Nightmares Vs Magic

"Did someone bully you?" He asked.

"No."

"Dove."

She peeked her head out of the master bedroom door frame and then nodded her head, gesturing that they move on. The next room was another study. This one had bigger windows and so far, there was no sign of the host.

"I was trying to help someone see reason, and I told her a bit of my story in the hopes it would help her realize her situation, but she just told me I was a bad person for making the decisions that I did... Now I know there's constructive criticism, but when it comes to someone judging my story, even if it was from either of you, I'm not hearing anything about whether it was my fault or not." Venom rose back up in her voice again even when she tried to keep it down.

"No one else knows what happened to me, except me. I am the only one who can judge myself."

She choked on her own words and stopped speaking, checking the small closet inside the study while Joon checked the desk. Laurence read the room and noticed how there was a shelf with books and family photo albums.

Next to that shelf was a trophy cabinet filled with trophies from the 1900s to the 2000s. It had two sections, one on the top, the other on the bottom. 

"Those two figures we saw earlier. You didn't want to see them, ever. Am I guessing correctly?" Laurence asked her whilst looking around. 

"I have my reasons."

"May I know about those reasons?" 

The girl looked away, not making eye contact. 

There was nothing in the study, so they left that room again. 

It was suspicious how quiet it was. 

"You normally don't act like this, so based on that, I'm guessing this happened recently? Was it the new client?"

She still stayed silent.  

"I'm starting to get an idea of what's going on, so I'll do everyone a favor and not beat around the bush." Joon interjected as he suddenly remembered a specific room. 

He sped down the hall, prompting the other two to follow him. 

They stopped at a large bedroom, not mean for kids, and not big enough for the parents, but still big. 

The closet was left open, showing clothes that were old and vintage. 

"Grandma." He murmured but not with affection. It was more like a groan of discomfort. 

He shook his head and tried to push back any recurring memories.

"You had a client today, they had a situation you were trying to help them with, you tried to relate and help them feel better by sharing something personal, but they just turned it against you and made you feel terrible. Am I right? Because I have had that happen to me too and that's I respect very few people!"

"Sounds like an even stupider decision that I made when you say it out loud."

"I wouldn't say stupid. More like another reason to hate people but anyway- it just seems like you might have the same issues as Laurence." Joon shrugged. 

"What?"

"What issues?" The detective asked, slightly offended already.

Joon stood in front of a door next to the master closet as he continued, like he was avoiding going into it, or acknowledging it. 

"Remember after that whole case you and Vernon did with him regarding that ghost cat? And how Annabelle remembered Laurence telling you that if you hear him scream, he wanted to leave and not go after him?"

Laurence rubbed his neck uncomfortably. 

"You did also joke about being stabbed a lot earlier." Dove added as she stepped beside Joon, noticing the door. 

"You said it to try and make me feel better. It didn't, but I appreciated your effort."

She looked underneath the door crack and didn't see anything inside, so she reached over turn the doorknob before the boy stopped her. Joon stopped her.

"I'm not good with words when it comes to comfort. I hardly know how to comfort myself even after all these years." He shrugged and admitted, staying near the entrance door to keep a lookout. 

"But I do have more experience than both of you. You have your own issues, clearly. But I'm not judging."

Joon and Dove looked at each other and frowned. The girl wanted to know why he hesitated opening the door.

"It's just the bathroom, right? What other room could be attached to your grandma's section of this apartment?" She asked.

The boy's eyes turned from hers, back to the door. 

His pupils shook.  

"... Do you have bad memories here?" 

He nodded. 

"Alright then. That might mean the pentagram is potentially in there- but I won't make you do anything here..."

The boy kept looking away and staying curled in on himself.  

"Joon...." 

He lifted his head up in irritation at the girl. 

"What?!"

"That wasn't me." She frowned.

Laurence slammed the door shut suddenly. 

Both interns spun to see why. 

He pulled a chair from the table nearby, wedging the back underneath the knob. Turning around, his eyes had a faraway look as he shook his head. 

"Joooon..." Called out a voice from behind it. 

Dove cautiously took a wild guess as she gripped her knife and Joon also took a tighter hold of his. 

"... Was there an abnormally tall, naked, multi-armed old woman at the door?" She asked in in a deadpan tone.

"Is that what almost killed you earlier?" He replied with the same tone, leaning against the door and ignoring the hard thumping sounds from the other side. 

"JOON!" The voice called out again.

The thuds were so strong they made his back bounce as he pressed himself against the door. He sighed and shook his head before waiting for an answer. 

"Actually forget that- she literally popped out of nowhere."

"You mean we literally didn't hear anything and had a peaceful few minutes until it showed up?" She asked, mostly to herself.

Her eyes darted around the room for any other surprises, until landing on Joon. He was hugging himself as he crouched to the ground, hand moving up to grab tightly to the hair at the back of his neck. 

Laurence looked at him in concern and then up to her. The man then grit his teeth as the knocks at the door got harder. 

"Do you know that old woman?" The girl asked the boy as she knelt down beside him. 

"Is she your grandma?"

He flinched and his hands shook, clawing at his skin as he stared at the floor with a faraway look. 

Dove knew that reaction. 

Curiosity suddenly took over, and knowing that any physical contact with her friend would only make him more uncomfortable, she decided to open the bathroom door, hoping to find something there. 

She stood up and reached for the door, turning it, and then paused. 

The hard thumping and knocks from the entrance door stopped. Dove felt Joon grab hold of her sleeve. 

"Listen." 

There was a breathing sound at the other side of the bathroom door. 

"CoMe to YoUr gRAndmOtheR JooOOon." The thing whispered in this warped voice. Like a messed up recording.

The girl slowly pulled her hand away, watching for any movement. 

She took her knife and tried carving the same symbol onto the door, but then the door thumped. 

"I SAID COME TO YOUR GRANDMOTHER JOON."

Joon pulled her away as Laurence threw the chair out of the way, swinging the entrance door open so they could all run out. 

There were not many places to hide aside from other rooms. 

"We need to carve the salt symbol." Dove said in between breaths. 

They ran into one of the other bedrooms that had curtains drawn over all the large windows. 

"Does it actually work?" Joon asked as he turned to see Laurence close and lock the door behind them. 

"Yes! Do it! Now!" She whisper-yelled, running forward anyway and still opting to do it herself.

Due to the expensive material of the door, she could barely get a visible line. 

Laurence took his knife and had her move aside, stabbing hard into the material and making jagged but decent lines as he made a circle. 

"Damn faulty knife." He whispered under his breath, before slashing a horizontal line through it. 

"And you're sure it works?" Joon whispered as he heard heavy footsteps coming down the corridor. 

"Well, if we had time, I'd also carve a symbol on the other side for good measure- but yeah. Just, I don't know, touch the symbol and it turns the door into a pile of salt, and it works like a big barrier."

"Salt lines." Laurence said as he placed his hands on his hips, holding the knife parallel to his body. 

"When we get back, I'm gonna request some exoskeleton armor for everyone. These new cases have been getting way too dangerous lately."

"Or we could just make sure to always wash our clothes in salt."

"Anyway, best not to tap the symbol for now, unless you're fine coming face to face with the monster who's gonna look down at you." Dove added, looking around the bedroom. 

There were two beds, two closets, one desk with one chair, a closed laptop, and a large curtain covering a window that took up a good portion of the wall. It made the room seem dark, and smaller than the other rooms. 

"I-it's my sisters' room. Both of them." Joon said as he caught what she was observing. 

He shook his head and hands, pacing in a small circle to distract his mind.

"My parents made them share a room, even though they could've turned the study into another bedroom."

"Did they also only provide them with one laptop?"

"Yeah. My younger sister had to buy her own at some point with my help. My dad's excuse was that he didn't want to spoil them too much, which is bullshit because I got a laptop, my own room, a bike, and a ton of pants. Mostly because my parents never wanted anyone to see any sign that I had only one leg. They always made me wear socks to thoroughly hide my metal one."

Dove nodded and listened as she walked around, exploring. 

She noticed Laurence go over to the curtains. 

He found the edge of the fabric and pulled it just enough to take a cautious peek out. When he saw nothing, he pulled the large curtains aside to reveal the large windows to be the size of two doors. 

"I'm guessing your room is the one with the balcony?" 

"Yep. I got everything I wanted, so long as I kept my one leg issue a secret. Was always awkward being the only boy during gym class with pants while all the others wore shorts in the summer." Joon reminisced as he shielded his eyes away from the light shown through the windows. 

Just like at the previous layout, the windows only showed pure, blank white. It's like apartment was on a floor so high up in the clouds that there was zero visibility, but there were no clouds. 

Dove walked over to the door and put her ear to it, listening before she spoke again. 

"Your family sounds like they were pretty judgemental. And possibly sexist."

"Don't even get me started." He said, a shiver crawling up his spine as he looked up at the vent in the ceiling. 

"... Hey is it quiet again?"

"... Remember earlier, how you said that if I told you something personal, you'd tell me something personal?" Dove hesitated but drew up her courage to ask. 

There was silence. 

"Kids..." 

Laurence looked between them, upset as he racked his brain for whatever solution they could think. But without anyway to find that pentagram, or without any clues on how to leave, he couldn't come up with anything. 

Joon walked up to Dove who swallowed nervously as she face him, hair out of her face.

He looked her in the eyes. 

"You are one of my best friends. If you don't wanna say anything about your story right now, you don't have to. I don't want to ever make you uncomfortable... Unless it's for something fun and not life-threatening."

"I just, I may have a solution for how to get us out."

The footsteps outside the corridor got louder. 

"WheRe ARe yoU mYy LitTLe bOy?"

The nightmare found them.

"I'm guessing you are learning to first tell your teammates about your theories and ideas before implementing them- in which case that's very good you should do it more often- what's your idea?" The boy rambled as soon as he heard a knock at the door. Oddly polite.

"This dollhouse was created by a little girl who had a family with issues. From the info gathered, the girl was put in a trance to work on this dollhouse for two whole days, but the mother, Madeline, recalled that the little girl would talk about wishing for a different family, one that was more open and honest." Dove rambled out as well, at the same pace as Joon. 

"My guess is that if we try to be open and honest about the experiences we've had in each of the new homes we get sent to, then the house might let us go. I know it sounds like the silliest idea, but keep in mind- this was made by a little girl and the rules of this place don't make sense- you know the previous host? Yeah your grandma ate him!" 

There was another thump at the door, hard and heavy, making her groan. The sounds of the nightmare version of Joon's grandma at the other side now. Dove's face was calm but her chest rose and fell anxiously. 

"For example, the two figures we saw in the previous layout were my parents- I never wanted to see them again because of the man who lived in that previous layout." She said quickly. 

There was silence again. Dove exhaled a shaky breath. 

Laurence looked as though he was about to pry the girl from the door, ready to just stab the old nightmare. 

The girl continued to ramble so as to keep the silence ongoing so that Joon and Laurence could notice the silence. No interruptions during a session of honesty. 

"The previous layout was of a two story home that once belonged to a man who tormented me for three years of my life- he did some bad things and I'd be stuck at his house often with him-" 

The boy interrupted her. 

"Dove wait- I don't think you're ready-"

"I chose not to tell anyone because everyone in town loved him- but he was a serial killer-"

"Dove!" Laurence called out, frowning in concern as he stepped towards her. 

"I saw one of his victims try to escape and became the only surviving witness-"

Joon stopped her, dropping his knife and clasping both hands over her shoulders. 

"My grandma molested in the bathtub for years until I turned nine." 

Dove stopped, unable to respond and finding it inappropriate to keep speaking of her story after that bomb of information. Joon still held strong eye contact with her. He was also shaking. 

None of them were ready to confess any of their secrets, but because Dove already started, Joon wanted to stick to his word and trade.

I would have rather died with my secrets. But I didn't know what would happen if I left Joon and Laurence. Would the house eat them up? Would they die because all three needed to leave? None of my information was solid but I was the only one there who was able to do any investigation on the creator of the house. 

But I also had never meant for Joon to spill his guts like this and I only felt worse. 

"I really, really do, try to forget it. But being here, I can remember it vividly." The boy continued with shaky breath.

"... That's why the nightmare resembled a grandmother's face? She really was your grandma..." The gears in Dove's head began again. 

She had a pensive face as she looked away, leaning away from the door. Now it was just her hand leaning against it. 

Laurence looked at both of them in silence, one hand gripping his wrist, a thumb tracing and pressing hard against the lines hidden by the cuff of his jacket. He felt a deep shame and guilt for not being able to do anything to help, and even more guilt that he couldn't bring himself to open up, like he was caving in on himself. 

"That's why you were trapped in that sac in the bathtub, that's who those hands belonged to-"

Looking up to see Dove thinking, Laurence rushed forward and yanked both Joon and Dove by the backs of their collar. He pulled them away without looking at either of them. 

Joon looked towards the door where the man was staring, except there was no longer a door.

The boy had made eye contact with the abnormally tall and horrifically structured, nightmare version of his grandmother. Her grinning face was right there, all tooth and bony smile as she sat crouched at the door, showing how much longer her limbs and spine had gotten. 

None of them knew how long she had sat there listening to them, but they all held their knives ready. 

It was only when Laurence looked down and noticed where the door had gone did her dare lower his weapon. 

"It's working." He said.

"It's not a clean salt line, but it's a thick pile that covers the whole entrance. That makes it a good barrier."

Joon stood still beside Dove, eyes glued to the figure at the door as they both stood away from it. Laurence was the only other barrier between them and the nightmare aside from the salt. And yet, she was still so close to the doorframe yet unable to get any closer. She just sat there, with her head practically dangling from her long, bony neck. The skin was pulled so tightly that you could see the discs of the bones in her neck. 

As she tilted her head practically sideways to peek around Laurence, her pupils dilated and the corners of her mouth extended the more she saw of Joon. Either her teeth were getting bigger as she kept grinning, or her skin was slowly slipping and tearing off her bit by bit. 

Still, despite the very wrong anatomy, she still had the same curly, greyish and black hair that Joon remembered. 

Dove stepped in front, offering to further block him from her view, but Joon shook his head. 

He looked at her silently, she offered her hand for him to hold. He knows that she doesn't normally do physical contact if it can be avoided. He held her hand and silently said, "Let me handle this."

"Laurence?" Dove called over her shoulder as she turned around. 

"Yes?" He replied back, not tearing his eyes eye away from the creature. 

She tried to reach a bony, claw-like hand past the door frame, and then pulled back, sizzling on her skin. Her face did not change. 

"... Joon wants to speak with his grandma."

"You and I both know this cannot actually be his grandma."

"We don't know what else to call it... He just wants to have a word with it." 

The girl felt Joon clutch her hand tighter as he took a careful, shaky step forward. Laurence reluctantly moved to the side for him, holding an arm out still so as to keep some sort of other precautious barrier between the nightmare and the boy. 

The nightmare's eyes dilated again, there was practically little white in her eyes and she opened her jaw to speak. 

There appeared to be no tendons to even keep her lower jaw connected, but nightmares never followed the rules of anatomy. 

"Hey, old hag." Joon began blunt. 

It was less about being rude and more about testing something. 

The nightmare did not react. 

The boy gulped and continued. 

"You traumatized from the day I turned five, taking me out of my own bed to sleep in your bed with you. While you were naked!" 

Dove tried to hide her grimace. Laurence made it clear he was grossed out but that more encouragement for Joon to continue. 

"I have no idea what kinda trauma grandpa or your own parents gave you, but all I know is that you messed up my dad enough to think it was normal. And then you bullied my mom into letting you do whatever you wanted with me, and yet wanted nothing to do with my sisters! I started seeing nightmares when I was eight! But I didn't know the first one was a ghost at first- I just thought it was your silhouette down the corridor, staring straight at me- because you've done that before!" Joon screeched at the last part. 

He clutched Dove's hand tightly as he took another step forward, putting a hand on Laurence's arm, holding it like a bar as he collected his thoughts more to make sure he was wording everything correctly. 

The nightmare still didn't react, or at least the reaction was inconclusive, but her lower jaw did keep falling open more. 

"I could list so much more than just the weird bedtime shit or the bathtub shit- I could list how you always insisted on choosing my clothes and preaching how you loved me yet would always shame me anytime you saw my with only one leg- but I don't want to give a shit about it anymore! Unlike my spineless dad- it's a wonder he can even stand up straight when he could hardly stand up to you! It's a wonder how anyone would see you and me in public when I was kid, clearly uncomfortable around you and how you kept calling our short trips, 'dates'! If a zombie apocalypse happened- everyone back there would be fine- because zombies eat brains!"

Dove and Laurence gave each other a look, knowing Joon was now trying to lift his mood by practicing insults.

"I have been alive for twenty-one years- as of the passing of October 1st-"

"Joon, we all know you were born in September."

"Shut up and let me believe! September is too common of a birth month!" 

The boy then wrapped his arm around Dove's shoulder, now feeling better and more, spiteful.

"Out of all the terrible people I met, out of all the horrific monsters I've seen ever since I became haunted, you are still the worst person I have ever had to deal with in my entire life- and even though my mom was also a victim- you even gave me reasons to hate my mom too!"

The lower finally snapped and unhinged itself, the neck inflating and moving in rhythm as two bony, skinny hands crawled their way out of the mouth. 

"Kids back away!"

More hands reached out of the unhinged throat and mouth, endlessly long arms following after the hands. 

Laurence took a curious stab at one, nailing it to the floor. 

Not only did it not dissipate, but it pushed up, wrenching itself out from underneath the knife, a gaping hole in the palm as it turned and snatch him by the throat. 

"Laurence!"

"NO!"

Dove ducked under the hands and slid to stab the grandmother nightmare through the neck. 

The eyes pointed down at her and the grandma's claw-like hand grew sharper. She lifted one up to pop and crack the bones. 

Dove realized she went past the line of salt.

The grandmother grabbed her face, lifted her up, and slammed her head into the floor. 

Her scream was muffled in grandma's palm. 

All the hands aimed at Joon, wrapping around and grabbing at him, pulling him towards the woman's mouth. 

The one hand still holding Laurence by the throat lifted him up, leaving him to dangle helplessly as he was choked. 

When the detective looked down, noticing Joon getting pulled towards the nightmare's mouth, he used up his strength to give the boy an idea. 

"Joon!" He croaked out. 

"Hold onto your knife! You need to stab her from the inside!"

"Are you frickin kidding me!?!? I made a whole rant about how much I hate my perverted grandma and now she's finally trying to put me inside her?!?!? I HATE THIS!!!" 

Still, the boy did clutch his knife and take a deep breath as the mouth seemed to get wider from his perspective. 

He groaned and screamed in disgust as he shut eyes, feeling the teeth brush past his head and then his shoulders. 

Laurence's vision got dark as his struggling got weaker, Dove was blinded by the hand that kept trying to crush her skull, and Joon soon saw only darkness. 

He readied his knife when he was no longer able to breathe, felt for the surface in front of him, and stabbed upward. Before acknowledging or trying to decipher the movement, he began sawing further until he could hook a finger onto the edge of the cut, anchor himself, and slash a line outward from the cut. 

Light entered his vision again, along with two pairs of hands, pulling him out of the gaping wound he made.

Joon gasped for air, eyes shut still from the liquid over his eyes. Laurence and Dove first pulled him out by the arms, and then the detective picked him up by the waist, lifting him out of the corpse as easily as he would a small child. He set the boy down and helped wipe his face clean with his jacket sleeve. 

"Sit down, catch your breath, don't move for now." The man told him as he stood back up and dragged the corpse away to a different room so they wouldn't have to keep looking at her. 

When Joon slowly opened his eyes, he noticed that the layout around him was now, glitching. The layout for his apartment unit was now gone. He had expected it to change into either the same layout from Dove's past, or a building from Laurence's past. 

But it was a mix of both. 

Joon caught his breath and shook his head to get the blurriness out of his vision. 

"I've been birthed twice already. Can I guess that my second birth is what caused the world to crash?" He flicked some of the fluid off his arm.

"This started happening before you got out." Dove replied as she sat beside him, looking around at all the glitches. 

"At first it shifted into the layout of the house from my past, and then a college dorm which is from Laurence's past, and then they switched simultaneously, until mixing together with all these patches."

"Shit. This doesn't affect us, does it?" The boy asked, looking at the floor they were sitting on, noticing the spots beneath them were also glitching. 

"I..." She hesitated, not liking how she did not have an answer. 

Laurence was gone for a moment and came back with a knife. He came back and had taken his jacket off, revealing his long sleeve polo shirt underneath. He knelt down and used the knife to cut and tear marks into the back and sleeves. 

"What are you doing?"

"Carving protection runes. I was skeptical at first but when Dove showed that alchemical symbols worked in this world, I then remembered some protection runes. All I need is a surface."

After he carved the runes, he stood back up, holding and reading it to ensure everything was correct, then beckoned both of the interns to follow. 

They both stood up and he told them to stay close and to both hold the jacket. 

"Alright. I don't know what's happening, clearly it should've been my turn but something interrupted the process. I think something is happening on the other side." He kept the knife and had both of them walk in front so he could keep an eye on them. 

"We'll have to stick with our usual plan and find that pentagram."

"But we've already looked everywhere. It never appeared, no matter which floor of the house we checked." Joon said, not meaning to sound like a downer, but to make it clear the options they've tried. 

Dove snapped her fingers with an idea. 

"The floors..." She whispered under her breath. 

They stopped walking and Dove stayed still, then looked up at the ceiling. 

"We've been looking at all the floors."

"Yeah, and also the drawers and closets."

"But we never checked the ceiling!" 

Both of their eyes lit up when realizing she had a point. 

"Ah- quick! Laurence- in your college dorm, which area of the floor had the most impact on you?"

The man snapped his fingers as he sifted his memories. 

"The-the rooftop? I don't think my floor has any significant spo-"

Rumbling sounded throughout the house, along with a gurgling noise. 

They looked in the direction of the sound, and from one of the doors came a rough knocking. The gurgling noise was behind it. 

They stepped carefully, further and further away, unsure if running and making noise was safe. 

"Quick, someone confess a truth."

"We don't have time-" Laurence interrupted.

"I have hypothesis that we will either find the pentagram in the basement, or the rooftop but it depends." 

"But they are in completely opposite directions!" 

"Then we choose the closest location to run to!" Laurence said as he pushed both of them to run. 

The layout was a mess now and did not follow the floor plan of Simon's old house, or the college dorm from Laurence's past. We just ran wherever. I tried to look for that narrow closet or a door that may lead upstairs but there were none. 

"Dove! Where is the door to Simon's basement?" 

"In a closet! His basement is where he committed his murders so he kept the door hidden!" 

They couldn't find the kitchen for any knives, not like weapons would help much. Joon would stop when he could and open whichever door. The dollhouse was no longer following any architecture rules as each door would lead to somewhere far different. 

One led to the living room, another a bedroom where a closet should be. Another opened to a bathroom but he shut those doors quickly. 

Thanks to his frantic search, he opened the door to some stairs and they ran down those. 

"Careful! Don't slip!"

"If this kills us, know that I will not blame you, ok?" 

"You were birthed twice! Dying once probably won't do anything!" Dove verbally bit back as she made sure to shut the door behind them before trotting down the stairs.

"Besides, I've seen Simon kill too many people here and I damn well sure, if he's down there, I'll never let him touch either of you."

"Dove, you should leave the fighting to me." 

"Well you gave us your jacket so you have no protection! You can't-shouldn't fight!"

They ran down and searched the basement, this time every surface. Floor, walls, ceiling. Still nothing. 

"I don't suppose there's a hidden room?" The boy sighed, hands on his hips, and then groaning when he realized he was still covered in ichor fluid. 

Dove walked around and slowly stepped toward a corner where a book case was. Laurence stepped to where she was and noticed the book shelf. She silently pointed to it and he nodded, helping her to pull it to the side. Joon heard the noise, turned around, and rushed over to help, seeing a door slowly be revealed. 

Dove gulped, becoming very uncomfortable and very nauseous. 

As Joon opened the door, Laurence pat her shoulder but urged her to go in with them, for he could hear the thumping and squelching noises up the stairs, right at the door. 

Sure enough, as soon as they stepped in, Dove looked up and saw the pentagram up on the ceiling. She kept her eyes on it so as not to see the rest of the room with the operating table and the tools still in their places. Joon of course picked up some of the tools to use as weapons. The girl did not dare disclose what those tools used to be used for. 

It was freshly painted, as hinted by the blood that dripped down, right onto her face. When Joon stepped apart to search, she was still holding Laurence's jacket. Laurence lifted the sleeve to wipe her face. 

"... We found it, but what do we do now? It's really just a circle this time, there's no words." 

"We'll figure out something." Laurence said as he pulled the book shelf back and closed the door behind them. 

As Dove kept staring up, Joon went to stand beside her, and then suddenly shook her shoulders, pointing up. 

"Look!" 

There was a large smear that suddenly appeared on the giant symbol in the blink of an eye. 

"Something's happening on the outside!" 

A hard knock hit the door, making the room shake. 

"Someone confess a truth!" 

"I wish my mom and dad came to save me." Dove's voice trembled. 

Laurence looked from the door to her, frowning in concern. He was at first attempting to pull the table over to the door. 

"What?"

Dove's body trembled as dread and a sense of hopelessness filled her gut. 

"I wish my mommy and daddy came to save me that night- but they didn't- neither of them even bothered to make sure I went home with them." She choked up, still looking up at the symbol. 

Another drop of blood fell and landed on her face, right at the corner of her eye, mimicking a tear drop. 

"I was left behind and told to help Simon clean up after the meetup, because he was the town angel and my parents wanted me to improve my image by helping him- I always tried to tell me mom that he made me uncomfortable but she would always shut me down." 

Her voice got higher as she choked more on her words, until a whimper escaped her throat and Laurence went to hug her as Joon held her hand. 

"I saw a victim of his come out of the closet, and when he saw me and knew I was a witness, he tried to kill me too-" 

The new nightmare outside let out a scream as it banged harder against the door, practically banging it out if it's frame.

"Why isn't it working! You're telling the truth aren't you?"

"I AM!" She cried, beginning to whimper and hyperventilate, becoming afraid as she slowly knelt down to the floor.

Laurence kept holding her.

"I confessed! I confessed that I wish my mommy and daddy would comfort me more when I was a kid! I confess that I always had the pathetic wish of wanting more of my parents attention! I admit that I'm one of those people with the issue of having felt like I was never loved enough!" She kept rambling and spitting out whatever truths she could even though the fear and humiliation made her cry more. 

Soon, she was at the point of sobbing, kneeling on the ground and clutching onto Laurence's arm as he kept holding her. He didn't know what to say, and none of them knew why no matter what she said, the monster outside the door wouldn't stop trying to barge in. 

"I thought I was smart and I tried to help the guy coming out of the basement- Simon caught me and stabbed me with an anesthetic and he brought me to this very basement" She cried, desperate to reveal anything if it could save them from dying. 

"He almost killed me but he didn't. He wanted to try touching me first.! I-... I'm sorry!" 

She couldn't bring herself to say more, not as brave and strong as Joon. She covered her mouth with both hands as she sobbed. 

"I'm so sorry!"

She gave up, and the monster came through the door, revealing itself to be a massive glob of human meat. Eyes, ears, limbs and blood, squelching and fused together in a large clump.

"DooOOOoovve..." The multiple mouths said. 

Joon also began to hyperventilate and freeze in fear. 

Laurence crouched down, pulling Joon to sit down close to Dove and grabbing the jacket. He wrapped it over the both of them.

"It's ok. It's going to be ok." He told them, stilling his voice as much as he could.

The mass of meat crawled closer, grabby hands avoiding his jacket despite how much they wanted to grab at Dove. They tore at Laurence's sleeve to try and get to her head. 

"I'm really sorry! I just wanted to be useful." Dove cried.

"Just keep your eyes closed. Don't be sorry- I should be sorry." Laurence hushed her gently, wincing his eyes shut and holding them close, ignoring the hands tearing at his arms. 

"All I wanted was to take care of you. I'm going to make sure I stick to that."

Then, more of the blood from the pentagram splashed down onto them like a water fall, engulfing them. 

The blood then became walls around them, making them feel like they were all falling through a tunnel.