Timberland

Frederick mind went on pause as his efforts to help stop Rina ended in bloody failure. Her limp body falling to the floor along with the pooling of blood. He just remained silent as someone who was just alive moments ago was now dead, literally right in front of him.

He backed up a bit to let his mind calm down for a bit. "She's...She's really dead huh?..." Frederick questioned himself as he took steady breaths.

"And such was the fate of that young woman...her mind lost and broken...poor lost lamb." The voice went silent almost as if it was taking the moment to have silence for the dead in front of them. Of course Yohan was obviously frightened by the sight but for Miranda. She just hefted the body and motioned for him to...clean the blood?

Okay, he was a janitor. But this was technically a very illegal thing to do. Its like tampering with the scene of a crime. But...how would they explain their disappearance and the death of her? Like...He would be the most likely to be jailed here.

"I can't belive I am going to do this..." Frederick sighed as he tried to cheer himself on the inside as he left for a bit and got a mop.

"And thou haf sinned once again...Removing evidence of a death...In a day you have already sullied yourself in lust and death now...Such a shame...But everyone has sinned one way or the other. No matter how pure their soul may be." The voice spoke as it continued its strange habit.

"Could I please...have like a small moment to myself...someone is dead and...jeeze..." Frederick replied as he finished cleaning the mess making it like nothing happened. He soon put the mop away and sat down on a chair and grabbed a burger to finish his meal...funny, it tasted worse now...

"Do not fret now, if you lose yourself you too shall become lost like she has. Do indulge in yourself, maybe find someone to spend your night with. Lest you sully the young girls body."

"Goodness graces random voice, I am no pedo. Stop trying to insist on that! If anything you are one naggy ghost spirit thing." Frederick responded as he waved his hand around his head.

"Trying to touch me now? My, someone is desperate now..."

"I cant even tell if you are male or female! GAH!"

As they walked through the store, Sonea paid Leo some attention, more worried about what the floating cat was doing. Above her head, the Cheshire floated along lazily, as if drifting on a cloud of non existent air, moving two and fro as he scanned along the lanes of groceries. It hummed a cheerful tune from Sonea's childhood as he went along before spotting several new candidates. A young boy, no older then eleven, another blonde haired woman and a cashier at the registers. His grin got wider and soon he evaporated.

Sonea couldn't do much of anything to tell the cat to stop and soon he appeared to each of them and patted each on the forehead to leave a print upon their foreheads. None could feel the mark whatsoever but now his work was now done.

"Puurrrfest. Now we have our members and the Black can now be summoned. Wander home Sonea...and prepare for our guests" The cat said and soon vanished into thin air once more, leaving Sonea alone with the rather handsome man that was Leo. She smiled a bit and reached into her bag, only to pull out a business card "By the way, if you ever want to stop by, here is my card and address. Lemme give you a couple. I am trying to get my business off the ground...word of mouth is the best thing I can get in a small town like this eh? If you wouldn't mind handing these out? I'd really appreciate it. But I have to go now...stop by my shop sometime. Id love to talk to you some more. See you later Leo" She smiled and drove her cart to the blonde haired cashier and started to hand her groceries to him to ring.

She smiled a bit and looked intently at his forehead to see if she could see the mark on there. Which there wasn't one...this day was just getting stranger and stranger.

After paying and leaving a few more of her business cards there at the cashier's register, she was sitting on the bus and put in her earbuds and turned on her phone so she was looking like she was having a conversation.

"Who are you?" She asked

"Who am I you ask? Why I am me that's who silly girl. By the way, very sneaky..."

The Cat reappeared sitting on her lap, grin in her face as he reclined against her, resting his head on her busom to which she did not move. She hmphed loudly and soon the cat began to laugh just a bit.

"Come now Sonea you know better then to grump about. Your not at your best if your not smiling..."

"You still have not answered my question. Who are you exactly?"

"Really Sonea you have no sense of imagination. I am you...a part of you as you are a part of me. We are one in the same but I represent something you lack, something you want. Something you need. I am here to guide you towards it but only you can choose to walk through that door"

"What do you mean?"

"Clearly time has dulled your senses and caused you to forget. You have forgotten much Sonea and I am here to get you back on schedule. Now...your stop is here. Go inside and set some tea...I'll gather the guests"

As the bus stopped, the five people the Cat had touched all began to recall rather vividly a shop. It was an alien memory, something that had absolutely no right to be there as it was from a perspective that was not their own. It lacked depth and seemed to be half complete as if one of the eyes was missing. It was of a shop, the shop named The Sunny Shield. Leo and the Cashier, Felix Tolbert would know from the cards Sonea had left.

In bright red letters, the words "Come for Tea and Stories of a far away land and a strange murky place...You wont be disappointed" read on a sign hanging from the door with each of the names Felis Tolbert, Cayson Arlo Rinar, Amber Hill, Leo Pichard and Sebastian Winters as the name written at the bottom of the sign. There would be a certain feeling of...unease that would come from the memory. A sort of desire to visit this place relatively soon.

Infact on the sign was a time written on it: 8:00pm with a secondary note reading "Bring a food item"

It was an invitation to come to the Sunny Shield at 8:00pm...and everyone was clearly invited. The Black was now beginning to form.

“Good morning!” Felix greeted Sonea with enthusiasm as she approached the checkout, noticing the eyepatch. It was slightly intimidating but he didn’t think much of it, and instead began checking and bagging the groceries. Of course, he remained fully unaware of the strange feline creature patting him on the forehead, instead carrying on with business, cheerfully ignorant of what was really happening. As he looked up at the customer again, a look of slight confusion flickered across his face.

She had been staring at his forehead for just a few moments. He was about to ask if she was OK, but she continued as if nothing had happened, smiling and paying for her items, before making her way out. She also made sure to hand Felix several of her business cards before she left. He wasn’t exactly sure what store policy was on this, so he decided to accept them, smiling, deciding that he would hand them out to people later.

Well, that had seemed odd, but Felix shook the thought from his head and carried on serving customers, pocketing the business cards for now.

Unfortunately for him, this was not going to be an ordinary day as he’d expected. While Sonea’s bus stopped somewhere else in town, an unfamiliar but distinct image imprinted itself in his mind, a view of a shop called the Sunny Shield…wait, that sounded familiar. Pulling one of the cards out, his eyes widened a little as he recognized it as the same name. What the hell? Was he just creating false memories, or were these cards spiked with something? Wait no, that was ridiculous, he was making up crazy scenarios, yet again.

But the image wouldn’t go away. I fact, it was becoming more solid and detailed. There was a sign above the door telling people to come to the shop, and the rest sounded rather sinister, like something out of a blurb. Hmm, perhaps he had read something similar in a book and was imagining - as if in response, the picture became more focused yet again. Now he saw, with a slight constricted feeling in his chest, his own name, along with several others. And a potent sense of unease enveloped him, somehow urging him to find this place. Yes, then he’d find out what was going on…He shook his head, trying to clear the silly thought away, but it persisted. He wasn’t feeling too good now.

Felix continued his day as normal, albeit slightly shaken. At the end of his shift it was about 6:00pm. He checked the address on the card, deciding he would go, if only to stop these thoughts plaguing his mind. After quickly buying something from the store, as per his instructions, he exited for this strange destination.

Along the way, he handed out the remaining cards to a few people. While he felt uneasy about this, it wasn’t like him to refuse helping a small growing business looking for publicity. Besides, he reasoned, it was probably all just a figment of his imagination. Although that made him feel a bit stupid, carrying a lemon drizzle cake around and all.

Sebastian had gathered his listed items and extra, he looked down at the tub of chocolate ice cream in his hand and shrugged, putting it into the basket, heading for the till; paying for his goods and then leaving. Returning home he locked the door and went about restocking the kitchen.

As Sebastian finished packing everything away; he heard the sound of hissing and turned to see the cat hissing and preparing to attack, Seb sighed and glanced to the small mirror that hung in the empty door frame. Moving past the hissing cat, that batted out with a clawed paw at Sebastian’s ankle.

Closing the door to his room with a heavy slam, his vision faded as he looked out at the sunny shield, due to having only one eye himself, it didn’t feel sickening or off putting but still an alien memory, seeing the words form and then sign, his name amongst others, and then the date and time for ‘tea time’.

Shaking his head, he sighed and glanced to the door “the fuck was that?” he stepped back and thought on it some more “Sunny Shield, the hell kind of name is that.” Sebastian checked the time and nodded to himself before heading through into the kitchen, looking about okay what can i bring...the ice cream? nah. thinking to himself.

When it came round to near seven; Sebastian just took an icebox and the ice cream, he couldn’t be arsed to cook anything and on his bike he didn’t have much space for it to be honest, just enough for the icebox filled with ice cream really.

Sienna Cartlow

“Huh… Have I lost weight?” Sienna mumbled absentmindedly to herself as she patted her stomach. Though her showers were normally lazy, drawn out affairs, she hadn’t soaked too long; just enough to clean up the cuts she’d made on herself before finding some bandages and ointment to help fix it up. Oddly, a lot of her minor abrasions seemed to have already disappeared, and part of her assumed that had something else to do with the powers she’d inherited from Sinopia. Still, the point was that her jeans definitely felt looser, enough so to warrant using the slightly tighter button. Weird, but not an unhappy weird. She still wasn’t super fit or anything, but it was nice to see she probably could’ve had that noodle cup earlier. Stupid 10 year old didn’t know what fat was through her stupid fat head.

Taking her time slightly to dry her hair and examine herself in the mirror, she still looked pretty worn out and beat up, but respectable enough. She normally looked pretty dead inside in life, so it wasn’t that far off her normal resting bitch face. It was enough of a façade to hide all the craziness going on in her head, and the guilt and agony she was feeling over her loss. To think, she’d thought herself lucky when she’d seen Yohan and the others. Now, she’d trade practically anything of hers to just feel the pleasant warmth of having Rio by her side. Or yelling at her to stop being lazy. Or doing that goofy thing with her ears when she tried to make her laugh. Or… Or that would never be coming back. Sighing again, Sienna was grateful that Sinopia was giving her at least some reprieve to consolidate her thoughts. She needed a plan of what to do here. But where was she even going to begin?

She was wanted for questioning and who knows what else after her disappearance; and frankly, no one would believe her if she told them half the shit. Heck, she struggled to still believe it even now. Still, there was Yohan, Rina and Taja. Something like their arms, or Taja’s… monster stuff (Fitting for the little brat) would surely go a long way to helping that. Then there was also… Patting down her pockets again, Sienna retrieved another of her crumpled cigarettes, spinning it in-between her fingers, before she held it towards her pointer on her other hand. Just like magic, a small flame sprouted forth, lighting the stick as she drew it back up to her lips. Well, if there was anything to take away from all this shit, at least she wouldn’t have to bother bringing her lighter with her anymore. Regardless, being able to do crap like that would be proof enough, yeah? Then again, all this crazy horseshit… Did the government already know about it? Was stuff like this kept under wraps? Screw the aliens at area 51, maybe they had freakin’ wizards and witches and demons…

“I have to do something…” Taking another deep breath from her cigarette, Sienna leaned on the bath tub edge, letting the extractor fan do the work for her in clearing the smoke. Weird. Normally her smokers lung would be bothering her by now after having so many in quick succession, but she hadn’t coughed once in ages. Shaking her head, she reminded herself not to get side-tracked. She had to tell someone and get back out there. It wasn’t like she could avoid society indefinitely. Whatever consequences that held from there, well, she’d have to face them as they came. It wasn’t like she could just return after what happened, even if she did want to go and slug Tate in the face. And Rio… Were they already planning that funeral? Would she get out of police custody and all this crap in time to attend? Then there was the others. What would they want to do about all this crap? She could talk it over with them after eating, speaking of which…

Heading downstairs and oblivious to the events that had transpired, Sienna walked in on the end of a horror scene. Rina’s body lay slumped on the ground, pieces of… Her just… across the counter, part of the wall, floor… Blood… And on top of that, her head looked like… God it was… Covering her mouth in both shock as well as to try and stop the involuntary reflux, she turned back out of the doorway, dry heaving in the corridor. She was kinda grateful she hadn’t eaten yet. “What the fuck guys?! What the hell happened?!” Sienna called from the corridor, refusing to re-enter the kitchen just yet. Slowly, her mind began to process the rest of the scene in the kitchen – Taja in the corner, that weird man covered in blood and at the counter, Miranda on the phone…

“That is the fate of one who can’t change. One who can’t see the world differently, who rejects themselves and fails to face their inner demons.” Sinopia’s voice came from seemingly nowhere and everywhere, perforating every facet of Sienna’s mind to ensure that she heard it. “That could be you, in time. Remember earlier? You weren’t too far off from a cadaver yourself.” There was a certain smugness in Sinopia’s voice, Sienna just trying to steady her breathing and take it in. She certainly didn’t feel like eating anymore. Shit shit shit, this day just kept getting more fucking brilliant every second. As if she didn’t have enough crap to deal with in her life, now this shit? God, she’d probably be questioned about this crap too, ugh. I mean, she didn’t know Rina at all really, nor did she really care for her but jeez, she didn’t want her to die or anything! Resting against the wall in the corridor, another voice filtered into her mind, and this time, it wasn’t Sinopia’s.

“Strike one.” It said mockingly. Sienna had no idea what that meant. Other than the obvious ominous implications of striking out. “Sin, what was that?” Sienna asked, and weirdly, could feel the cat shrug. “A warning. Suffice to say, having your comrades die would not be wise. Lame as they may be, you and I are now connected to them, like it or not… Well, except the dead one.” Sienna grimaced. This shit was getting to be too much. Just… There was way too much to handle. What was she supposed to do? Breaking through her panic to be rational, she realised that they needed to start taking some direction. “Guh… Hey, are you calling the cops gym girl? We’re all probably going to have a lot of explaining to do at the station…” Thankfully for Frederick, Sienna hadn’t entered the kitchen again to see him cleaning. She’d probably have had something to say about that.

No, Amber definitely knew the face of the girl who turned to talk to her...but from where, she wasn't quite sure. Well, probably the school, since that was where pretty much everyone she knew was, but there were a couple other possibilities that she couldn't necessarily rule out. A camp, for instance, or even the street, if she was really combing her own brain.

Wherever Amber knew this other girl from, she realized that she wasn't going to satisfy her own curiousity unless she kept the interaction going. "Oh, sure! Can't believe I missed it, but the market's a pretty big place, isn't it?" She said, though she could probably have found it herself if she wanted to. She waited for a moment before moving, in case she would have to let the other girl turn around as the two of them located the sauce and dressings aisle, then looked around briefly for things she might have wanted from this aisle before heading off to get the mayonnaise.

As she and the other girl walked, Amber made sure there wasn't any dead air. "I don't know what happened, but there used to be another store, Emporia, that I'd always go to to get mayonnaise and things. I can't believe they closed." She'd have plenty of time while they were hanging out to figure out where she remembered this other girl, introduce herself, and so on, so it was certainly possible for Amber to make her conversation partner a little more comfortable. "Did you ever get stuff from there?" She added, making sure that the other girl had something to work with.

While this was happening, Amber also made a mental note of the blacksmith's shop that she could see something pointing to from outside the market entrance, which there was practically a straight line to from where they were. She might check it out later, she decided, once she'd gotten everything she needed. It wasn't every day you saw one of those in Timberland. Or, well, anywhere, really.

Taja's body went numb. Strike one came a warning from nowhere. She didn't even think anything of it as she got up and turned to walk out of the kitchen. She passed up the group she had been with and walked towards the front door. You know, kid, you could have stopped her. Elsworth appeared next to her. Taja kept her head down, she didn't feel like talking or listening to the stupid thing that always kept coming around when it was clear he wasn't wanted. I mean, why did she come after you and not the pervert? I just find it so str-"

Taja interrupted him, "Probably because it was me who had her go to the stupid gym, ElsWORTH." She said his name, mocking him like he was actually something of worth. "If I hadn't listen to the voice or the visions she wouldn't have ran after me! She would have gone home." She was screaming at him now.

The image of Rina bashing her head over and over again brought her pain, but somewhere deep inside it also brought her joy. Shaking her head ran towards the living room. "Where is the gym from here? I am wanna go home. I need to go home..." She glanced back towards the kitchen and saw just the feet of Rina. Her eyes started to water, "Someone needs to call the police..." She wasn't aware of her feet moving but she saw the phone behind where Rina lay. Before she knew it, Taja was walking in the blood was tippy toeing to the phone when she slipped in the blood. It took a few moments before she lifted her hands and saw red. "No no no..." She quickly got up and to the phone, dialing 9-1-1.

"911, what is your emergency?" A female voice came over the phone.

---

---

Cayson felt a chill near him and looked around. "Strange." He said before going back to his pickle selection. "Pa, pa pickle pa pa pa pickle." He sang as he looked through jars of pickles, making sure they were in good conditions and looked as fresh as a fresh pickle could be. He was just about to pick when a vision flashed before his eyes. He was to go to some kind of tea party at a place called The Sunny Shield at 8 p.m. and to bring food.

Once the vision ended Cayson stood up tall, he didn't like the feeling that was going through him. He looked around and saw an old couple and a lady in her twenties staring at him like he was some kind of piece of cake. Smiling awkwardly he went back to pick the jar of pickles he selected and then a couple more. "The vision did say to being food." He said to himself and walked to one of the cashiers and looked at his watch. It read 11:13 a.m. He had a good amount of time to go looking for Taja before he had to go have tea at the sunny place.

"Eleven dollars and ninety-four cents is your total." She said. Cayson dug around in his pocket and gave a fifteen dollars. "You sure do like pickles, huh?" She asked before turning to get his change.

"Yeah, plus going to bring some to a tea party." He said nonchalantly.

The cashier gave him a looked and laugh, "Well that is a bit odd to have, but hey if you like it then that it is all that matters." She said while she gave him his change. "You have a good day."

"Thanks, you too!" He waved as she jogged out the market. He headed towards the corner store that was near Taja's home. He planed on going around the block and towards the gym where that other girl who was too skinny was walking towards.

His mind was empty during the moment, nothing seemed to really matter but getting away from it all. His heart raced, his body leaped into action and now he saw the door in sight. It was all he could think about, throwing himself onto his bed and just closing his eyes and forgetting the painful memory. Honestly, something in the back of his mind wanted to destroy the body, to get rid of it all in order to push out his emotions right now. But running came first, for whatever reason, running felt like the only option he had left in this situation!

Then, it all came to a sudden halt. He found his body easily being lifted up and being put down on the couch, his eyes wide with surprise as he could only blink right now. He thought he had done it, that he had gotten into his room and that everything was gonna be all right from there. Instead, he had been dragged back to where he had struggled with before. He felt something move along his cheek before going away. This seemed to bring him down a little, enough that he could accept being out here for the time being.

What else was there left to do for him? He could only assume the cops would eventually come over and notice this, what would they say to him? He wasn't one of the five listed missing, he already knew he had no records or anything except for the last ten years he had been living in town. That was all though, the only reason he seemed to have gotten away with it up until now was because of his parents. He no longer had them here with him though, he had avoided trouble for years and now finally karma had come up before him and told him it was time to face the music.

It felt like an eternity now, being trapped in limbo and forced to endure the everlasting torment it had in store for him. She had just up and killed herself, why? Why had she done such a thing?! She seemed perfectly fine up until just a few ago, he should of been more cautious and more alert, he should of been to stop her from doing it. It was ultimately his fault, how could the others be expected to do anything about it? They had been dragged into this, just like she had been. Her death was on his hands, yes, his hands!

He had known for years about this stuff, not enough mayhaps, but enough to warn people. He should of warned them about the dangers, he should of warned them about staying away from him instead of drawing himself to them. Why had he done this terrible deed today? She went crazy because she was thrown into a whole new world, and here he was, feeling sorry for himself. He should be the one that died, not her! Why had he survived, why had fate cursed him to a life of misery?! Wasn't it suppose to go better, wasn't everything suppose to be better now that he was finally here before the door?!

His mind went silent for a bit, he had no idea how long he had been sitting here. He ultimately decided to just lay down, face away from everything that was happening right now. He had to calm down, he had to relax, this was the only way to do it. Ultimately, ultimately, ultimately... His mind pushed itself to the brink of insanity, words started to repeat themselves in the process of relaxation. He had no idea what was even happening now, where was he even, why was he here instead of home, had he gone and just died, finally given up attempting to live?

He could remember so many things, to a point at least. Ten years already it had been, ten long years of this damned life. Negative, negative, negative. Always so negative. Yes, he had always been so negative. Why bother trying to hide it, he had nowhere left to run. People were now running around his house, screaming and yelling here and there, it was madness. Panic was surely running through the minds of the others, how could he blame them? Sad, all so sad, too sad for you. Yes, it was too sad for him... Or was it?

What was he doing right now, laying here and thinking he could get away from everything? The truth, the truth, THE TRUTH! Yes, suddenly it was all too clear. He had even admitted to it earlier, he had finally reached the door. Now was the time, he had finally reached it and now he was about to let it get away?! Nonsense! A person killed herself because she couldn't handle what she had seen, but not him. He had thrown it away, even if for today, and he knew then and there what had to be done. It's time you learned the truth, the truth, the truth, the truth.

Suddenly he rose up to his feet without another moment to waste and headed for the basement door. He grabbed hold of the doorknob and opened it, walking down into it as he stopped down at the stairs. "Okay, so, like, no one let anyone down here. Trust me on this one if you don't believe me." There was no way any of them could explain what this thing was or why it was here, but he could investigate it. Yes, yes, yes! Obviously he left the door open in case any of them wanted to come down here, after all, it would be some time before the cops came. Surely they would be too busy with the body to come down here, and even if they weren't, he trusted someone like Miranda could handle them.

Well, here he was again, down here... With the device. It certainly felt strange being here, after all, this was the device that had brought them back, and yet it was the only real proof that they were all still alive in some form or another. Those sketches had to be drawn by someone, there had to be a clue or some clues down here or somewhere in his house that would explain about this device. There just had to be, he knew there was no way his parents would just have a device like this for no reason! Well, one thing was for sure, they would have to use it tonight to go back and return...

Return, return, return.



Ricky wasn't too keen on what had to happen next, somehow, deep down, he knew it would come to this. Even when he explained to them or tempted them with power, they still had the nerve and the gull to pull out firearms on him. Needless to say, they were no real threat to him, and so he decided to demonstrate how hopeless it was for them. The dark hands came forth like a nightmare, a faint howling like noise came along as the two shivered with fright as Ricky went on the offensive. Loyal or not, they were still the lackeys of a now dead man.

The hands first attacked the person on the left, cause they sure as heck wouldn't fight back now. They grabbed and restrained the user's arms and legs, limiting them on how they could move, not like it mattered all that much in the end. The person on the right only got to watch as his friend was bent backwards slowly and without any means of fighting back. Slow cracks came as they pushed the person's body further and went beyond the limits of what could be done. With a loud shriek, the person's back snapped and ended the life of a poor fool. The hands threw the body aside and went for the next target, who tried to run away from his frightening new enemy. Alas, he was far too late.

The hands grabbed a hold of his leg and tore a piece of it off. The man screamed with pain and fell down, unaware of the horror that was now surrounding him. And when he came to his senses, only terror could register in his mind as the hands blocked out any light and grabbed a hold of his body, now with aggression and force behind their grips! Ricky's sadistic grin grew as he saw pieces of skin fly about where the man was trapped, like pieces of paper being blown through the air. The sound of tearing and crushing made it's way outside the room, and anyone who heard it could only register the worst was being done.

Then, everything went silent and everyone could only stand and wait, guns ready to blaze through and kill whatever came out. No light could be seen to those who stood closet to the door, they knew something was coming, but what? Then, the door bust open, and hell itself seemed to emerge unto them. Darkness quickly swept out, seeming to engulf the walls and all visible light within it's craps, and they could all see the creepy little hands all stretching out, coming right for them. The sound of gunfire was the first to emerge, they thought they could somehow get rid of the menace. But they learned all too quickly that what they did was meaningless.

Ricky walked out of the door slowly, only his eyes visible in the engulfing darkness that was The Black as he watched the mayhem occur. When darkness engulfed this poor unfortunate soul, they panicked and tried all they could to escape. But the hands grabbed a hold of one of their feet, grabbing the person further into the darkness as the hands quickly made short work, the face being the first to go before red stained the walls nearby. Red would be the only color Ricky's mind allow to stand out in the dark.

Ricky continued his walk, hands in pockets, eyes showing no form of empathy for the people he once considered family. They all screamed the same, was the first thought to register into his current mindset. They were all the same to him: Scum. One person struggled to fight off the hands as they gripped onto the body to push it against a wall, and then the last thing they ever saw was two sharp looking fingers stabbing their way into the person's eyes. Another person tried to shoot themselves in the head before the hands could, but they quickly snapped the arm and let the gun fall to the ground. Oh how poor a choice, for the hands would not accept anything other than death by their own actions, and so the person's head was twisted around in an instant before the body was dropped and the hands began to tear the body into pieces.

He couldn't help himself as he began to laugh among the darkness, the only sound that he could register other than the cries of misery that filled the darkening place. People were being slammed until they were mush, some had their heads crushed slowly under the hands, others would not get such a mercy when they were thrown into the ceiling and dragged along it to make a red trail along it. One person almost got lucky, they saw Ricky and saw him as the threat, aiming a pistol at him and shooting in his direction. But no bullets would hit, and the eyes only got closer to the person's position. They kept firing until they were out of bullets, and then, they wanted to run. But before they could turn around, a hand burst forth through their chest, the person struggled to breath as the hand slowly twisted itself and began to race faster and faster. Ricky couldn't help but smirk as he was covered with a new paint job of red!

Five. Only five remained. When they saw Ricky step out into the light, they were horrified at the sight of the fresh red liquid dripping off of his body, and that horrifying grin that only a monster could make turned to them. One of them burst out into crying, another seemed to come close to a panic attack, while the others seemed to suffer from a lack of breathing. "Give it to me." Ricky spoke in a low tone, almost like a whisper. The five couldn't help but look at each other, what exactly did he want from them? What COULD he want from them at this point?!

"Bow." His demand was clear, and they all felt a crushing grip within their chests. Swear loyalty to a sadistic and cruel murderer, or join the slaughter fest. It all clicked that Ricky had spared them because he viewed them as the closet of the bunch, and they had a hard time coming to grips with the reality of the situation. However, when they began to see the red hands slowly make their way out and begin to spread, they all knew what to do and kneeled before Ricky like some kind of King. The hands stopped all at once, except for five, which the others could not see coming due to their heads being bowed and their eyes being tightly shut.

"Welcome to oblivion!" He shouted with glee, and the hands each grabbed hold of the faces of the five, they struggled to get free but the hands were just too strong for them. Ricky began to chuckle as cracks began to emerge all over the five, their eyes rolling as they were slowly engulfed in darkness. Ricky turns around and shakes his head, putting one of his hands over his face as he went into full on laughter, the hands slowly receding as the five bodies shook and twitching with The Black having consumed them. Then, they stopped all sudden movement and the darkness began to become absorbed into them, all of them getting the same twisted smirk Ricky had as Ricky throws his head back and laughs like the demented lunatic he always was!

By the time Taja could dial 911, Miranda had entered the house once more, and the werewolf could hear the dial tones clearly. Quickly snatching the phone from the young girl's hand, she answered. "This was a test call, please do not send anyone, there is no emergency." she said calmly. She looked to Taja, shaking her head and putting a finger to her lips to shush the girl before she could speak. Her glowing Amber Eye stared into the eyes of the girl, sending an unspoken message of "It's okay, I handled it." there was some more speaking on the otherside of the line before Miranda grunted. "Yes I realize the importance of this number, my little cousin does not, I told her to test it out and she accidentally hit dial. Yes...Correct. Okay, good bye."

She hung up and sighed. "I handled it, young one. I have a cousin in the police force. He's handling the whole situation so that none of us are being questioned by the cops. Myself especially." She said. She placed the phone on the counter, pausing for a moment. That janitor worked quick....blinking she shook her head and then rubbed Taja's head softly, another show of affection. Of course she was oblivious to the fact that most of the people in this house were considered missing, meaning that the cops would show up eventually anyway.

She stood straight and looked around, her nostrils flaring as she got a smell of the area. It still smelled like blood. Miranda's body shuddered, uncertain whether it found the smell of blood revolting or satisfying. She coughed, shaking her head before moving to the living room and flopping herself on the couch, her toned, muscular body relaxing as it lounged on the couch, her eyes closing slowly as she tried to drift into a sleep.

Frederick sat down at the table quietly. This day was just bad in more ways than one. He was not so sure what to think and feel right now, part of him wanted to take the blows the day gave him and get back up and the other just wanted to curl up on a bed and sleep. This was just bad all things considered.

As Frederick sat down...on the table with his thoughts as he finished his burger. "Man...What are we supposed to do now?...Someone is dead, people are losing it...and I got a voice in my head..." He spoke quietly to himself like that was going to help.

"Having a little crisis not so young one? I am here to guide you my not so little lamb. So feel free to ask me." The voice in his mind spoke softly and calmly. However her words were rather...peculiar to say the least.

For Frederick, without much to do and stuck in a little bit of a hole. He decided to take the voice up on its offer for some answers. "I will gladly ask some questions then. Why are you here? What do you want in particular?" He asked.

"Well my dear not so young child. I am here to simply guide you on a path that has been carved long ago. In the very bowels of history. A grand fate for a select few. However dear my dear not so little lamb...You are not ready to leave your pen. As for what I desire that time will come...and when that time comes more mysteries shall be revealed." The voice in his head replied calmly. Her response however left more question then answers however...it was clear that something big was going on.

"Well the biggest mystery right now for me is how you look like. I mean are you supposed to be a mysterious voice that guides me on my way?"

"My so eager to see upon my form...As you desperate to lay your eyes and hands upon me as well you sinful beast?"

Frederick in response reeled back in response. Now who was being the pervert now! Her mind was in the gutter, not his! "Hey now! I am no beast. I am but a humble janitor who's sole purpose is to clean any place that has a speck of dust on it!"

"My...still denying yourself?...Mayhaps I shall appear to sate thy sin so you may accept thy sins."

"Or how about just appearing normally like a normal entity of the spirit world? Your the one pushing the envelope here!"

"That may be true, but your mind was thinking of it was it not?"

"Because you kept on bringing it up. Not my fault that when you say one thing enough times it geos into your head!"

"I shall leave our story here at that then. Until next time my not to little lamb. Mayhaps you shall see me in my true form soon...If your mind is ready of course..." The voice chuckled as it vanished.

What the heck was in his mind? It was so...mysterious and strange...But he always did like a bit of mystery!

---

---

Abe paced around in his office, staring at the map he made on his own wall. Each picture of those missing was on his wall, one of them being his own daughter. His fist balled, this is why he should have be stricter with her. He knew the dangers of going out in the storm, now she was missing. Fear and anger ran through him, of all the mistakes he made in his life, this one was the worst. Abe hadn't been able to tell her his secret, maybe he waited too long. No, he would find her alive and when he did should would be so grounded and then he would tell her.

He looked over the pictures, next to the youngest one was the note she left.



The store that was the closest to her mother's work and her house was the same store Sienna, one of the missing, worked. Rina also went to the store, this same store. Something had to have connected them, besides being at the store. Miranda was last seen at her work, the gym where Sienna was heading. So what happened to the girl and Rina after Sienna left work? Did she do something with them? Questions ran through his head, but no answers came forth.

Abe gave the map one more look before grabbing his phone and wallet and headed down to his home gym. He needed to work out, just standing there was driving him crazy. He wanted to to punch someone, mostly himself, for letting his baby girl, the only thing left over from Serena, go. He knew deep down in his gut that he shouldn't have let her go. A feeling had clawed his way through him. What was wrong with him? Why had he gone so soft? This is what happened when you slack the grips on the reins. You lose sight and are overly confidant.

Abe changed out of his suit to sweatpants and wrapped his hands in bandages as he pounded against the punching bag. He pictured himself as the punching bag and with ever hit got harder. He deserved punishment for letting her go. She was probably scared right now, did she miss him? Probably not, he had been strict with her from the very get go. Or maybe he was too strict on her all this time and that is why she went missing. He shook his head, clearing it. Right now he needed to focus on bring her and the rest of the group home.

His phone began ringing. It took a moment before he realized the noise, jogging over towards his phone it read "Frank". Glaring at the phone he answered it, "This better be good, Frank." His voice was deep, angry, and tired.

"I thought it might want this information, might lead to nowhere, but knowing you you want every small detail." Frank said. Frank was his partner and a lot older than him. He had been in the force for some time.

"Spit it out." Abe grumbled.

"There was a 9-1-1 call from a house about five to ten minutes away from the Timberland gym. Apparently it was a lesson for a little girl, supposedly her cousin, but the dispatcher felt like it was cover up. Maybe the girl was calling for help and whoever had her caught her. I suggest you go over there. Becca is texting you the address as we speak." Frank's voice got a serious tone.

"Thanks." Was all Abe said before hanging up in time to get the text message. "Time to get some answers." Abe said before running up to the second story and showering.

---

---

Rina woke up feeling absolutely nothing, her eyes locked on the back of Miranda's head. "What the hell happened?" She looked around and saw the perverted old man cleaning the floor and Taja was covered in blood. "Oh my god, Taja are you okay? Are you hurt? What happened?" She hurried towards the girl, examining her.

Taja stared at her in complete shock before letting out a blood curling scream. Rina jumped back, "What is wrong with you?!"

"Y-y-you d-died! Are you another person likes Elsworth? I can't take two of you." She cried into her hands, her tiny body shaking.

"Dead?" She looked around and there it was her mutilated body. "How...how did this happened?" She asked. Falling to her knees next to her lifeless form.

"You bashed your head into the counter after going crazy and Miranda did some of her magic to make you stop bleeding, though you were already dead." Taja whispered.

"Crazy?" She asked, looking back at the girl. She wanted to cry, but no tears had formed.

Felix glanced at his watch as he walked. Eight o’clock was nearing and he wasn’t feeling any less uneasy. Questions about what was going on were still flooding his head, but somehow, against his best attempts at reasonable thinking, he was visiting this shop. It felt like some unseen force was driving him there. By now he’d gotten to thinking that maybe he was developing some kind of issue and needed help. Not to mention, if he was imagining things, when he reached his destination he would likely find himself face to face with an empty shop door. And then what? Spend an hour walking back home. In the dark. Great, he thought to himself.

Trying to hold his cake under one arm without crushing it, he rummaged in his pocket to retrieve the business card he had kept. None of the messages from the strange vision showed up on it.

The sign hanging above the door soon came into view and he recognized it immediately, having its image pretty much burned into his mind by now. It was a relief to see his name and that creepy message not on it, at least. Oddly enough there were lights on inside the front room. Were they still open this late? Or maybe they were still closing up. Then again, he thought, it could be the owner’s house as well…Maybe he shouldn’t interrupt.

Nope, he’d come this far already. If it turned out he’d been mistaken, he’d just have to pretend he was looking for somewhere else. He strode up to the door, knocking on it.

Well, it looks like he was alone. He was better off that way, anyway. These people were running around his house, and it sounded like one of them had finally left. He thanked the heavens, but he knew the police were gonna be here and some of them were going to be around for just a little bit longer. They would have to come back at 11 PM anyway, but it was time he could use to reflect and get used to all that had happened. He could move on from that dead girl, get his place to himself and just relax.

That would be the case, if it wasn't for the... Stranger things in this house. None of them had triggered any of them yet, but he knew they were there. Like the Master Bedroom, a place he would often forget about and then see next to his parent's room and try to open, only to always get flown back into a wall the second he grabbed the doorknob. It was impossible to open it, brute force would only get you more hurt. It seemed like the door was made to curse anyone, no matter how smart or strong you were. That room was cursed, whatever was in there wasn't worth the amount of pain he would be forced to endure just to try to keep a hold on the bloody doorknob!

There were so many other things this house had done to him over the years, and all of them were still there somehow. It made him nervous to think about it, someone had been very careful with what they placed in this house and he couldn't tell if this was a good thing or a bad thing. Either way, he suspected none of the others would be foolish enough to try and set any of them off. He should really focus back on the task at hand, who knew when those cops would be showing up.

Examining the device was... Not easy, to say the least. One such experiment had him trying to pull it off the wall, but to no avail. It wouldn't budge, not even for a second. He had to be careful with it though, he didn't know if it was easy to break or if it would activate just from him damaging it. Was it even possible to hurt this thing? He had no idea, but it seemed like something straight out of one of those stories his parents used to tell him. In fact, this whole thing seemed like it made his parents stories actually true. What could that mean, had his parents really known? He still doubted it, but the evidence was right before him, surely that was enough right?

As he continued to examine the strange device, his mind turned to the information he had been told. The time of The Wizard was a dark one, every time he heard it, it sent chills down his spine. Everyone always said it was false, but now, was it really with the new information presented before him? When The Wizard was defeated by The Warrior, magic was said to have been feared by the populace of the world. In order to keep the world safe, magic was taken away one day, by who or what no one knew. But be they human or non-human, no creature was ever allowed to naturally wield magic from that day on. True magic... How far did it extend? It certainly wasn't something any of him or the people he had survived last night with seemed to have. There was always the option of asking the man with shades, hell, it was the only option they had.

So what was it they had now then? This certainly wasn't the true magic he had been told of from his parent's stories. Especially that one he could recall, the one he adored the most... No, he had to focus right now! He had found something on the device, something worth examining. It looked small though, his hand reaching over to poke it when... ZAP!! He was blown back, his hand shaking violently as the other four could feel the same temporarily jolt through their hand. "Wow, that... Ouch, that really hurt! What the heck?!" He tried to sit up as he held his arm, his hand still shaking as he looked over to the device. So it too had one of those curses? That was annoying, he would probably have to search the house later when everyone was gone, but for now, there was another matter to attend to.

He remembered that he was running low on some things, no one else lived here besides him, what had he need for those things before? He knew he had some money, he would have to get them, but he didn't want the others tagging along. He really needed some space from them, like it or not, he could always do that... But that was rude. They were thrown into this position, just like he was. For now, at least, they could stay. But for how long depended on when the police would leave. He hoped they would leave shortly after, which reminded him of the one time someone tried to sneak into his house. He saw them coming, and he immediately called them out on it. Suddenly, the door swung open, and they were tossed out, unable to return inside the household. This house really was cursed, wasn't it?

Once his hand was better, he decided to test out the limits of his new power. He focused on himself, letting the sound around his body be temporarily silent. When he took a step, not a sound came. Excellent, this wouldn't be a problem. Walking out of the basement and closing the door behind him, he headed up to his room where he took hold of the money he had saved up for this kind of thing. Once he touched it, he let the silence consume them as well, he wouldn't take any chances, he wanted out and no one was stopping him. He may be overcautious as all heck, but these people weren't about to control his life. If they tried, he could always consider them a hostile, he didn't even need to say it, just think it, and whoosh, they'd be out!

But he hoped it wouldn't come to that, for now, he hoped he wouldn't come back to them having gotten the house angry at them or something. He sure as heck thought the house was alive, in some form or shape. He left his room and closed the door behind him, letting them think he had just gone into his room or something. He headed down the stairs and went up to his door, taking a look back before sighing out, which not even he could hear, before letting the front door's sound be caught in silence and opened it, walking out and quickly closing the door behind himself. Now, the silence was lifted, and as he walked away from his own home, he let out a sigh of relief. Finally, he was free from those people, and hopefully wouldn't see them again until tonight. Now, he thought to himself, what would he buy?

Taja stared at Rina in complete shock before letting out a blood curling scream. Rina jumped back, "What is wrong with you?!"

"Y-y-you d-died! Are you another person likes Elsworth? I can't take two of you." She cried into her hands, her tiny body shaking.

"Dead?" She looked around and there it was her mutilated body. "How...how did this happened?" She asked. Falling to her knees next to her lifeless form.

"You bashed your head into the counter after going crazy and Miranda did some of her magic to make you stop bleeding, though you were already dead." Taja whispered.

"Crazy?" She asked, looking back at the Taja.

Taja couldn't move, she didn't understand what was going on or how this all was happening.

Suddenly, Miranda snarled, the sound canine and feral, as she felt a jolt of pain run up her arm without any prior warning. Her eyes snapped open; she was awake now. Looking at her arm, she shook it out, and her attention was then captured by the lack of sound usually made by Yohan as the boy moved around. This was weird. Her nostrils flared as she picked up the scent if everything in the House. There of course was the blood, now cleaned, what's left of Rina's body in the back yard, Taja, Sienna's fading scent, God knows what coming from Yohan's room, and then... ah there he was. Turning, Miranda stared at Yohan as he walked past, thinking that he was invisible because he wasn't making noise. She sensed the innate fear in him from his body-language, and let him be, knowing full well that people with power in corners often lash out. Her glowing amber eye followed the boy, but she did not for a while, letting him have a sort of head start. She blinked, and then looked to the clock on the wall. The Cops aught to be there any moment. She'd go out and meet them.

After a few minutes, the sound of cars traveling up the street with their sirens blaring caught her ear, and she made to walk out to the front porch. She crossed her arms as she stood on the porch and she looked down at the first man to step out and up towards her. Her cousin, Anthony Wallace.

"Miranda."

"Cousin. Body is in the back. Ghost in the kitchen." Her cousin pulled out a notepad and sighed jotting things down. He was much larger than Miranda was, a sergeant by the look of his uniform. However he was not as pure-blooded as Miranda, and thus never made eye contact with her to prevent a dominance struggle.

"I will handle the Body, you said the mess was already cleaned in the kitchen?" At her nod he nodded and sighed. "Still smells of blood, doesn't it?" At her not he groaned and turned to the other cops arriving.

"Alright, the body is in the backyard, my contact here said she was bashing her own head against the counter, mess is cleaned up, but to be sure, ask the others in the house." Anthony commanded, "Get the body bag ready, let's go see the extent of the damage, her father will want to see her I think. Let's move! Lunch is in an hour and if I miss more than thirty seconds of what my girlfriend made for me I'm skinning you all."

"Speaking of her father...he aught to be here soon...." he said under his breath, a half groan of annoyance. He didn't want to deal with an angry officer today, but it seems he drew the short straw.

Cops ran around then, also notifying that the people who had been filed as missing were found while they were at it. An officer, female and gentle in her tone, went over to Taja and Frederick, unable to see Rina's ghost, and began asking him simple questions. "Did you see what happened? Describe what happened. Take your time if you need it, where are the others who saw it?" And so on and so forth.

Pictures were taken, statements reported, the body bagged up and taken to the vehicle that would take it to the morgue, and the deal closed within forty-five minutes. Officially, anyway. Anthony returned to Miranda, nodding. It was done. Miranda smiled and nodded, commending her cousin for his swift and excellent work, he smiled sheepishly in thanks and she patted his shoulder, nodding to his car. She wanted a ride back to the gym, and he paused, grunting softly; Rina's dad was nearby.

The Black

The light, he thought he would never see it again. After last night, he was kind of still in doubt that he was even alive. What was being alive at this point?! He was overthinking it again though, he had to stop for now, everything would be answered tonight. But now new questions were rising, and he couldn't entirely suppress them, but at the same time, he could just save them up for tonight and such. What could he really do in this situation?

As his mind went on another ramble, something unusual came about. BOOM! His body collided with another person's, causing both of them to collapse. Yohan rose a hand up to his head and rubbed it, even though she hadn't hit it. As he looked over to see who exactly hit him, his eyes spotted, uh, well... Someone he knew, kinda? "Oh, you're uh... The girl who always sat next to me last year." Oh boy, suddenly things came back that he had tried to repress and his mind felt like it had just exploded over it.

Sakuya Lecarde. For whatever reason, she was the one person who always took notice of him and made him feel like he was a god damn person. She was nice, from what he could remember, and seeing her talk right now made him, well, remember that. "She's a cutie, ain't she?" A voice crept into his mind, which he promptly shut down. Now was not the time! He rubbed the back of his head as she tried to make herself out to have been the problem of the current situation.

"No, no, it's... It's fine. I wasn't really, uh... Paying attention anyway." He tried to make himself seem as natural as possible, but he just... Ugh, he really had sunken to the lowest point, hadn't he?

"It doesn't help that I'm here, ain't it? Well, that's okay, at least I can play around with your mind." Wait, what did it mean by that? "Oh Yohan, you haven't realized yet, have you? I can alter what your mind perceives~" He shook his head real quick, that was not going to happen, not now! This is when he also realized that he felt fatigued mentally, perhaps it was from using his power earlier? Could be why he was hearing the voice right in the middle of a conversation like this!



It wasn't all that bad to think over now, he felt his power growing inside of him as time passed by today. It had not been long since Ricky had been given the ring, but in that short time, he had been through quite an experience. He had taken them all out, all the traitor's who had once accepted him as part of the group, now the only ones who had survived were his loyal dogs. He felt great, greater than he had ever in his entire frikking life!

How long had it been, since his father had first introduced him to this dark world? When his father opened those doors and showed him that simple little gun, a real gun mind you, he knew there was more he could do. Even at a young age, his father had him practice how to shoot a person and where to shoot them in order to get the most damage. Was it really no secret when Ricky kept getting thrown behind bars, only for his father to bail him out and scold him, only to secretly give him a pat on the back? This was different though, this wasn't the same feeling his family could give, this was... something greater than anything.

"Hey Rick!" One of the five called out to him, catching him off guard as he had been distracted. He turned to the man running over with a grumpy expression.

"What is it?"

"Someone's calling you... I tried to answer, but I can't understand a word they are saying!" He saw the phone in the man's hands, taking it from him as he opened it and looked at the number. His eyes went wide as he pushed aside the man and quickly walked his way to the center of the room before answering the phone.

"Uh, hey there, boss! Ricky here, sorry for the confusion if there was any, I lent one of my phone to one of my new... Co-workers, shall we say?" The five new servants of Ricky tried to listen in to what the other person was saying, but they couldn't understand a word of it.

["So how are things going? Did you take care of what you had to?"]

"Yes indeedy! I took care of it all, and with relative ease too! They were no match for the power of my hands!"

["I don't need to know any further details. Just tell me if you have all the required info or not."]

"I do so have all the info I need on these little people. The exploration tonight will go as smooth as butter. Once I have the location of the problem down, we'll capture whoever is behind this and I will give them the most horrible beat-down they ever done experienced!" Ricky couldn't help but grin after saying all of this.

["... Uh, what are you sounding like that for?"] Ricky was caught off guard for a minute by this.

"I-It's just a little thing I wanted to do for some time, y-ya know? Like, I, uh... Hoo boy." Silence came from the phone for a few minutes. "U-uh, h-hello?"

["Ricky. Richard. Do us all a favor in the near future."]

"Y-yes sir. Anything for you, sir."

["Don't. Ever. Speak to me. That way. Ever again. Understood?"] Ricky reluctantly swallows as he felt an unknown feeling creep up behind him.

"... Y-yes sir."

["Don't make tonight as stupid as this just was."] Then, the phone hung up, and he closed it. His body shivered as he looked over his shoulder to the others with a zombie-like look on his face.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE CHA DOING?! GET BACK TO SETTING UP CRAP FOR TONIGHT!" This caused the others to scatter in a panic! "... Tch. It's not dumb how I speak. It's not!"

Despite the rather depressing atmosphere, Frederick regained his rather cheerful self thanks to the combined effort of his willpower...and the constant comments of his ghostly neighbor in his head. Of course breakfast was long since ruined and most of his food was about to go to waste so he decided to do the reasonable thing. Wrap them all up and stuff them in the icebox.

Whenever someone got hungry they could just heat it up...or eat it cold if that's their deal. Honestly, after a day like this he just wanted to just relax a bit. Maybe read his books, but of course he left them all at home. The first thing he should do however is get his coat cleaned. It had blood on it and well...walking around covered in blood was just asking for trouble.

Heading to the laundry room, she stuffed his coat inside the washer, but some cleaning detergent inside and fiddling with a few dials began to wash it. Well that was done...now what? He had to wait until his coat was cleaned. He decided to sit on the couch and lean back on it.

"What is going on now? I feel like we are like soldiers drafted into the army about to fight some evil threat to save all of humanity...I might be overthinking it really..." Frederick spoke to himself with a sigh as he turned on the television and turned that on before switching to the cartoon channel. Something about a mouse and cat...it was a great and funny show which already made him smile and laugh at the antics.

Sienna Cartlow

“Huh?” Was the first thing out of Sienna’s mouth once she realised that someone was talking to her. She missed the first part of whatever this woman said, something about the dangers of being alone? I mean, maybe in other neighbourhoods, but Timberland? With the exception of those car crashes, this place was quieter than a nun’s bedroom. Pausing a moment at that thought, Sienna wondered if Sinopia was perhaps affecting her in ways she didn’t realise. Regardless of that, the comments that Sienna should be returning to the people she’s ‘connected to’ gave her a little cause for concern, but it was probably just paranoia after all the crazy events that had happened. She was calling her cute after all; maybe she thought Sienna had a partner? That and it wasn’t safe to walk alone. Weird way of saying it, but for some reason, Sienna could tell that this woman wasn’t exactly normal.

Though Sienna wasn’t in a particularly good mood, nor did she feel like being cordial, it was easier just to say thanks and be on her way. In fact, she began doing just that, muttering a pleasantry and continuing on her walk. It was only after she got a few steps away and the woman’s voice came in from behind her did she stop cold. "It really won't be safe for you if you stray too far. There's more of those who are like us than you think...and not all of them have good intentions." Sienna whirled to meet the gaze of the woman, staring her down intently. There was no more ‘coincidences or other explanations for what that lady was hinting at. She knew. What she knew, Sienna wasn’t sure, but she was definitely talking about what had happened in that other place.

“Just what are you-?” Sienna started, but the woman had already said her piece, waving and making her way away from her. “Hey, I was talking to-“ For the second time, Sienna found herself getting cut off as she heard her name, a member of the police calling to her and making an approach. They’d been sent here to investigate an altercation at the bar, and instead found themselves encountering a missing person. Relieved but also a little intimidated, Sienna turned to face the young man before her, nodding. “Yeah, that’s me. I was uh, making my way to the station…” She admitted, before getting a barrage of questions. Where had she been? Was she okay? Did she know about any other girls that had gone missing? Those and more were thrown her way with increasing urgency, though she managed to stay calm throughout, nodding. “Yeah, they’re down at Yohan’s place.” Thumbing behind her, Sienna wracked her brain a bit, thankful she’d taken the time to familiarise herself with the area as she gave the street number.

From there, she answered the simpler stuff as best she could, but asked if maybe they could continue the discussion at the station. Maybe get a formal statement made, as well as some privacy. As a small aside, she also indicated that she was really in need of some sustenance. The cop seemed nice enough; he obliged with helping Sienna to the vehicle while his partner checked the inside of the bar and fixed that up. Relaxing in the back seat, Sienna vaguely listened to the man speak over the radio to his superiors and colleagues about finding her, as well as the lead towards the rest of the missing people. There were lots of questions and discussion, Sienna occasionally asked for comment, but it was clear neither he nor the operator on the other end of the line were too experienced with a situation like this.

“Sit tight kid. We’re uh, on the case. We’ll talk about what happened back at the station, but uh…” Eying Sienna over, the man seemed to be trying to work something out. “You look alright to me, no uh…” He stumbled over his words a little, Sienna nodding. “I’m not on drugs or anything no. Other than cigarettes. Do you mind if I-?” Sienna asked hopefully, the man shaking his head. “Oh, sorry. No smoking in the back. Don’t worry; we’ll get to the station as soon as Officer Milroy gets back.” Nodding again, Sienna sighed and slouched, leaning her chin in her hand. It was going to be a long day.

Relax

Well, that was unexpected. Between dealing with the voice constantly bugging him in his head and talking about his life to a person he barely knew from school hadn't been exactly on his list of things to-do in his life. What had he even originally come out here to do, get some food and stuff so that he wouldn't go hungry? Had he just assumed at the time of leaving that people would of just eaten up all of the food he had there? Not like he had anything that might appeal to their tastes, although that janitor somehow made food... Food he realized he should of grabbed on the way out. Well, that's what he gets for leaving in a rush.

For now, it seemed like he was staying. She just seemed happy to have some company... Maybe that whole talk earlier was getting to him. From what he could gather, they were in a similar position and she hadn't really made any close friends in her time here. It got to him, thinking about how alone one could be without having anyone to really talk to about how you feel or just to share how the day went. It didn't help that he felt like she was the one listening to him, when really he should be the one listening to her. He could always try to change that, why not try now?

He took about two steps when he was bumped into by a rather annoyed looking man. Stopping to look over, the man glared at him with the meanest look in his eyes. "Hey, kid." He started, turning to fully face Yohan. "Watch where you're going!" Yohan couldn't help but turn over and bow his head lightly, it was what he was used to doing after all. "... Hmph. You think that's enough? I'm going to need more than just --" The man stopped when his eyes glanced down to notice Yohan's right hand. When Yohan looked up, he saw that the man's face had gone pale and the angry had been replaced with a strange fear.

"Something wrong?" Yohan asked the man. The man took a step back, swallowing nervously as he tried to find the courage to speak up.

"Ah, it's, uh... F-forget it. I'll accept that apology." The man quickly opened the door with a forced smile, sweat already forming on his face as the uncertain fear of what he just saw struck many emotions off in his head. Without another word, the man quickly turned and fled, running into his car as Yohan could see it speed up and away as fast as it could go. Blinking in confusion, he turned to look at the others there besides Sakuya, but everyone had already drawn their attention from him by the time he looked.

Well, whatever. That guy was clearly having a rough day anyway, why should he let it bother him now? Moving over to have a seat, he let out a sigh in relief as he shook his head before putting his hands on his head and closing his eyes. Everything was still just a little hard to comprehend, why did he have to get thrown in the middle of it all? Being forced around from one place to another really left him feeling drained mentally, not to mention the sudden death of someone right then and there kind of killed any chains he may have put up to try and hold himself together. If he had to see any of those people again anytime soon, he may very well lose his mind. Stress was a cruel mistress after all!

That's when he noticed a funny feeling on his body, had he forgot about something until now? Looking over at his right hand, suddenly, everything dawned upon him about last night. There was that whole deal thing and such, perhaps it was the stress and confusion he felt right now, perhaps it was the strain of what that place had done to him... Either way, it turned out that crazy arm thing had become true and now he was left with scaly looking hand, coming equipped with claws as well. If he had been in any other mood, he would of called himself looking a bit edgy right now. That's when it dawned on him that he had been walking around like this the entire time... Oops?! Guess he would have to make up an excuse for this and cover it up if he planned on going to school like this.



Ricky didn't really know how to handle boredom that well. Upon reflection, he realized he had been too quick with the slaughter of his now old group of criminals. He wanted to take his sweet time with things, wanted to enjoy every second of pain and destruction he spread across them... But in the heat of the moment, instinct took over and made him do it at the pace he had done. It upset him now, to know that he wasn't fully in control of whatever was within him and that there was more potential that could be brought out of him that could help in making things easier or more enjoyable for himself. Regret was a word Ricky had not thought of in a long time now.

"Yo, Ricky!" One of the boys called out, as his eyes shifted lazily over to the screaming man down below. "We're almost ready to make the transfer!" Ricky gave up a lazy thumbs up with his now demonic left hand, watching the man walk away with half closed eyes before laying down on one of the couches and fully closing his eyes. Ricky, Ricky...

"Ricky!" His brother called out, as a much younger Ricky jolted awake and looked over at his brother. "Finally. Anyway, father called for you." His brother gave him a quick expression of worry at him. "You know what that means." Ricky gave a nod before standing up and walking past his older brother. Ricky knew all too well what that meant, and he hated to think what his father would think up of next. After making his way up a long set of stairs, he came upon his father's door and saw it sightly opened. Deciding he would rather not keep his father waiting, he opened the door just enough to poke his head in when he saw his father's back as he stood looking out over the city Ricky used to live in.

Walter Leonard, a powerful man in the public eye who had worked to the bone to get to where he stood now. Although Ricky couldn't see his father's features due to standing in the darker half of the room, he felt a shiver go down his back just from looking at the outline of his own father. "Yes, the deal went off more smoothly than expected. He should be proud of the progress we are making over here on Gaia." Walter spoke up over the phone, oblivious to the fact his own son was listening in. Then again, to Ricky, he may just not have cared.

"I've checked the data on our progress. We should have just enough positions now to make it even. I already got in touch with the others, they all said everything was going good as well. Tonight is the usual picking night... Let us hope it does not go like last week, where a certain coward dared to try and back out now." Walter couldn't help but chuckle, raising a cigarette to his mouth as his head turned to look over in Ricky's direction. Frozen with fear, he could only watch as his father pulled the cigarette away, slowly blowing smoke out of his mouth as his eyes watched Ricky like a bird would upon finding it's next prey.

"Apologies, but family matters just came up." Walter turned away, walking over to his seat as he began nodding. "Yes, I know, but I have something important to do. I'll call you back. Goodbye." Hanging up the phone and putting it down on his desk, he slips into his chair and turns to face Ricky, motioning for him to enter the room. Swallowing, Ricky walked in and closed the door behind him, making his way to stand in front of the desk.

"S-sorry, I know... I should of knocked." Ricky couldn't make eye contact with his father as he spoke.

"We can talk about manners later, Richard." Walter spoke up, surprising Ricky as he looked in his father's general direction now. "For now... I have something I need to talk to you about. It's very important you remember this, got it?" Ricky nodded in response. "I think you're old enough now to start what your brother started a few years ago." Ricky's eyes lit up at these words. "I only hope you can survive like he did..." Walter pulled out a vial and placed it slowly on the desk for Ricky to see. Ricky couldn't help but smile as he saw what was swirling around inside the vial.

"Hey Little Ricky, you coming down here?!" Ricky's eyes shot open as he looked around for a minute before rising up to his feet and letting out another sigh. He looked over at his left hand again, seeing it shaking while he couldn't get the feeling of doubt fully out of his mind. Relaxing his arm, he began to head down to see how progress went. Hopefully it would take his mind off of the conflicting emotions he was going through right now.

---

---

Abe got to the house, his car creeping slowly up the driveway. The house was a plain jane kind of house. It didn't stand out at all. He calmed himself in his car, his hands gripping the wheel tightly. If he went in there with guns blazing it would only cause trouble. Please, Rina, be in there He begged.

He opened the car door and gently closed it before making his way up the to the front door. His face was expressionless, but stern. Abe knocked on the door loudly three times. "Hello! Is anyone in there? I am Abe Jasmine with TPD! A phone call was made from this house. We are just checking up to see if everything is okay." His voiced boomed.

As Frederick sat down on the chair simply watching the television, he gave a deep sigh. What was he supposed to do now? Maybe he should go home...It was the time of day where most people was at work...Yeah, he should go home read some books and...His thoughts were interrupted when a few knocks came to the door. Someone called out and instinctively Frederick got up and walked over to the door and just...opened it up when he failed to relive TPD probably meant Timberland Police Department.

Frederick met face to face with an officer, oh...this looked rather bad huh? He got a call from the house apparently and wanted to check up on things. "Oh, hello officer. Feel free to look around I guess." He replied rather casually as he opened the door. In fact, this was not his house and he was letting an officer in. Oh well.

"Oh my not so little lamb...Have you seen or heard the news? You are supposed to be missing. And here you are at a house that you should not belong in in front of an officer. Oh my~! I never knew you were such a man of sin. Maybe you are letting him in to see the teens and that kid and take all the credit for kidnapping them all. Maybe this is the day you finally tell the truth that you enjoy the younger generation." The voice in his head returned with a giggle.

"Hey! I'm just here to let him look around. Besides, its not like the others are gonna throw me under the bus right?...I just hope my coat is done washing...Besides, if I don't let him in he would get more suspicious...at least more suspicious than he already is. So you can hush your mouth shepherd. Stay in the back seat!" Frederick spoke in his head as he moved to the side to let the man look around.

"Ah, but I am indeed your shepherd. I am here to guide you and make you realize your sin my dear lost lamb. I wonder...How will you react when everything comes crashing down around you and your peaceful life is full of fear, stress and death...This might be the start."

"Oh please, you write and draw a comic in two weeks then come back to me."

As Abe barged into the house, he made an impeccable amount of noise, the noise that annoyed and awoke the Werewolf who was dreaming on the couch. She sat up, glaring at the man with her glowing Amber eye, her other eye still shut with grogginess. She was quiet, aside from the small, almost cute feminine grunts she made while waking up, yawning and stretching out her muscled body. While she yawned she would accidentally show off her massive Canine teeth, and while she stretched her joints cracked audibly.

In her groggy haze, she blinked "Huh? Phone call?" She yawned again, hiding her teeth this time. Then it hit her; the phone call Taja had made, the one she'd made to her cousin earlier. Speaking of which, her cousin would be arriving shortly. Her concentration was broken when Frederick decided to give the guy permission to search the whole house. He'd find the body...they'd do finger-prints, they'd find her fingerprints on the body, they'd know she's a werewolf, only she could do that much damage to a human skull with her bare hands.

Fuck.

The sound of another car pulling up filled her ears and her chest tightened. This was getting complicated. By the smell of it, that'd be Miranda's cousin, Anthony stepping out of the second cop car, walking to the door, and entering. He'd stop upon seeing Abe. "O-oh...Abe, sir.. I...wasn't expecting you here?" he said. Miranda bit her bottom lip in annoyance. This was going to get annoying really quick, and with the annoying numbness in her arm from Yohan's little trick earlier, she wasn't in the mood for it.

Oh well.