A million thoughts rush through my head as I smell that perfume. Is Anshi back from the dead? Is this the end? Will I get to see Nis again? I close my eyes, waiting for a swift death. After all, she's come to finish the job, even after her own demise; I can't say she's not determined. Just as the clothes move slightly, there's a pause. Sounds of shouting can be heard just outside the window, and then a muffled sound, it sounds silenced but loud enough to clearly hear what it is: a gunshot.

Anshi, or what I assume to be Anshi, wastes no time. I hear the sprinting of her feet against the hard wooden floor as she disappears, God knows where. I crawl out of the den of clothes I made and puke all over the floor. Mom would be pissed. I wipe my mouth and shakily stand up. Out of my peripheral vision, I see a figure standing in the doorway, my first thought is Anshi, she tricked me out of hiding, that's, until I hear the familiar voice of Coy.

"Hey, kid. Glad I've been following you, can't have you dying just yet," He says, pulling a cigarette out of his jacket pocket and lighting it.

"What...what was that..." I ask, breathlessly.

"Who knows, I didn't get a look at 'em. Moved pretty damn fast though. Must've been following you for a while, too. The first person whose ever slipped past my eye," He says, leaning against the wall.

"She smelled like Anshi," I say, knowing how crazy I must sound. Coy stares at me blankly before taking a long drag of his cigarette and sighing.

"You been to the morgue lately, kid?" He asks.

"You tell me, since you've been following me," I retort, a bit annoyed at his casual demeanour.

"I had six guys watching over the morgue, pretty damn skilled guys too, I'm talking ex-military type. All of them dead, guts torn right open, did a whole sweep of the area, and inside, only two things were missing," He says, his eyes drilling into mine.

"What was missing?" I ask.

"Any trace of evidence, not even a strand of hair, like they'd been killed by a ghost," He says.

A shiver runs down my spine. I think I can see where this is going. I bite my tongue, I'm afraid to ask, but in this situation, ignorance is not bliss; it's a handicap. I gather the courage to ask the question of which I'm dreading the answer to.

"What was the second thing missing?" I mutter out, almost incoherently. Coy nods, taking one last drag of his cigarette before flicking it to the floor.

"Yeah, exactly what you think. Anshi's body, it wasn't there. No signs of forced entry or exit, and eight people dead including the night guard and janitor, well, freshly dead anyway," He responds.

My heart sinks at that. Is that even possible? No, it isn't. There has to be some sort of explanation. There has to be some reason why. The world operates on logic, not whatever you call this.

"Every culture has some sort of belief in life after death; it comes from a place of fear. Fear of the unknown. We fear death, so we come up with ideas and dreams of what could be waiting for us after we leave this world. Have you ever heard of a revenant?" Coy says, looking at me, I shake my head, and he continues.

"A revenant is a fancy word for a zombie, but unlike a zombie, they don't attack aimlessly; they usually come back to attack the people they held grudges against in life. Anyone they might've had unfinished business with,"

"So you think Anshi is that?" I ask.

"Do I think Anshi came back from the dead, killed eight people to get out of the morgue, followed you around until you were alone, and then tried to kill you before getting scared off by a gunshot? No, Kyne. I believe in what's in front of me, I'll leave all that religious and fairy tale crap to suckers like you," Coy chuckles and shakes his head.

"Well...how do you explain it all then?" I ask.

"Dunno, probably some crazed ideologist killer or something. It doesn't matter. I will find her, and do as I've always done. Just like I did with Anshi. Now tell me, why the trip down memory lane?" He asks, looking around the room.

He's wrong; some killer who just wanted to follow in the footsteps of Anshi wouldn't know anything about me. And she wouldn't have the same perfume as her; coincidences like that don't happen. This is something else; it has to be something far darker. I meet Coy's eyes and drift to the cassette player. I can't tell him about the cassette, or the true reason I'm here, but he can get the money and take it back at the very least.

"There's money, underneath the false bottom in our fireplace. I just remembered it was there," I respond, and Coy narrows his eyes.

"Alright, I'll take care of it. Hold off on heading out, I'll give you a ride. I want to show you something," He says.

I nod and walk out the front door, looking over at his car and back inside the house nervously. After a few moments, he returns carrying a duffel bag and nods to me, walking to his trunk and tossing it in. He motions for me to get into the passenger seat as he climbs in, starting the engine. I comply and buckle in.

"What is it?" I ask.

"There's some snobby PI poking her head where it doesn't belong," He says, looking both ways and pulling off onto the road.

"Oh, yeah, Mikari. I met her briefly," I respond.

"Right. I've had eyes on her since I heard about her. She lives alone and doesn't go out much. We've been trailing her, and I got word she's at her house now," He says, eyes focused on the road.

"Okay, and?" I ask.

"And, we can't have her around anymore," He narrows his eyes, gripping the steering wheel.

"What? Why? She hasn't done anything! You should be focused on finding whoever took Anshi's body from the morgue!" I yell back.

"Shut it. I already cleared it with Mary, which brings me to why you're here. She ordered me to take you with me. Don't ask me why; I didn't bother asking her. For some reason, you have a hands-off rule. No member is allowed to kill you. That will change if you fail to bring her the money," He grits his teeth and stops at a red light.

"So I'm supposed to go kill this innocent person?" I say, feeling the anger boil within me.

"No, I wouldn't trust someone like you to do that. You're going to watch. Mary says you need to witness it, so here we are doing this. Don't act like you have anything better to do anyway," He starts accelerating.

Before I can respond, a car side swipes him. Coy slams on the brakes and pulls to the side of the road. He sighs heavily and steps out of the car, looking back at the damage as the other car pulls up in front of us. An elderly lady steps out and walks back to us.

"Oh, I am so sorry! I didn't see you go!" She says, looking like she's on the verge of tears.

"That's fine, it's just a scratch. Let's just get going on our way," He says, and the lady shakes her head.

"No, no, you're being far too kind. Please let me make it up to you," She says and takes out a pen and paper, writing down Coy's licence plate and taking out her wallet.

Coy's eyes remain motionless; he stares at the lady as she pulls out her insurance card and some cash. He looks over at the pen and paper with his licence plate and clears his throat. I stay in the car watching the exchange.

"That's quite all right, I'd rather not get the insurance companies involved, and you can keep your cash," He says, eyes remaining cold and emotionless.

She shakes her head and walks back over to her car, pulling her telephone from the car and walking with the cord still attached until it is taut. Coy narrows his eyes and sees her type a number in. He looks back at me through the windshield and back to the lady. When she turns away, he pulls his gun from his jacket and screws on some sort of attachment to the barrel. My eyes widen as I jump out of the vehicle.

"No! Don't!" I scream, but it's already too late.

The lady turns around at the last moment, her eyes go wide, and Coy raises the gun and fires. The gunshot is loud but quieter than I expected. The bullet goes straight into her forehead, and with a sickening crunch, her head bounces off the car door and cracks on the concrete.

I turn around and hold back my stomach from emptying again. Coy walks back over to me, and I turn to look at him, my eyes shaking in anger as I clench my fists tight. He's a monster, a heartless monster.

"Why..." I groan, my jaw clenched tight.

"Get in," He demands.

"You did that in broad daylight, what the-" I start to argue, and Coy slams his hand on the roof of his car.

"Get in the damn car, Kyne!" He yells.

I scramble into the car. The rest of the ride is silent; neither of us talks. After a short drive, we arrive at a middle-class house on the West side of town. He stops and looks over at me. Two more cars pull up behind us.

The two I've come to know as Skill and Snatch step out of the cars and walk to the window.

"Tell me the situation," Coy says.

"Hasn't left the house since she got back from making contact with Kyne," Skill says.

"You were following both of us?" I ask and Coy holds up his hand to silence me.

"Proceed with the mission," He orders and they both nod.

They walk to the house and nod to each other. A few more men walk out of the cars and surround the house. After a brief moment of silence an eruption of fire and smoke bursts from the abode. Skill and Snatch walk back to the car and talk with Coy, as he turns to converse.

"We lost two men, idiots stood too close to the blast I guess," Skill says.

As they talk I watch the inferno rage. Stepping out of the car and looking on in horror. Coy glances at me but returns to talking with the two. As I'm staring I notice a movement in the back, it's her, Mikari. She's running from the house covered in ash and smoke. She looks at me as she runs and freezes, nobody seems to see her.

We make eye contact as she stares wide eyed like a deer in headlights. I look around and give her a quick nod, silently telling her to run. She nods and looks around nervously before sprinting off into the street.

"Alright, jobs done. You can find your way back, Kyne," Coy says from the driver's seat. I whip around to protest but he peels off.

I throw my hands up in annoyance and notice the others climb into the cars and drive off as well. I stand awkwardly for a moment and look off to the distance. I turn farther to the West and see the top of the old ferris wheel at the abandoned carnival. I sigh and start making my way in the direction of the carnival.

After walking for around fifteen minutes I arrive at the front gate, its been bolted shut and covered with caution tape. I stare up at the gate and over the ledge. It's impossible to get over without another person. Maybe I need Mr. Giles for this.

"Hey!" I hear someone yell behind me.

I turn to see Mikari glaring at me. She seems pissed, and rightfully so, she probably thinks I had something to do with the fact her house just burnt down. I stand there awkwardly and shift on my feet.

"It's uh...a long story. Don't bother asking me," I say and look away sheepishly.

She looks as if she's determining whether or not she wants to rip me apart or not. After a long pause she takes a deep inhale and sighs.

"It's fine...well it's not fine...but I can tell you weren't really involved in it," She says.

I nod and she looks at the gate and over at the old rides and abandoned game booths, she smiles reminiscently. I catch the look but decide it's better not to ask anything. I try to tug on the gate again and swear to myself.

"Do you want to get in or something? What are you doing?" She asks.

"Yeah, I just...really want to explore it," I lie and she looks at the ledge and nods.

"I know what you mean. Hey get on your hands and knees," She says.

"Excuse me?" I ask and stare at her in shock.

"Not like that, I'll hop on the ledge and help you up," She laughs.

Although the idea of her tagging along with me when I recover the millions of dollars isn't a pleasant one, I don't have a lot of options here. I sigh and nod, getting on my hands and knees as she climbs on top of me and hops onto the ledge. She turns around and reaches her hand out, I hop up and grab it as she pulls me up. We land on the other side of the gate and she takes her notepad out, writing in it as she looks around in awe.

"Do you mind if we split up to explore?" I ask her, she looks over at me and nods.

I walk off, unsure what I'm looking for exactly. I first decide to go to the old rollercoasters, the pipes hanging off the support and creaking in the wind. I look around for any notes and sigh after finding nothing. I walk back towards the front gate, into another section when something catches my eye. The front gate is now wide open. I look around for Mikari, but she's nowhere to be found.

"Mikari?" I call out looking around.

I hold my head, something buzzes around inside it. As if I had just been struck in the back of the head with a heavy object. I look up towards the sky and notice the sun has gone down drastically. Has it been that long, and I just didn't notice? I take one glance around and see Mikari's notepad laying on the ground.

I pick up the notepad, written on it is one word; "Funhouse." I shudder in fear and glance up towards the funhouse, it's at the center of the carnival grounds. I take a deep breath and step up to it. It's been half destroyed and the interior is bare bones, all the life and joy ripped out of it. I step in and freeze in place. The entire room smells of the perfume, Anshi's perfume. It's sudden and jarring.

At the very end of the room I see a pedestal holding a single letter, I ease into the room cautiously, waiting for the decomposed ghoul of Anshi to strike at any time. I stop in front of the letter, expecting to see a written clue from the Patron but what my eyes fall upon shock me.

Dearest Sister,

I met a boy recently! Just as you told me I would, he sees the world much like we do. I think you'd like him. He invited me over for Christmas, he said nobody should be alone on Christmas. It made me think of you, where you are, what you're doing, and most of all, if you will return to me. It's been hard without you here. I'm reminded of what I lost. His name is Kyne, I met his daughter as well, Nis. She reminds me of myself when we were younger. I miss you, please come back home to me soon. I will invite him over tonight, and keep him with me to show you when you get here. Please sister, I don't have long. I'm dying. I fear I'm not long for this world. I want to see you one more time before I go.
Your loving sister,
Anshi.

I set the letter down and look up at a piece of cloth covering a tall object. I reach out carefully and grasp the cloth, with a sudden motion I yank it down and fall back in pure fear, screaming out. It's Anshi. Her eyes digging right into my soul and leaving me breathless. It takes me a moment to calm down and realize, it's not a phantom or ghoul, it's a corpse, her corpse.

"She's beautiful, even in death isn't she?" Mikari calls from behind me.

I tear my gaze to Mikari, she's holding a dufflebag, the one hidden here now, no doubt. She drops it on the floor and walks over to me smiling.

"It took me a while to find you, Kyne. You're buried so deeply in secrecy. That's okay, I love a challenge. You took something from me, my sister, Anshi. She loved you and wanted you and look what became of her. I doubt you killed her, that's not what I care about," Mikari suddenly pounces on me, before I have a chance to react she's on top of me.

"She attacked me!" I scream out, trying to push her off me, but her grip remains ironclad.

"Attacked you? Oh, no...she just wanted to show you her love, Kyne," She smirks and leans closer to my face, her hot breath washing over my face.

"You're insane, you both are insane, please just leave me alone," I whimper.

She takes great pleasure in that statement, she looks up at the corpse of Anshi, watching over us. She leans towards my neck and presses her tongue against my neck, dragging it up and behind my ear in a long lick before whispering in my ear.

"It's okay, relax...it won't hurt a bit," She pulls back and glares down at me, before starting to take her clothes off.

My mind wanders, desperately needing to escape the situation. As my mind races, my mind flashes back to the feeling I had previously. The aching headache, the loss of time, and without warning memories come rushing back.

I sit in a room with my mother and father, some sort of doctor sits at a desk across from them. He slides over a folder as my parents look it over, from the looks of the time I must've been only eight or nine.

"Your son possesses a unique quality, one I haven't personally encountered. It seems whenever something happens to him, something he deems traumatic or has a heavy psychological impact on him, his mind will effectively erase it. Like it never even happened," The doctor explains.

"So, in other words he won't have any bad memories?" My mother asks.

"Not necessarily, it won't always work and it's dangerous. His mind is like a dam, the more he keeps suppressed, the more cracks will appear in his mind, until it bursts and he remembers it all," The doctor responds.

The memory fissles out, as another takes its place. A forest, the same forest Kilsea and I played in. This time Kilsea stands in front of me, her hand is holding something sharp. The memory becomes more pronounced until it clears. She's standing over a body, holding a large knife and covered in blood.

"Kyne, don't just stand there! Isn't this great? Come help me move this!" She grins and giggles.

The memory fades, the landscape changes again. This time I'm standing under a large red barn, it's bright and almost appears to be glowing in the sunlight. A figure is holding my hand but saying nothing, I can't make them out, only the shape. I hear a yell behind me and turn around.

"For Mother Mary!" A man yells, a strange vest strapped to him.

Before either myself or the figure can react the vest beeps and the man explodes, showering us with a mist of blood and organs. The warmth of the blood spreads throughout my entire body. The memory fades away and another memory quickly takes its place, a stone room. Across the walls sit over a dozen cages, people with collars and chains sit in the cages, crying out for help and release. I look up at the same figure holding my hand. Their head turns down to me and pats my head. Although the words are muffled and distorted I can tell what they're saying.

"It's not slavery, it's a change in occupation," The figure says.

The memory fades and is replaced again. This one is very familiar, one that happened recently. I see a laundry bin, and I walk up to it, the smell of musky peppermint fills my senses. No, there isn't any peppermint, there never was. It was just something my mind created to fill up the gaps. I remember, the bodies, the maggots, the monstrosity of this Organization. I've seen enough, I remember it all.

My senses return to me, I'm lying on the floor, naked. The duffel bag is set by my feet and my lower section twitches in pain. I stare at the ceiling, motionless. At this point, I'm not even sure I want to get back up, not when I know someone like that is out there, something like Mikari.