“Get the hell out of here!”

Anne’s voice broke Elizabeth out of her momentary trance; instinctively, she covered her face as a wave of broken pottery showered her. Given no more time to think, she went into a full sprint out the door, flying down the stairs, disregarding anything around her. It wasn't until she was on the other side of the door that she finally stopped and rested.

“What the hell was that?” 

Elizabeth patted herself down, fully expecting an open, bursting wound in her stomach, but it was gone. There wasn’t pain, nothing outwardly, but she could still feel it inside. She had it in her hand, she knew without a doubt there was nothing wrong, and yet—

Her hands wrapped around her chest. 

“I can’t deal with this”. 

There was something wrong in Tenisin, right down to its core, a closely guarded secret. The night held its own secrets; its residents weren’t open to it, and as a result, she’d fallen into one of its traps. 

“What did I do wrong?”

Elizabeth tried her best to recall everything that occurred before her death. A rule was broken, at the very least, she knew that. The exact moment she entered that alleyway, there was a warning. 

“Was it the eye?”

It was the same voice that had warned her before; yet again, there wasn’t a chance to heed it. Leading off the path was the wrong choice; perhaps even going that road was a wrong choice. It’s not like she had that much of a choice, according to everything she knew at the moment; taking a chance was the only way to progress. What was the point if one mistake led to that? Would simply going against the crowd cause someone to kill themselves? Whether it made sense or not didn’t matter, for the time, she knew one thing. 

“I can’t die.”

It was an indisputable fact that, if one should meet their death, the gates to the afterlife would open, and their soul would be set to rest in another land. A horrible question exited her mouth.

“How long is this going to last?”

She was prepared to do this, prepared to find the reason for this change, but knowing this, knowing that salvation was not only unattainable but was rejected completely. 

“What’s the point?” 

Elizabeth knew that answer already. There wasn’t a point; she simply had to. That decision was made for her from the very beginning; the very idea made her sick; whatever pain she was experiencing turned into a seething anger.

“Fuck this”.

She hurried back to the entrance of Tenisin.

Having to go through that pain again, for a greater cause, to fulfill the purpose of the Visitors Guide, it didn’t matter. She didn’t ask for this; to go through that again meant more pain was right around the corner. No one was strong enough to go through this, better yet, figure out everything in such a short amount of time. It was asking for so much, and yet she was given the bare minimum in order to accomplish it. 

The entrance of Tenisin came into view as the bright light from within the tunnel leaked onto the open road. It would end here; she was ready for whatever consequence was in store for her. Tonight, she’d rest for as long as her body wanted. She took one step—

“Get the hell out of here!”

A storm of shattered around her, and with barely enough time to react, pieces of it had cut her face, and her back crashed against the wall. 

“Huh?”

She was back again; she hadn’t died, and yet she went back already. The answer was simple; she knew this, but for such a simple choice to be immediately denied.

This was bad; she hadn’t even thought of the possibility that she didn’t have a choice altogether. There must be a criterion, something she had to do before she could leave, or else the night would start again at that point. Escape wasn’t an option as long as that stayed a fact. Not even death. 

“I’ve had about enough of this.”

Ignoring Schwartz, his attempt to get her out of the situation wouldn’t work anymore. If this was what was needed, then so be it. 

“Get out—” 

Elizabeth grabbed her arm before she could throw anything else and dropped her to the ground, pulling her arms back with her. 

With her free hand, she grabbed the stone knife and aimed it at Schwartz.

“If you want what’s best for her, you’ll stay right there.”

She knew that in a test of overall strength, Schwartz would undoubtedly beat her. From the moment he grabbed her arm, she knew there wasn’t a chance of restraining him, not like before. This was the only way. 

Schwartz backed off but clearly kept his guard up, waiting for any chance to attack. 

“Get off me, you fucking whore!” Anne screamed, thrashing around, attempting to shift onto her belly, but Elizabeth's shoes pressed harder on her back. She seemed feral, so mad that she didn’t even realize that at some point through her tantrum, she’d busted her head on the floor, as blood fell from her scalp.

“Calm down for a second, and I’ll give you some slack”.

Despite her offer, she continued to thrash, throwing her hair into a mess that draped over most of her face.

Elizabeth took her attention to Schwartz.

“Where was she before she got home?”

As if in a daze, he shook his head and answered. 

“I don’t know, she goes out sometimes around town”.

“That’s all you know?” she pressed harder on her back. Elizabeth’s fatigue was catching up to her.

“You think I’d leave out information when she’s like this?”

“Then why the hell is she like this?” 

Anne bent her knees, her legs moving upward as she tried to lock them around Elizabeth, each time getting closer.

“I know what I said before, but if you don’t help me right now, I won’t be able to hold her.”

Going out there alone wasn’t an option; if there was any chance of surviving the night, she’d have to find out what was happening here first. The fact that Schwartz was just as confused as she was, at the very least, meant that this wasn’t normal. It was reasonable to assume that Elizabeth was the catalyst. 

Noticing Schwartz's inner struggle, she hesitantly put the knife away and held out her hand. 

“Please, do it for her.”

Honestly, she wasn’t confident this leap of trust would bode well. To her surprise, however, the moment she put away the knife, he hurried over and grabbed Anne behind her and pressed them down. For whatever reason, she seemed to calm down; her ragged breaths became a slow descent as her chest finally began to settle ‌. It seemed like she was trying to calm down, control her breathing, in and out, until she stopped moving. 

Schwartz let go and helped her onto the bed, moving her hair away from her face as she pinched her temple. Was this an act, or was she genuinely in some sort of trance? She wasn’t sure; either way, she kept her distance.

“What happened?” 

“You don’t remember anything that happened?” Schwartz asked.

She shook her head.

“I don’t believe you”. 

As Elizabeth tried her best to align her emotions correctly, attempting to be direct, forward, and understanding, yet nothing she would say would come out as such. The mere sight made her sick; setting aside her emotion wasn’t an option anymore.

“Whether you realize it or not, the reason why everyone sleeps with a candle nearby is because of an old folk tale. Strange creatures of the night looking into your dreams, they’re afraid of the heat. At some point, the story disappeared; instead, it became second nature to leave a candle out by your bed. I guess in Tenisin it’s the red wood instead, isn’t it?”

They didn’t seem to understand; that much was evident from their puzzled expression. What they did understand, however, was the precaution. Schwartz's explanation aligned with what the original intention of the story was; perhaps that was because of the closer proximity of Gray Wood. 

“Darkness is dangerous in Tenisin. I’m not sure how it is in Diedmons Roue, but there’s a chance that inside one of the shadows, you’ll be sent away”.

“Sent away?”

The feeling of isolation in that realm struck her.

“That’s what they say, one wrong step and you’ll find some people disappearing. If I knew you didn't know, I wouldn't have let you go”.

Wish I knew that before.

“Anyway"she sighed. “Anne, I'm trying to keep it together right now but what you did was unforgivable”.

Anne stiffened up, seemingly becoming defensive over Elizabeth’s accusations. Truth was, something did happen, for that reason she kept restrained herself as well.

“I don't know what happened.”

“‘Y’know, something tells me that isn't the whole truth. With everything that's happened I'm thinking now you took off my hat because you knew who I was”. 

“That's not true! Really, I didn't know who you were before. It was a complete acciden—

“And taking away the ball? Was that an accident too? Was that tantrum an accident?”. 

Her confrontation proved to be enough for Anne, to loosen up, even if only a small bit. Her eyes went to ground, her face turning to shame as she didn't have an answer. Not to that at least.

“You're right, but there's more to it than that.”

Anne fiddled with her fingers, recalling everything as they came to her in a stray gust of wind, her eyes going wide with each surge. Whatever guise that was around her was slowly being peeled off. 

“Something happened before I got home, I remember that now. But I… I didn't understand until later on,  there was someone outside looking for you”.

Conducting herself to listen fully, Elizabeth leaned forward and focused all her attention on her. If there was anything she had to do to progress it was this. 

“White hair, gray eyes, I didn't pay much mind to it at the time but it's obvious it was you he was talking about. After that, I don't remember until I opened the door”.

Ever since the first meeting with the Eye, something's been bugging her about what it said. It hadn't become relevant, but hearing this she immediately remembered it saying, The blame lands elsewhere. Since becoming more connected to the eye, a part of her eased up on the idea that everything it would say was a lie. If that's the case, that meant something else was after her, and in both instances their influence had led to her death.

Elizabeth put her hand to her temple and pinched.

More and more problems kept falling right on her lap; when was enough, enough, she thought. Putting everything on a short list, her problems at this point were: finding why events had changed so that the Stehnam existed, finding a way to prevent the night from starting again, and a second party out to ruin it all. Somehow, they’d tracked her down since the very beginning; it was safe to assume even now they knew where she was. That wasn’t even taking into consideration the grander problems that plagued Diedmon's Roue.

“Did he say why he was looking for me?”

“No, not that I remember”.

“Not that you remember…” Elizabeth murmured the last part; it wasn’t as much as she wanted, but ‌she’d take what she could get. For now, she knew the minimum of what she needed to go outside, stay near the light, and stay on the path ahead. 

Easier said than done. 

Elizabeth looked at both Schwartz and Anne, both of whom seemed to be too exhausted to tell she was even leaving the room.  

Leaving the apartment without any light wasn’t a good idea; at the very least, she’d need the red wood ball before she left. It didn’t take long to notice the glowing red ball sitting on top of the dining room table, along with the assortment of cold food. 

Grabbing the ball, she noticed out of the corner of her eye that their kids had maintained the creepy act they’d been putting on. Instead of checking in on their parents, they decided the best thing to do was to stay in place and continue watching her.

“I was just going,” Elizabeth said, turning toward the door, giving one last look toward where Anne and Schwartz were before leaving, determined more than ever to fulfil the criteria and assure no one got involved.