I found myself in my car the next day with sunlight streaming through the windows and my mask lying on the passenger's seat. I tried to check the time on my phone to find the battery was dead and tossed it aside. My muscles felt stiff as I moved and the memories of the day before were foggy after the hotel... and what I could remember I didn't want to believe. Just thinking about what I did made me feel sick.

"Are they even alive? ...Where was Dillan? Or Tim- did I kill him too or... did that other proxy? Shit, I was going to meet Zac... where the hell am I?" I looked around to see I was parked in a gravel parking lot in front of a circle of trees with a simple, well-maintained path leading to a cemetery just behind the thin tree line. "Why here? This has to be a setup... I should leave."

Despite that logical thought I still got out of the car and began walking on the path, the border of pines quickly giving way to a clearing filled with gravestones. Some still had colorful flowers left on them while others looked like they'd been neglected for years. I scanned the names before locating three familiar names side by side near the back. They weren't too fancy, just plain headstones with names and dates... but they were all I had left of my parents and sister. My mother's stone still had a broken flower holder from when my aunt would come and leave flowers, though given its cracked state I doubted she'd been around for years, while my father's stone was completely barren and lacked any decor or hint of someone missing him.

"I never even came to see them... how many years have they been gone now?" I turned to face the oldest headstone of the three and knelt down in front of it to stare at the weathered name. "Last time I saw Faith... she was... where? The house packing? The forest in the backyard? ... Why do I remember her screaming my name? I got in so much trouble for running away to see her that night after the funeral... don't even know how I managed to get here from home."

I reached out and traced a crack in the headstone, guilt choking me despite her disappearance- to my knowledge- not being my fault. "They never even found a body. She could still be alive somewhere hypothetically but... she isn't. I know she died the day she went missing."

I continued to stare at her name as I thought back to that day we'd been moving out. It wasn't anything special, just my parents moving to their own separate places and us helping.

"Do you have everything you're bringing to your mom's ready to go? She's about to leave." I looked up as my father stepped through the front door.

"Yeah."

"Faith?" He glanced over at my little sister as she came down the hall dragging a box that was almost taller than her. He sighed. "Here, I'll take that, go find something easier to carry."

"Okay." Faith smiled up at him and watched him leave with the box before running back to her bedroom.

I stayed put and stared after her for a moment before following after her and stopping outside her doorway. Faith dropped one of her stuffed animals into a new box and looked up at me, her bright innocent gaze darkening upon seeing me.

"They hate each other." She sat down on the bare mattress and pouted. "I want to stay here! I like it here. I won't see my friend if we go."

"What friend?" I scowled and leaned against the doorframe. "We live in the middle of nowhere."

"You met him before, remember?" A giggle escaped her. "He's going to say bye later."

I couldn't think of anyone she could've been talking about. She wasn't in kindergarten yet so there wasn't anyone she'd know from school. "Uh huh."

"Hmfph..." She stood up as I turned away to finish getting boxes from my room. "You know, I don't think he likes you anyway!"

"Fine by me." I shrugged and didn't look back at her; the last thing I needed was to get in trouble because of her.

The next thing I knew I was carrying out the last box as the sun was setting. Police lights flashed while policemen and their dogs scouted the area. My arms hurt from all the lifting I'd been doing and the flashing lights started giving me a headache. I sat the box down and walked over to my parents as they bickered over something.

"Mom?" I stopped a few feet away, hoping they'd notice me and stop fighting.

She turned her head, her tone stressed. "What is it?"

"What's... what's going on? Why are there cops?" I couldn't help but notice the suspicious glare my father was giving me as I asked.

"Faith went missing- probably ran off into the woods." He shook his head and stared into the silhouetted trees. "I told you two to stay out of there. Why did you let her go in when it was getting dark? You know she likes playing there. You should've known-"

"Don't blame her." My mom cut him off sharply. "Faith doesn't want to leave. I'm sure she's hiding somewhere thinking we'll change our minds."

They went back to fighting again. I backed away and looked off into the trees where the cops were searching. I swore I saw something tall standing inside them and got a nauseating feeling in my stomach. They'd never find her.

I was shaking. The memory of the last day I'd seen her continued to replay in my mind. "That whole chunk of afternoon was just... gone. Was it that uneventful? No... no... I saw that thing. I didn't know- I didn't remember what it was back then... It did something and I did nothing to stop it!"

Something dropped into the grass behind me and I tensed with a sharp intake of breath before turning around. Toby stood behind me, one of his hatchets leaning against a gravestone while his second was held loosely in his grasp. I cautiously got up and took a few steps back, alarmed I hadn't heard him approaching.

"I knew it... I should've been more careful. He could've killed me." I stared at him, ready to run for the car.

Toby pulled down his half-mask and pushed his orange goggles into his messy hair, revealing a greyish complexion and the ugly scar on his face that showed off some of his teeth and gums. He looked past me to the grave behind me and cocked his head to the side. "Y-you lost you sis-sister?"

"What...?" My voice came out sounding more like a whisper as I tried to avoid stammering after the unexpected question, which I didn't trust in the slightest as just some innocent thing coming from him.

A disapproving frown appeared on his face as he twirled the handle of his hatchet in his hand. His gaze never left the stones, as if trying to think of something he couldn't remember. A sneer distorted his scarred mouth even more. "She probably des-deserved it."

I glared and took another step back. "What do you want!? If you're going to kill me just get on with it."

"I-if you're he-here to kill m-me..." Toby mocked briefly and looked at me, his head still tilted to the side as he took a menacing step closer. "Sh-shut the fuck u-up. I'd lo-love to ki-ill you... but he doesn't w-ant you dead yet."

"Then why are you here? Why did you bring me here?" I brushed against one of the gravestones as I backed away again.

"Didn't it f-feel good? His presence? N-nothing would matter... Your f-friends are d-dead anyway." He grabbed his second hatchet from where he'd rested it and once more matched my step. "Y-your friend likes it. M-much better than remembering t-his right?"

"I will not become some mindless puppet."

"You c-can't stop i-it." A cruel smile spread across his lips at the threat. "B-but keep trying... I-I'd love to see h-how many more t-times you're sp-spared before I c-can kill y-you. Gives me time t-to think about how I'll d-do it."

"You're insane." The moment the retort slipped out I regretted it and flinched as anger warped Toby's face; it would've looked less threatening if his mask was on.

He stalked closer with his hatchets tightly held in his grasp. "What t-he f-fuck did y-you just s-say?"

I bolted for the car, fumbling for my keys as I ran while trying to avoid running into the headstones. "I just had to be an idiot and say that. ...Would be ironic to die here but really?! Why... why did I say that out loud?"

My car beeped to signal it was unlocked but just before I could reach it I felt my jacket tighten around my throat as Toby grabbed it and yanked me backwards. I fell onto the hard gravel and winced, staring up at the proxy to see that merciless, scowl on his face. He was enjoying this. One of the hatchet blades grazed over my throat, barely pricking the skin so a bead of blood dripped down my neck.

"Now... wh-hat was that you s-said, bitch?" He left the blade resting there and I could feel my pulse hammering just beneath the sharp metal.

I couldn't speak. I couldn't move in fear the edge would bite deeper into my throat. Toby gave a dark laugh before freezing and looking back towards the cemetery. He sighed and retreated back towards the graves. "N-nice ch-at... fun... but I h-ave to go... Are y-you ready t-to come h-home?"

I wiped the blood off my neck and coughed a few times before rolling slowly back to my feet. "Never should've gotten out of the car..."

"Didn't th-ink s-so." Toby shrugged and turned his back to me as he walked away.