She broke into a sprint toward the window, turning the glass into a fine mist as she broke through. With a slight tilt of the head, she noticed it on the roof, scrambling for footing on the sloped tiles. In a last-ditch effort not to plummet, she reached for a wire connecting the buildings and braced herself.

She gritted her teeth as the steel wire cut into her skin, blood dribbling down her arm as she forced herself until she was closer to the roof. With adrenaline coursing through her, she leaped, grabbed ‌hold of the roof, and pulled herself up.

“Wait!” Elizabeth shouted. 

It hadn’t gone far; its claws seemed unable to fully grasp anything, but even then, it was still faster. 

She was able to gain a proper footing on the roof, catching sight of the beast before it was able to jump to the next roof.

“You said you’re looking for your missing memories, right?” It stopped and looked back. 

“Listen, you are different; I won’t deny that”. She looked toward the ground, her innards falling to her knees as the sheer height hit her.

“But…” Elizabeth took a deep breath.

“I can help you, and you can help me. Take as many of these people's lives as you want; I have no right to stop you, but you want more than that, don’t you?‌”, It remained still. 

“Take some time and think about it. I might not answer all your questions, but I can give you a start. My only condition is that we talk face-to-face. That’s it”.

She tried her best to ignore the situation she was in, but soon fear pierced its way, and with a yelp, she slipped to her knees as her footing faltered. Grabbing ‌hold of the curved top, she could secure herself for a time, only able to see a glimpse of the Stehnam as it disappeared into the night. 

A loud yelp comes from inside the room as Elizabeth plants her footing on the windowsill. Without her noticing, Anne had gone into the room, no surprise, unprepared to find it in the state it was in.

“What in the world do you think you’re doing?” She said, opening the window, a storm of shattered glass falling with it. 

With help, Elizabeth climbed back inside, breathing a sigh of relief, all the while Anne waited with astronomical patience. Schwartz was waiting alongside the wall, his arms crossed, waiting for any excuse to throw Elizabeth out the same window she came through. All it took was one slip of the tongue for the hospitality to wane. Elizabeth knew there really wasn’t a point in keeping up a front; not anymore, at least. 

Covering her wound with her jacket, she reached into her pocket and placed several wooden coins on the nightstand. 

“This should be enough to cover the window,” Schwartz grabbed her arm as she passed by.

“Not going to explain what happened back there”, Elizabeth tried to shake him away, but he wouldn’t budge. She bit back, tinges of a rising anger building inside her, looking into his eyes for only a second until he let go.

“Don’t think I didn’t catch what you did back there”. Anne kept a look of innocence across her face, looking at Schwartz for understanding.

“You took the ball, and because of that… that—that thing was able to get in. That wasn’t a mistake!” she clenched her fist. 

Anne's face turned stern. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Bullshit!. There was no reason for you to take it. I let my guard down for a second, and you screw me over!” Her fist slammed against the wall.

“Aren’t you being a bit paranoid, Marie?” There was something with her response; the slight tinge that held in isolation wouldn’t have‌ raised any alarms but now, it didn’t seem like the same person.

“Do you have any idea how it feels to have something invade your mind? The perversion…” She crossed her arms for comfort. “I still feel it”. 

“Don’t be dramatic,” Anne said.

Schwartz watched her, expecting more than a dismissive response, but the silence hung too long. He could feel it too; there was a shift in the air, and it grew cold. 

Noticing his confused expression, Elizabeth figured immediately that this wasn’t a joint effort. She’d purposely taken away her protection, but why?

“Go,” Schwartz said, pushing Elizabeth behind him. She was sure it wouldn’t be as simple as that, but she wasn’t going to linger any longer. At some point, Anne had stopped looking at them all together; her eyes lay somewhere outside. 

As she stepped out, she noticed their kids not far looking in their direction, whispering amongst themselves. For a moment, she thought back to the dream; part of the reason she could even break from its trance was because of them. Mr. Monster, despite the dream being entirely constructed by it, the kids weren’t fooled.

She was taken out of thought as she heard Anne yell.

“Get the hell out of here!” 

Elizabeth guarded her head as shards rained around her, most of it being shielded by Schwartz.

“Damn it, get out,” He pushed her across the room, and she stumbled forward, straightening forward as she rushed toward the door, swinging it open.

“What the hell is going on?” She hurriedly put on her beanie, rushing down the stairs, trying to ignore the continued crashing of anything within Anne's reach.

One by one, the other residents began bursting from their rooms, whispering amongst themselves in their shared curiosity. With their only point of understanding being Elizabeth, it didn't take long for them to connect imaginary dots and come to their own conclusion. Whatever secrecy she wanted had gone away in an instant; all eyes were on her. 

With only the random spots of moonlight protecting her, she stopped at the entrance of the apartment. 

“Why do I have to go through this?” What was the point of all this? Despite her supposed advantage, garbage knowledge all plummeted to mere fun facts in the face of despair. She was weak and had no intention of denying that, but despite that, there was nothing she could do about it.

“I need to get out of here for now.”

Where that was was the real question. It was pitch black, and after what happened, that darkness seemed vast in its space. Simply walking into it tugged at her heart as if at any moment she'd fall into the abyss. 

Scanning anything her eyes could land on, she scrambled for anything to stay at least for a few hours until she could get her head on straight. She tried her best to suppress it, but her body was being fully operated on pure adrenaline. It wasn't the pain that echoed through her bones like bashing metal against itself, but it was the growing heat of the rope burn against her hand. A mess of sensations that, for better or worse, was the only thing keeping her going. She needed to find something now or else——

“Shit,” She leaned against a wall, catching her breath. 

“I have to keep moving,” Elizabeth pried herself away and took a few more steps before stumbling to the ground, falling to her knees. 

She was able to crawl into a spot of the road where a sizable spot of moonlight was before settling down. With no ideas, not a semblance of a clue of what to do, she stared into the darkness, and that's when an idea shot into her head and out of her mouth.

“If you’re out there, Mr. Beckman, now would be a good time to come out.” She waited for a few minutes before bowing her head in disappointment.

“That was stupid”.

A weak voice leaked from within the darkness, and she jumped.

“Hello,” the voice said.

She attempted to scramble up, but the strength in her legs had gone away. At the whim of whoever this person was, she calmed down and answered—

“Hey,” her poorly hiding, shaking voice was the best she could do.

Whoever this was was dressed completely in black, and only their loose clothing that pooled at their feet and into the moonlight could be seen.

“You seem to be down on your luck.”

Elizabeth shook her head violently.

“No, no, I'm just fine really. Just taking a break is all, hehe”. 

“Don't be bashful. You must know, we here at Tenisin treat each other like we are of one cell. Of one genesis”. Afraid of saying something wrong, she stayed quiet and let the man continue all the while scrambling for a way out of there.

“Like-minded individuals flock together whether they whim it or not. Follow the road and find the sound, you'll find solitude there, my friend.” Their voice began to fade, and once again, everything went quiet. 

With nothing else to lose, she found the strength to stand and limped away along the road. As she continued, the abundance of buildings became denser until, at some point, only a small gap disconnected them, creating a hallway of hanging vegetation and dim lights bolted to the walls.

“Why would they make this place like this?”

Tenisin wasn't especially dense, but for any population, it would quickly create a problem if even two groups of people came here at a time. She hadn't even begun to think about the lack of people out; if she didn't know better, she'd have thought that man, and she were the ones here.

That idea quickly vanished as, in the blink of an eye, a crowd of people appeared, causing her to bump into someone in front of her. 

“Sorry, sorry,” Elizabeth said.

She managed to find an opening next to her. It was there she slipped inside, immediately falling to her knees as her head spun.

“Damn it, why now?”

Danger

Leave

Death

“Get out of my head!”

She plugged her ears, pressing her head against the ground, biting her tongue while the voice continued to shred her brain. At some point, the voice became a piercing ring that drowned everything else out, and her vision began to trickle away. Taking the stone knife from her waistband, she plunged it into her stomach in a slow descent. As it leisurely tore through her flesh, whatever power had clouded her judgement had begun to dissolve, and the reality of what she’d done came in the form of a silent scream. It was too late, bailing now wasn’t an option, either she’d die then and there or take it out and have to suffer minutes of agonizing pain as she bled out, alone, afraid, begging for death to come its way. She did the only thing she thought she could do and continued to push it inside.

Her groans wouldn’t reach anybody. In her brief seconds of clarity, she realized that wherever she was at that point was disconnected from Tenisin. It was a formless world that only held an endless void with no way of return. She was hovering, and the blood that soaked through her shirt and dribbled down her leg disappeared below, only to trickle down to her head. 

“Please,” The last bit of it cut through her, and she let go.

It was taking too long; why was it taking so long to die, she thought. Each second that cold stone echoed through her body, the first instance that it had ever affected her, a sickening cold that overshadowed the heat in her stomach and the cramps that followed. It was taking too long. 

A burst of tears flew down as she wept, unable to move, only absorb the last moments she had left, and ponder what she could have done differently. Her only thought was hoping that this would be her last, that this pain she was experiencing would be the end of it, and she could pass on and never feel again, for a soul to be caught by the afterlife. As she waited for that light, her last glimmers of life finally starting to dissipate, the light would never come, and as the growing darkness consumed her, she realized peace had rejected her and that once again she’d be back. She’d die alone, afraid, and above all else, cold, in the darkness of Tenisin.