I found myself staring down at my sister as she lay helpless on the ground, her wrists and legs bound with cheap rope. She was crying, struggling, begging me to let her go. Slowly, her tears became a light pink and darkened into a bloody crimson as she continued to cry. Around me, I could hear others crying out to me in the darkness. I stood there, feeling numb to the nightmare, before stepping over Faith and walking down the path of dark pines to find an exit.

"This is why Dad didn't love you!" My sister's wail made me pause. "You let me die! I was your sister, why didn't you keep me safe? Why did you let it take me!?"

"You aren't real." I growled back.

"...All you did was ignore me... If you hadn't maybe I wouldn't have disobeyed and gone into the woods... Maybe I wouldn't have seen the Tall Man."

I looked back at her before recoiling in horror. Her small form was ripped open now and she just stood there- no, she hung there from dark tree limbs like a puppet or ragdoll. Despite the hole in her body, no organs hung out... they'd been removed.

"It hurt..." She whimpered, her head slumping down to stare at the gaping hole in her flesh. "Why... Why did you do this to me? You just watched it kill me... You're a m-monster."

Blood began dripping from her mouth and I turned away again. Ethan blocked my path, his head cocked slightly to the side in his typical fashion. He smiled at me, revealing unnaturally sharp teeth stained with blood.

"Did you forget about me? You did... I tried to help you... and you just left my memory to rot." He took a threatening step closer.

"I told you to stop helping me... I tried... I tried to keep it from killing you." I felt the line between nightmare and reality blur the closer he got. "I just want it to stop..."

"It won't. It started with your grandfather, then your father... and now you." For a moment his form shifted to reflect that of a taller, demonic, figure. "I went looking for a solution... I didn't die because it killed me. I died because I tried to help you and the only way out was to put a bullet in my skull!"

His sudden shout made me flinch back; I'd never heard him raise his voice in anger before.

"W-what?" I focused on the side of his head, finally noticing the darker stain to his light brown hair. "N-no... No you wouldn't! Ethan would never do that!"

"If it weren't for you I'd still be alive. My girlfriend would still be alive. So many other people would still be alive if you weren't around." Hearing those accusations from my cousin's mouth cut into me like a knife.

"I... I know..." Behind me leaves crunched. I didn't dare turn around, as I knew I'd likely see the zombified looking corpses of my friends waiting for me. "But they wouldn't know... They wouldn't know I was the reason they died!"

"I got mixed up in your mess just like they did whether they knew it or not... and in the end I lost everything- I ripped out Emma's throat because of it."

That couldn't be true. It was too specific- too terrible and out of character for him. His eyes were burning a familiar yellow. It was that demon... of course. I shoved him away, angered after all the torment he was cramming into my nightmares.

"That isn't what happened!"

"And you would know?" He sneered. "Maybe if you actually tried to find answers you'd know."

I attacked him, realizing how easily he'd allowed me to send him back into a tree. "You're lying."

He gave a deep laugh, as if amused by my reactions. "Do I have any reason to lie to you, Darling?"

Hands grabbed me from behind before I could react and I felt them pull me to the ground. Despite my struggles, I felt myself being dragged back across the dirt... and then dropped as the ground disappeared beneath me. Pain shot through me as I hit the bottom, yet I found I couldn't wake up. Looking up from the hole I'd been dumped into, I could see Mallory, Landon, and Dillan staring back down at me. Their bloodied and burned forms smiled cruelly down at me before they backed away and let Zac take their place.

"You'll never escape us. We'll always be here, in your mind, as a reminder of how you'll always ruin lives until your last breath." He laughed and kicked dirt onto me with his foot. "You know, I think people would be better off if this was a 'the sooner the better' situation."

Dirt continued to rain down on me, drowning me in loose earth. I could feel myself suffocating as the pain from the fall rendered me paralyzed.

I jerked awake, breathing heavily before breaking into a coughing fit. My entire body hurt after the beating I'd taken and I gave a whine of pain as I moved. I blurrily saw Tim hurry over and felt him gently push my shoulders back down.

"Careful, you took some hard hits- wouldn't be surprised if you had a concussion."

"I... I need to go home..." I weakly grabbed his wrist and tried to pull it off so I could sit up. Seconds later I was back where I'd started, more pain jolting through me.

"You are home. We're at your apartment- you've been unconscious for nearly a day... I had to hold you down several times because you kept tossing around in your sleep."

"No, no... where I grew up." I tried to think straight, the migraine and tilting room weren't helping. "I- we- can find answers there."

"You're not well."

"He doesn't believe me." Frustration went through me. "It's bruises, I'm not dying. We need... to find answers."

"Not until you're better. The last thing we need is to have something happen that could've been prevented." He walked over to the door and stopped. "Why do you think there's something there anyway?"

"There has to be." I couldn't tell him what we might find; he would never agree to go then. "...It's the only chance of a lead we'll get... The only chance I can stop people close to me from dying."

"Better than sitting around I guess." He looked over at me. "We can go in a few days, once we're both recovered from everything that's happened in the last week."

"It's only been a week...?" I let my head fall back on the pillow. "Of course it has..."

***

It was dark when I woke up again. The static blared through my skull like an alarm going off. I tried to ignore its call... only to feel Slenderman's influence take hold. Like a mere puppet for his bidding, I got to my feet and began getting ready. I slid the mask over my face before looking down the hall. Tim was out there... unaware. Unprepared to fight. However, I turned my back to the hall and made my way over to the window, escaping through it to find a more difficult target.

"The bigger threat first... The other source has my trust, he won't run off anytime soon." My rhythmic pace broke as the pain momentarily breached the numbing control held over me. I couldn't even try breaking free before Slenderman's influence ensnared my thoughts once more.

I ran through the shadowy streets for a while before finally slowing to a stop in front of a house with a for sale sign up. Movement came from the other side of one of the windows and I crouched down behind the fence bordering the yard. A few minutes went by before Hoodie crept out. My skull was pounding again from the excessive movements and I gritted my teeth at the urge to attack the man.

My hesitation only lasted a few seconds before I was forced to my feet and charged my target. The man froze, taken by surprise momentarily, before dodging away. I spun to face him once more, the motion fluid and precise compared to times when I'd fought for control.

"I could get used to this... No, wait... I shouldn't be here!" The break in his control gave Hoodie an opening and I fell back feeling sick from the punch to the gut.

I stopped resisting and let my mind slip back under control. The pain immediately lessened once more. My next strike landed before I could even process I'd moved. Hoodie's frowning mask stared up at me as I planted more weight down on his throat. I could feel him shifting under me while one gloved hand grabbed my wrist in an attempt to pull me off. Hard metal pressed against my chest as he stopped fighting. Alarm went through me and I scrambled to the side, flinching as a gunshot rang out.

The ringing in my ears from the sound replaced the static. My head reeled as the headache hit, unhindered by Slenderman's influence. I slumped to the ground, already feeling pieces of memory deteriorating. Next to me I could hear Hoodie getting to his feet... I doubted his next shot would miss.

"How did I get here?" I glanced up at Hoodie, wary of the gun he still held at his side. "Why isn't he finishing me off? ...Surely he knows I wasn't hit."

He backed away, running off as his head snapped to something behind me. Dread filled me as I saw a tall shadow fall over me. I turned my head to look behind at the figure; The Operator loomed over me. I shoved myself to my feet... and then crumbled back to the ground.

I tried to stand once again, a violent, distorted message screaming in my mind. "Kill it."