown. He and the old woman looked the same, except the old woman looked more alive. 

Dove looked the grandfather in the face, something you should never do with a monster, and waited, wondering when it lunge and grab her. 

When the naked old man of a nightmare stepped forward, attempting to lower his head to her, he stopped. Froze was the better word, and when he leaned his forehead just an inch further, there came that sizzling sound. It was so subtle and quiet, Dove thought she had imagined it. 

The old man of a nightmare reeled back in pain, a hoarse croak leaving its ever gaping mouth as his jaw shook and he whipped his head away. 

Then he turned to the old woman with her ever grinning, lipless face, and attacked her out of frustration. 

Dove slowly stood up, knife still at the ready even as she watched the old man pay full attention to the old woman, attacking her by swinging his head at her. He unhinged his jaw and bit her head, teeth sinking into her eye. The old woman's jaw opened as she screamed, still grinning due to not having any mouth, eyebrows, or eyelids to show any other facial expressions. But she could use her arms and hands to tear into his face. 

Fingers hooked onto his empty eye sockets, and others hooked onto his jaw to pry him off her face. The old man's arms were too heavy, he contorted and twisted his shoulders to swing them, but the old woman's arms had more mobility, and she twisted his skull off the neck, skin twisting until it ripped, and she ate the head. 

She turned her attention back to Dove, the old man's mouth now hanging by the skin in her mouth. She looked from the girl to the pile of salt acting as a thick barrier between them, and walked away. One of her many arms dragging the body with her. 

Dove's body slumped back to the floor, gasping for air as she shook. Raising one hand, she could see her hand tremble, even as she dropped her knife and held it with her other hand. She could not control her body to stop shaking. 

The house then shifted around her, the interiors changing and different items appearing in place of the ones from the previous layout. Even the knife at her side disappeared. Dove was still in the pantry, only it was different this time. 

One look back to see the packets of dried seaweed on one of the shelves, and she knew the layout for some reason changed back into Joon's apartment building. 

The sound of a door opening was heard and she headed out of the pantry, running to find where Joon and Laurence would be this time. The floors were all tile, barely any carpet aside from some small, decorative rugs, so she only had to listen for the sound of human footsteps. 

She ran out of the kitchen area and into the new hallway where she saw the boy and Laurence also running out. 

Joon spotted her and booked his way down, nearly about to tackle her had he not stopped and grabbed her shoulders, shaking her. 

"What the fuck were you thinking?! You're lucky you didn't die!" He whisper-screeched as he shook her. 

"It's because of the salt symbol!" She said in between shakes before grabbing his shoulders to get him to stop. 

"If you carve the salt symbol onto something and get it to turn into salt, you can create a barrier to keep the monsters from touching you!"

"... Did you seriously risk your life for a fucking theory!?"

Dove stammered, not knowing what to say. 

Then, Joon tapped his shoulder and got him to let go of her. The boy stepped aside and Dove looked up nervously to see the detective step in front of her silently. 

"Dove. What you did was dangerous. What were you even doing?"

The girl stayed silent, heart palpitating string in her chest. 

This feels almost as bad as the thought of talking to my parents. 

"... I couldn't stand being in that room with the windows." She unconsciously confessed. 

Macabre House's 'Tell no Lies' spell was both good and bad. Bad mostly because it almost makes me forget I could lie when out of the building. But the words just came pouring out of my mouth.

"I couldn't stand seeing those people again."

Laurence looked down at her shaking hands that she clutched to her chest. 

"... Dove. I was brought here first, I am your mentor, and based on age, I am the grown up here."

"So you should stop acting so impulsive and instead, follow my instructions."... Is what I expected him to say.

"So whatever theories or ideas that you want to test, you should leave all dangers and risks to me and prioritize you and your teammate." He told her. 

Dove's face began warming up as she was left speechless. She did not know how to respond to that. 

Joon relaxed, sighing deeply before stepping forward and patting her on the shoulder. 

"Did you forget you're the eighteen-year-old here?" 

Her eyes burned with tears as she tried to speak, her shaking hands reached to undo her hair from her ponytail so that her hair could fall over and cover her face. 

"I'm sorry." Was all she could say with her head down and she said 'sorry' over and over again even when Laurence told her there was no need as he hugged her tight.  

The girl couldn't bare to look up, too embarrassed and unable to stop crying in front of her coworkers, her close friend and mentor, the people she only ever wanted to show her good sides to. 

Joon took a hold of her hand and gripped it tightly. 

"It looks like this place transformed back into my parents' apartment. I'll be taking the lead from here on out. You can tell us what you figured out from your crazy stunt as we explore the place. Kay?" 

He actually spoke like he was older than her this time. 

The girl sniffled and nodded but still refused to look up even after she had forcibly stopped her tears. She kept her hair down and wouldn't put it back up again for a while. 

"Don't be embarrassed to show your face. I've seen lots of people cry, it's pitiful sometimes, but honestly? I'm just surprised that you lasted this long until finally breaking. Some people cry after the second or third field mission." Laurence said casually as they walked. 

Going with the plan of searching for the pentagram to hopefully escape, they searched the floor of all the rooms. They first got knives from the kitchen again for safety. 

"I think you and I both know that giving her reassurance that tears are normal, isn't gonna help her." Joon said from the front as they searched. 

He was sure the pentagram would be in the bathroom, but it wasn't. The only thing there was a fancy bathroom with a bathtub detached from the wall and a bidet, all ruined by rust and blood. 

"Dove, when we get back, let's get the rest of your tears out by chopping a bunch of onions. You can vent about everything and nothing as you help me make caramelized onions. I'm not trained in therapy but I know you like to be busy, so just talk as we cook, yeah?" 

The girl nodded, but he didn't see because he was walking in front, still searching each of the rooms. 

They all agreed to stick together no matter what this time and were currently inspecting the master bedroom. 

"Or, we can talk about it hear while we're sure no one can eavesdrop!" Joon added since he did not hear a verbal response from Dove. 

"I'd rather not sound like I'm asking for pity or attention." Dove responded with a low and tired voice. 

"You won't sound like that if you tell me your issues in exchange for mine."

"I'd rather not make you reveal anything personal about yourself just to make me feel better." She said as she went and searched the master closet. 

No pentagram anywhere. 

When she came out of the master closet, Laurence pat her shoulder and gave her a grin. 

"Best to reveal your issues to someone at least to get it out. It's like letting steam out of a pot. This is especially so that if something comes up that bothers you, we can try to help and no dangerous decisions have to be made again."

Dove hugged herself as she walked around the master bedroom, observing all the details. No photos revealing the family or parents that the apartment belonged to, because it was a copy, but it did have items such as a jewelry stand and little boxes designed to hold expensive watches. The times on all of which, were of course wrong. 

"What if the person I try to tell my story to, makes me regret having ever opened my mouth?"

Laurence frowned. 

Joon was busy rummaging through the drawer of his parents' nightstand, hoping the pentagram perhaps shrunk and is hiding anywhere. He popped his head up when he heard Dove's words.