"You sure you're up for this?" Tim glanced my way. "You haven't had much time to recover with all the traveling."

"I'll be fine." I kept staring out the passenger window. "Besides, we need answers- this is still our only lead."

"Just stay close to me."

I turned to look over at him. "Don't worry, if anything happens you'll totally just be a human shield... Honestly Tim, I'm not going to do anything stupid. If I was, I would've started out by stealing your keys and leaving you stranded at one of the hotels."

A familiar country road caught my attention and I leaned forward to read the sign. "Turn here, we're almost there."

Tim followed my instructions while taking a drag of his cigarette before speaking once again. "Didn't you say you moved? What makes you think this place will have anything left?"

"This is where everything started. My first time seeing that thing, my sister's disappearance, and things were just... not the best between my parents because of my father's obsession with it." I continued scanning along the road, anxious to find the house. "Trust me, I know there has to be something."

Tim seemed to contemplate it as he continued smoking. I watched as fields and patches of trees passed by outside before sitting up when a run down house came into view. "There."

Rocks crunched under the car tires as we pulled into the gravel drive and I got out immediately after the car was turned off. Most of the driveway was overgrown and the lawn was up to my waist after years of neglect. I heard Tim walk over to join me and looked over at him in time to watch as he put the cigarette out.

"Doesn't look like anyone's lived here for a while."

I nodded in agreement and began leading the way closer to the dilapidated building. "Doubt anyone's lived here since we moved out by my guess- everything looks like I remember, if that's anything to go by."

The porch creaked as we walked across it to the door. We hadn't considered how to get in if it was locked but given the condition of the house it wouldn't be too difficult to break it down if necessary. I paused before opening the door and looked at the splintered wood around the handle. The marks were clean and fresh, not marred by weather like the rest around it.

I moved to the side to let Tim see it. "Looks like someone was here recently."

"Stay behind me." He shifted in front of me and opened the door as little as possible to prevent the rusted hinges from squeaking and alerting anyone potentially inside.

I followed after him into the dark house and carefully shut the door behind me to avoid it slamming shut. A bad feeling was settling in my stomach as I looked around my old home. "You know... I know the layout better. I should lead the way."

"And I'm the one with a weapon if someone attacks us." He pulled out his folding knife and continued slowly moving forward. "Where are we checking first?"

"The bedrooms, I guess." The floorboards creaked loudly in the near empty house and I winced at their loud sound. If the demon or anyone else was here they'd probably heard that. "...After that... there's the basement."

"You don't sound happy about that." Tim barely glanced back at me as he headed down the hall.

"We basically live in a horror movie. Basements are practically death traps." I whispered harshly.

I looked at each closed door uneasily. If someone was still in the house they were surely hiding behind one of them... However, I didn't dare open any of them in fear of being jumped and merely continued on past while listening closely for any additional noises. When we got to the end of the hall, I slipped by Tim and stepped into the bedroom. The room was like the rest of the house, barren and mostly empty with only larger furniture left over from when we'd moved out. The carpet was covered in water stains from leaks in the roof and everything had faded from the light that streamed through the window. I walked over to the grimy glass and stared out at the forest in the backyard for a moment before turning back to Tim.

"I didn't leave anything in here, nothing useful to us at least." Spiderwebs caught my eye near the corners of the window and I stepped away in disgust. "Heh, unless you want a rotting dresser or gross mattress."

Despite my words, I still checked the dresser drawers as I made my way back over to him. For a split second my attention was drawn to the closet door that was half open; it was too dark to see in but I doubted anything would be in there and looked away.

"Tim probably already checked there while I wasn't paying attention anyway."

"Nothing?" He stopped his slow wandering and trailed after me as I went to the door.

"No. Come on, let's check the next room."

My sister's door was closed and for a moment I considered ignoring it and moving on to my parents' room... but my hand was already turning the tarnished knob and I pressed the door open. A loud screech rose from the hinges, making me cringe as I walked into the last place I recalled seeing Faith before her disappearance. Just opening the door made me feel like I was intruding on something sacred, and in a way I probably was. Dust was visible on everything and all her belongings were unpacked and left exactly as it had been before we moved out... It was odd seeing the room memorialized after so long.

"As if she still lived here..." My shoulders fell as I slowly continued deeper into the room. "This hasn't been changed at all... They put it back exactly as Faith left it... I didn't know they came back to do that."

"They just lost one of their children, this was how they coped."

"They were hoping she'd be found alive." I coughed and and walked over to the nightstand where a fluffy pink rabbit stuffed animal leaned between the lamp and an old, damaged photo. "She was only four, happy, they didn't understand why she'd run away or how someone could've taken her without someone noticing... I tried to tell my father when I pieced together what took her but... all he did was blame me- tell me to stay quiet."

I moved to look at the pictures taped to the wall, careful to avoid stepping on the ones that had fallen to the floor. Water damage and time had ruined most of them, making most just blurs of colors and shapes, but some still contained childish drawings. Most were the typical badly done animals, stick figures of the family, and... a tall figure always done in black crayon. I stared at one containing us and our parents with the tall figure standing next to my sister- or I assumed it was meant to be my sister, as it was the shortest of the stick figures. She was smiling up at him, holding one of his hands while the rest of the figures stared blankly ahead, as if unaware of that monster.

"Mom would've thought it was her imaginary friend when she drew this... Was this close to when she was taken? It had to be, otherwise Dad would've freaked out about it and said it was my fault..." I backed away feeling sick and joined Tim on the other side of the room as he stared at old photographs on the dresser.

"My father loved his cameras." I stared at the pictures. Each one had Faith beaming at the camera or laughing as she played in the backyard. "...It was an obsession of his. When my mom found out he'd installed security cameras in the house... it was pretty much the beginning of the end for them."

"Security cameras?"

"Yeah, probably in the basement- we weren't allowed down there." I coughed again and stared dejectedly around the room again. "They loved her... and I ruined it... my father ruined it."

"How are you holding up?" Tim easily picked up on my mood. "We can leave if you need."

I shook my head. "It's nothing... Let's just get the flashlights and head to the basement."

A creak echoed through the house before either of us moved and we both turned to stare at the door in anticipation. The noise continued for a few more seconds before stopping. I pressed close to Tim as we made our way to the door.

"I don't think that was wind." I felt another cough rising in my throat. "We should go, now."

Tim glanced out into the hallway before motioning for me to follow him. However, a coughing fit slowed him down and the appearance of Slenderman blocking our way to the exit only worsened the situation. I could feel the scratching sensation rising in my throat again as I backed away, the feeling worsening the longer I stared at the faceless creature. My attempts to hold back my own coughing ended up with me on the floor wheezing for breath.

Two more figures appeared; the Chaser burst from the hall closet ready to attack while Toby walked out from my bedroom behind us. It horrified me that he'd been so close, that they could've killed us so easily at any point in time.

"This was all a trap! I knew the demon was lying... This was pointless... We're going to die because of my stupid mistake." I got to my feet, still feeling out of breath. "I need to make sure Tim gets out... this was my mistake... I'll pay the price."

I glanced over at Tim to find him struggling against the Chaser, though he luckily had managed to get his knife back out. Toby cut me off before I could do anything to help however, and I flinched as one of his hatchets was driven into the wall less than an inch from my face. He swung the second one and I took a step back in retreat, feeling the breeze the blade created. I turned away from the wall, not wanting to be trapped against it, and once again barely dodged another attack from him.

"Is this on purpose? Each one is only missing by inches!" A cough broke my pattern of retreat and I felt one of the blades nick my arm.

A ringing built up in my head as the whitenoise grew louder, closer... Toby was driving me closer to Slenderman. A garbled scream distracted me from the realization and I momentarily focused behind Toby, relieved to see Tim had managed to overpower the Chaser and deal a seemingly fatal blow across her throat. My hope that we could get out of this was short lived when Toby kicked me back and sent me crashing to the ground. I began coughing again, tasting blood as I watched him closing in on me.

Tim came to my rescue and managed to stab Toby in the shoulder from behind before being elbowed off. Alarm went through me when I saw blood on Tim's side from his previous fight- I couldn't tell if it was his own or not. Toby turned away from me and yanked the knife out without batting an eye.

"No!" I tried to get to my feet and distract him long enough for Tim to get back up only to feel something wrap around my leg and trip me up.

The pain in my skull grew worse as my head slammed against the floor and created dots in my vision. A burning sensation rose up in my veins as another tendril wrapped around my wrist and began dragging me back- the pain quickly increasing the longer the contact with my skin continued. I began withering on the floor in agony, holding back the cry of pain until I finally felt the grip on me release completely. Black blood was smeared on my wrist where the tentacle had been.

I couldn't pay attention to the oddity for long. A stronger coughing fit hit me, blood staining the floor beneath me. There was the distant awareness that Tim was shouting something but the damned static drowned out any sense of the words. More blood pooled on the floor as I convulsed.

There were several thuds before I felt someone pick me up and start dragging me back. Toby's cruel voice reached my ears through the unfocused chaos in my mind. "Y-your turn."

Before I could even comprehend what he could be talking about, I felt myself being flung down a rotting staircase. The weak boards broke underneath me from the force. I barely gave an audible whine of pain from the impact before hitting the hard concrete floor below. My eyes rolled back in their sockets from the pain... Then everything disappeared.