A girl is screaming horrifically. Andrew pushes himself behind the wall, eyes wide and hands shaking as he watches what happens before him.

Casey — the homeless girl — is being held down on the ground, chains tightly wrapped around her legs, weighed down by several bricks. "Get off of me! No! No!" Three BEKs move around her sides, two girls pushing down on Casey's chest to immobilize her. The boy has pink gloves curled up on his arms and pulls a bucket up beside her head, sticking his hands inside.

Andrew nearly retches when he realizes it's blood.

"No. What are you doing? What are you doing?!" Casey screams, but her voice is muffled when the boy takes his crimson-stained hands out and drops the thick globs of blood all over her face. Casey is panicking, chest heaving as she tries desperately to escape, but the chains aren't allowing her to go anywhere. "What is that?!" she screams, sobbing hysterically. "No! I can't breathe! No!"

Andrew leans back and forces the tears out of his eyes, heart beating rapidly against his ribcage. He cringes when he hears, "Why are you doing this?!" but continues to watch, completely lost. What could he do, anyway? Wouldn't he end up just like Casey?

The three children finally cease and lean back, standing up. One of the girls lifts the bucket and they walk into the kitchen, swathed by shadows. Casey jerks up, clawing the blood from her face, hair, and clothes. "Get off me! Get off me!"

"Casey! Casey!" Andrew whisper-yells, rushing forward and ducking down so the BEKs don't see or hear him.

"Get off! Get off me!" she cries.

"Casey!" Andrew tries again, this time more desperate. "Casey!"

She starts to breathe harshly, wiping the blood from her eyes so she can see.

"It smells," Andrew whispers, horrified.

Casey looks around and begins to sob. Suddenly, her eyes go wide, like she's seen something that isn't really there, and she desperately pulls on the chains. "No! It's gonna kill me!"

Andrew begins to cry as he backs away. "I'm so sorry," he says.

"It's gonna kill me! It's gonna kill me! Please!" she begs, but Casey isn't looking at him. Her eyes snap to the kitchen and she backs up against the wall, legs tucked to her chest and hands splayed to her side.

One of the BEKs pushes a man in a wheelchair inside. His dark hair is pushed back and shows his face, which is dark and pale and wrinkled. His shirt is white and his pants are pale blue, and Andrew wonders who this is. The man has blood on his arms and he looks absolutely terrifying, even if he can't walk(?).

The girl circles the wheelchair and wipes blood off of the man's lip. He's completely unmoving, dark gaze focused on Casey. And suddenly it clicks in Andrew's and he thinks back to their Portland journey, remembers the video of the cop's friend. Holy shit, Andrew realizes. Holy shit. This is Tom Waters's friend — the one that was never the same again! The one from the picture!

And Jesus Christ, now Andrew can see it. He doesn't even look like a functioning human being, just a brain hidden behind a curtain of trauma. But....why are the BEKs taking care of him?

"He's all yours, Mother," the BEK says, exiting the room through the kitchen.

Andrew's blood goes cold when he remembers what the BEKs said to Sunshine.

He's their Mother.

Casey shakes her head into her folded legs, crying. "I don't know why she said that," she sobs. "I'm not yours. There's— nothing about me that's yours."

Andrew looks between Mother and Casey. He's not talking. How can she hear him? Is it all in her head? "Casey, I'm sorry," he whispers, and it genuinely pains him to have to see her go through this. But he's a coward. He can't face this man or the BEKs. I'm so, so sorry.

"No, please," Casey sobs.

Mother stares at her, still and silent.

"What is this stuff?" she whispers shakily. "That your kids put on me, what is it? Huh?" There's a pause before Casey's hands curl and she looks up at him, eyes glinting. "What kind of twisted parent are you?" She pushes her head back into her legs. "What's wrong with their eyes?"

She sobs. The man in the wheelchair is still silent.

"What's wrong with their eyes...." Casey repeats quietly, more to herself than anyone.

The same black-eyed girl walks in, napkin in hand. She stares at Casey before turning toward Mother, wiping his lip once more. She says nothing and leaves the room.

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Sunshine frowns as she moves closer to the porch.

"Now, I know," Nolan says, "that you and I have— a repartee, right?— that happens, but, we gotta be a team here, okay? This is gonna work. All right?"

"Okay," Sunshine says in exasperation. "Can you be quiet?" Thankfully, he shuts up. The lawn is dampened by shadows and Sunshine stumbles slightly, trying to find her footing. "Okay, one door," she says as they make their way on the porch.

Nolan asks something unintelligible.

Sunshine amuses him. "Okay."

He starts to noisily fumble with the door.

"Shh!" Nolan makes the noise again. "What are you doing?!" she whisper-yells. "Open it!"

"It doesn't have a knob!" Nolan defends.

"It doesn't have a knob?" Sunshine asks. "What are you talking about? Don't be dumb, just open the door!"

"Be my guest," Nolan grunts.

Sunshine shoves herself forward and pushes her hand against the door frame. Suddenly she's thrown back into a whirlwind of memories, and she thinks about that house in the middle of nowhere, where she'd been chased by Creepy Guy. She has to pause for a moment and regain her breath, but Nolan doesn't notice anyway.

It's then she realizes what Nolan was saying when the door doesn't move. "It doesn't have a knob."

"Who the hell builds a house without a door knob?" Nolan asks, almost disgusted.

Sunshine shakes her head. "Oh, I don't wanna think about it," she quickly says. "Just— let's find another door. I think there's one over there." She motions toward the side of the house where a few more lights are.

The two teenagers move in and Sunshine glances at the boards pushed up against the wrap-around wooden porch.

"Sunshine," Nolan says.

"It has a doorknob." She ignores him.

"Sunshine, are you sure you want to do this?"

She looks at him. "Yeah, I wanna do this."

"This.... I mean.." The light splays across Nolan's face and he smiles nervously, a thin strand of hair hanging against his forehead. "You know—" He looks toward the door then back at Sunshine. "I— I understand you're attached to this film, right? And you want to see an ending to it, I understand, I do too, but—" Nolan breathes shakily. "You know what's gonna happen? We're gonna get in there and— something's gonna happen to us, and you're gonna drop the camera and— and it's gonna have, like, the perfect angle—" He squints his eyes as if he's imagining what he's saying, "—to see me getting chopped up into little pieces to be eaten, and, you know what, maybe the cameras will roll for a while, but, but the narrative of the film is gonna be done, and..."

Sunshine blinks at him. "Are you done? Can you shut. up?"

He doesn't say anything.

"Jeez, we'll be fine, okay?" She shrugs him off and walks toward the side door of the house. Nolan follows behind her, practically breathing down her neck. How fun. "Okay, well this one's already open, better yet it has a doorknob."

They walk into the house and they look around the darkness, trying to figure out where to go first.
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Andrew watches as the man in the wheelchair is silent. "Okay, he's been— he's been sittin' there for a little bit," he whispers shakily to the camera. Sunshine will probably want some narrative to this, right? For her film? "Every once in a while...a creepy little kid will walk in—" Andrew breathes heavily, "—clean up his chin—" He pans the camera to the homeless girl. "Casey's just crying. I think I can make it, if I ran past him."

He's observed his surroundings a bit and found himself in a tight closet. His only way of escape is through the kitchen, and unfortunately that means running past Mother and the BEKs.

"Please, please," Casey sobs. "Please, let me go."

"She— she—" Andrew catches his heaving breath. "She keeps doing that."

Mother makes the first movement Andrew has seen and slowly leans forward, taking great care with his body.

"Ah, shit, he's moving," Andrew whispers.

Mother stands up to his full height, neck bent down awkwardly, as if he isn't even human. He staggers up to Casey and towers over her, shadow falling over her body.

Mother suddenly snaps to his knees and wraps his large hands around Casey's throat. Andrew jumps. Casey cries and raggedly breaths in his grip. The man rubs his fingers down his arm and down her face, pushing her head up as he pries open her jaw. Casey sobs when he tries to push his hand in her mouth, but she manages to slip away.

Mother turns and uses more force. Andrew looks away for a moment, contemplating his escape, and when he returns his gaze to them, Mother's nearly elbow-deep in Casey's throat. Andrew sobs and watches as he pulls his arm out, blood staining his pale skin, globs dripping down his fingers and hitting Casey's face. Mother breathes heavily and staggers back into his wheelchair.

Andrew has to stop himself from gagging when Mother licks his hand, blood coating his mouth as he slowly swallows. Nausea rises in Andrew's stomach and the boy walks in, ignoring Casey's limp body. Andrew fears she's dead.

The black-eyed girl walks back in the room and wipes Mother's mouth, wheeling him back into the kitchen. The boy stares at Casey and tilts his head as he pushes the chains off. The girl walks back in and they both heave her toward the kitchen, and it's then that Andrew knows she's dead.

Then, the girl turns and makes eye contact with Andrew. "Oh, shit, she—" He fumbles with the camera and everything is silent.
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"This counter's covered with stuff," Sunshine whispers, eyeing the burning orange glow of the candle. "I can barely see—"

"Let's just focus," Nolan says, uncharacteristically serious. "We've gotta find Andrew."

Sunshine's having a hard time breathing. Her hands are shaking and she can't push away the horrid feeling in her belly, like a swirling black ball that's eating her up inside. She shakes her head and tries to focus. "Andrew?" she softly calls in a whisper-yell. "Andrew!"

"Andrew," Nolan echoes, and this feels all too familiar to Tom Waters. Hopefully they won't find a hanging body again. "Andrew, are you in here?"

Sunshine freezes when she steps in a puddle of....something. "Ew."

"What is that?" Nolan asks, disgusted.

"Don't touch it!" she quickly says.

Nolan bends down and inspects the dark liquid, frowning deeply.

"Andrew?" Sunshine calls.

"Shh," Nolan says. "We don't want anyone hearing us."

The rattling of a chain snaps both Sunshine and Nolan into place. "Oh, god," he says, eyes wide as he looks at the doorframe into another room.

A black-eyed kid walks out, muttering something under his breath. "We've been waiting for you, Sunshine," he says, walking past them back into the darkness without stopping. He then turns back around, heading into the room he came from.

"What did he say?" Nolan whispers, terrified.

"We've been waiting for you, Sunshine," she repeats, and her blood has gone cold.

"What?!" Nolan says. He seems to snap himself out of it. "Just— just focus, we're fine."

Sunshine can hardly breathe.

"Andrew!" Nolan whispers.

Sunshine walks into the room where the BEK disappeared, Nolan hot on her heels. She jumps when there's a loud, demonic yell from the other room, and—

Andrew rushes past Mother, eyes wide and terrified as he stands in the middle of the room, wheelchair discarded, mouth distorted into a wide yell. He manages to find his footing and stumbles into the hallway, past the kitchen and right in front of Sunshine and Nolan.

"Andrew!" Sunshine exclaims. Nolan loudly echoes her.

Andrew crawls back on his hands but realizes Mother managed to wrap a chain around his ankle. He pushes himself back, ears ringing before everything becomes more clear. "I knew you guys would come for me," he cries.

"Andrew, you're not going anywhere, okay?" Nolan shakily says, and he sounds like he means it.

"How dare you," Mother booms, blood coating his mouth as he speaks, "run from me?". He's standing on the other end of the hallway in a doorframe, slowly pulling the chain toward him. "I am your Mother!" As he pulls the chain, he slowly steps closer to the trio. "I am everyone's Mother! It is I who designed who lives and who dies!"

Andrew, Nolan, and Sunshine are all sobbing with fear. None of them are able to move as Mother comes closer, mouth dribbling with blood and spit, eyes dark and hollow.

"It is I who decides who feeds me! Whose flesh and soul I devour! And tonight, I will take yours, and bring it back to me, for I am your Mother!"

"Cut the power!" Sunshine yells.

Nolan turns to look at her. "What?"

Andrew is only a foot away from Mother now.

"Cut the power!" she screams.

Everything is black and the house is dampened by silence. Sunshine stumbles to her knees but finds her way back to her feet. "Andrew," she blindly says.

"Shhh," Nolan whispers.

That knotted feeling in her belly is gone. She rubs at her temple and Sunshine can feel a headache begin to grow. "It's quiet."

"He's..." Nolan stumbles over his words. "He's silent."

"Everything's silent."

"What do we do, Sunshine?"

She frowns. "Andrew, are you okay? Can you get up?"

A shaky voice responds, "Yeah."

"Get up."

"Sunshine," Andrew cries, "where are you— oh." He brushes against her arm, breathing harshly.

"Shhh," she says.

A loud bang fills Sunshine's ears and she gasps. Something connects with her head and she's suddenly on the ground.

"Sunshine!" Nolan shakily exclaims.

Andrew screams and Sunshine can hear a body drop to the floor, being dragged away. However, she can't see anything.

"Andrew!" she yells, but the ringing hurts. "Andrew?"

Silence.

"Nolan?" She can't bear it if he's gone, too, can't bear if she's alone here—

"What?" he whispers, and Sunshine realizes he's on the ground too.

"Get up," she says, slowly staggering to her feet.

"What do you mean, get up?"

"Get off the floor." Sunshine is trying not to cry, but it really isn't going very well.

"I'm not going anywhere," Nolan says, voice calm before it begins to rise into a sob. "Okay? This is— this is how people die in movies, okay? They start wandering around in the middle of the rooms, and whatever is waiting for them just comes and grabs them and eats them and that's what happens—"

"You're not gonna die," Sunshine tried to assure him. "Get up."

There's a pause. "Okay. Fine. Just— will you please turn the light on?"

"The light on what?"

"The light on your camera, Sunshine!"

"Oh." She fumbles with it for a moment before clicking it on. Nolan is backed against the wall, eyes squeezed shut as he looks down to the ground. "Open your eyes!"

"Is— is it on?"

"Yes! Get up!"

Nolan opens them and looks up, shakily lifting himself to his feet. "Okay." He looks around, confused. "What happened to Andrew?"

"I don't know," Sunshine says.

"We lost him again?"

"Shhhh."

Sunshine leads the way out of the room they've been cornered in, frowning as she shines the light across the clutter left on the floor.

"Andrew?" Nolan calls. "Andrew, I'm sorry, buddy."

"Shh," Sunshine repeats.

"We..." Nolan shakes his head. "We shouldn't have brought him along."

Sunshine looks at a hanging picture of children's hands making wings for angels, surrounded by a stone-green backdrop. Three angels. "That's creepy..." When she looks closer, the walls are pale gray, covered in pink roses with green leaves. She turns away and walks into the hallway. "Andrew...?" Here, there are holes dented into the yellow-gray walls, piles of bricks hidden behind the plaster.

"Andrew," Nolan calls. Silence. "This is not good." They walk into a side room and balk at the blood staining the floor. "Oh my god," he whispers. "What the hell happened in here?"

"Andrew?" Sunshine whispers, trying not to think about that. What had Mother done? The pulling of a chain suddenly garners her attention. "Did you hear that?"

"What?"

"Where's it coming from?"

"Andrew," Nolan says.

Sunshine nearly trips over a chain, where it leads into the kitchen.

Nolan breathes. "Andrew, are you there?"

A shape lunges out of the darkness and both teenagers scream, reeling back. Sunshine takes a moment and sees Greeny, who's clawing and screaming rabidly.

"Casey!" Nolan exclaims, crouching toward the homeless woman.

"Casey," Sunshine whispers, then begins to cry.

"No! No!" Casey screams, rolling on the ground as if she's trying to fling something off of her.

"Oh, no," Nolan says.

Casey begins crawling on all fours father back into the kitchen, grunting and screaming like an animal.

"Casey," Nolan repeats nervously. "Casey, come back!" She shoves herself into a room, where the door slams shut. His voice rises into a yell. "Casey, we have to get out of here!"

"Casey!" Sunshine exclaims.

She begins banging on the closed door. "Help. Help!"

"W-we have to get her," Nolan shakily says.

Casey screams and Sunshine's blood runs cold. "Nolan," she whispers, "there's nothing we can do."

"This is our fault!" he exclaims, hands going to his head as he steps forward uncertainly.

"Nolan, there isn't anything we can do!"

The screaming stops.

Sunshine's heart rate picks up. "Andrew?" she calls, backpedaling and following the chain that had been wrapped around Andrew's ankle. It leads to a closed white door.

"Andrew?" Nolan shakily repeats. "Andrew?"

Sunshine pushes open the door and yells when she sees Mother standing over Andrew, arm reared back as he chokes him. "Nolan, do something!"

"Well," he says, "it was good knowing you." Nolan rushes forward and slams his body into Mother. Andrew is able to crawl toward Sunshine.

"Andrew!" she cries.

"Sunshine!" Nolan yells. "Get out!"

Andrew crawls to his knees. "Sunshine—"

She's not leaving him like this. "Nolan!" she yells, rushing into the room. Mother has him picked up by the neck.

"Oh, shit," he slurs.

Andrew wraps his arms around Sunshine and pulls her back, where the door slams in their faces. "Nolan," she sobs, pushing Andrew back. "Nolan?!"

Everything is silent.

Suddenly, the door opens and Nolan rushes out, wide-eyed. "Run. Run! Run run run run run run run! Run! Run faster!" She hears Andrew fall to the floor but doesn't stop, doesn't even think to.

Sunshine screams when she hears heavy footsteps thudding behind them, and she swears this is the fastest she's ever moved in her entire life. Sunshine throws herself out of the side door and into the lawn, stumbling into overgrown weeds and brambles. She pushes herself to her feet and hears Nolan beside her, following his voice as they run.

"Oh god, oh god, oh god, oh god—" Nolan says as they sprint away from the house, and as Sunshine stumbles into the dark street, shadows swallowing her whole, she wonders, just for a moment, why Mother wanted their souls so badly.
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It's early morning and a pale golden haze dapples over Portland, washing the previously rainy and dark streets into light and color. Sunshine is in the passenger seat of the car and points toward a house. "That one."

"Wait—" Kat says, frowning. "What one?"

"That one," Sunshine repeats, looking toward a white home.

"That's a house?" Kat asks incredulously.

"Well, yeah."

Kat shivers as she looks at it. The windows are curled by a mint frame and the house is completely decrepit and falling apart. It's hard to believe Sunshine was just there, screaming and crying as Mother chased after them.

Kat pulls into the driveway. "Are you sure you want to go in?"

"No, not really," she mutters, "but..."

Her mother shrugs and unbuckles her seatbelt. "All right."

Sunshine hops out of the car. The place looks so much different in the daytime — still, no less creepy. Nolan moves in front of her and explores the junk left on the side patio.

"It looks pretty much the same," Sunshine mutters.

Nolan knocks on the door.

"Why are you knocking?" Kat asks, rolling her eyes.

"Uhh....I don't know," he says. "If they're here, then..." Nolan trails off.

"You think they're just gonna open the door and say, 'Come on in'?"

"Just thinking of— they make any noise, then we go home and don't have to worry about it."

"The door's....open," Sunshine says, shoving her body against the wooden frame and pushing it open.

"Honey, be careful," Kat sighs.

Sunshine looks around the house. There's shit everywhere, piling up around the walls. The wallpaper is so ugly she could puke, and there's a thickness of dirt present that Sunshine didn't even notice the night prior.

"Oh my gosh," Kat muttered. "This is what it looked like?"

"Mom..." Sunshine grunts. "It was darker, but... yeah."

"Hello?" Nolan calls out. Silence. "You know, it doesn't seem as bad in the daytime."

"Really?" her mother asks. "It seems terrible."

"Back here," Sunshine says, stepping into the hall.

"Oh, my, that's a chain," Kat whispers. "Is that what he was tied up with?"

Sunshine and Nolan share a glance. "Yeah," she says. The chain leads to a red-carpeted room, where Mother had been holding Nolan up by the neck. Clown and nature paintings are pushed up against the wall, wooden statues in front of the broken window.

"Wow," Kat breathes. "What a hollow room."

"Mhm."

"What's down here?"

"More rooms." Sunshine pauses next to her mother and looks inside the room with blood on the floor.

Kat frowns. "Why's there a wheelchair?"

"Oh," Nolan says, popping his head out from the front room, "that belonged to the, uh, the Mother."

"Mother?" Kat repeats with a raised brow.

"Mother, yes," Nolan nods, trotting up beside them. "Uh, that's what they called it." He clears his throat. "This room is a little, uh, old looking. Creepified." Blinds are covering the cracked windows and the place is just...barren and gray.

"Okay," Kat shakily says, "I've seen enough, let's go."

Sunshine makes a face as she follows them toward the side door. "You sure?"

"Definitely."

"There's nothing to see here, anyway," Nolan shrugs from behind Sunshine.

A chain rattled somewhere deep in the house. She stops. "Did you hear that?"

Kat whips around. "What was that?"

Sunshine turns around and walks back into the hallway, where the wheelchair has now moved. "Okay," she says. "I'm done. Let's go."

"Yeah," Nolan nods, "we should probably skedaddle." She leads the way toward the patio.

"Sunshine, come on!" Kat calls.

"I don't feel good," she says, and the nausea is becoming worse and that black feeling is back in her belly. She thinks about Andrew and Casey and how they're gone now, gone now because of her.

"Yeah, I know." Kat frowns and hangs back, looping her arm through Sunshine's. "Let's go."

hoooooly- okay don't kill me i know it's been 5 months but i just gotta say school started kicking my ass and my motivation for HOSG went kachow

however now that i'm back we all know what that means. aka probably a chapter every day so look forward to dat (:

this was kinda a bittersweet ending but i'm glad to have finished the BEK storyline! next part....actually idk i think it has something to do with sunshine's training but we'll see. this chapter took exactly 3 hours to write (and that was like....27 minutes of the movie) so i am much too lazy and tired to go look ahead. hope you enjoyed! i will sleep with nightmares about mother tonight and it's 3am so even better :)