The location that the Oni-Mask guy wanted me to reach wasn’t that far from the house. If anything, it was relatively close-by to where we lived and the more I thought about it, the more I was certain that he had been watching us. Or watching me. I don’t know. Perhaps he was stalking me first before stalking my family and hurting them as he had. And he had hurt me through them.

Sarah shook next to me in the car and I did my best to not cry. The Uber driver that was taking us to the location kept glancing through the mirror at us and I did my best to show no discomfort. I had torn one of my shirts and wrapped it around her head to cover her eyes.

I also got her beanie and a hoodie to cover up as much as I could. When the driver had parked in front of the house, I lied that she was already injured and that we were going to see family. The man looked at me suspiciously and I didn’t blame him.

The journey itself was quiet. There was nothing to be said. The driver did try to engage us in conversation and I did my best to carry on talking but it felt hollow, you know. Empty. Sarah gave simple answers and sighed a lot. And whenever she whispered to me, her voice trembled and she held the brown paper bag with her eyes a bit closer.

A bit tighter.

I winced every time I saw the brown paper bag crumple just a little more. And my tummy turned when I thought about what she must be seeing in the bag and how scared she probably felt.

Either way, some bastard was toying with me and my family and I was very aware of how powerless I was. There was no understanding of what was happening. The whole drive, I thought about how it had all started and whether or not there was an aim to it. I focused on the videos I watched, on the packages, the police station and my workplaces.

I tried to find a connection of sorts that tied me to what was going on but no matter how hard I tried, there was no string. No relation. Just stand-out events preluding a “You should press play” message.

My first thought was to call the police officer that had been dealing with my case initially before I remembered that the Oni-Masked Guy had pulled them into the game too. Or so he said. I wasn’t sure and I’m still not sure if I want to get someone else involved. Especially seeing as the last time, three people at work paid for the overstep.

“Is it here?” the driver asked as he pulled to a stop on an empty road with a few street lights littered few and far between.

On our left, were large warehouse-like buildings while a small dense forest area was on our right. Past the forest, was the Dartford Crossing, and even from the car, I could see snippets of car lights going up the motorway. There was an odd movement in the trees but by the time I blinked, it was gone.

“Ah! Yes,” I said hastily, taking a look at the GPS on my phone.

I thanked the man as I exited the vehicle, jogging to the other side to help Sarah out of the car. She whispered a quiet thanks and I squeezed her hands tight in reassurance. For fear that the driver would be suspicious, as it all looked suspicious, I waited until the car had gone further down the road and turned a corner before I began walking towards the trees.

Each step towards the trees filled me with dread. Somehow, the bastard that had started all of this was waiting for me here. For a moment, I was dead certain that the moving figure in the trees was the guy trying to hide from me. Dread drained as anger filled me instead.

Doing my best to protect my sister, I moved her to my back and continued forward with measured steps. The sounds of dead leaves and tree branches crunching under our boots seemed to resound around us as we moved quietly. I still had her hand in mine, guiding her so that she didn’t stumble.

A few more steps into the forest, my face screwed up as I balled my fist, I came into a small clearing with a single chair and a laptop opened to face me.

I can’t lie. I was confused. Anyone would be, right?

“What happened?” Sarah said, her voice hoarse from the earlier crying at home.

“What?” I said, looking at her.

“You swore. What’s happening?” she said in a quiet voice as she began to shake and her breathing sped up, “Are we going to die? We’re going to die. Oh my gosh. Oh my…”

She fell to the floor as she began to sob again. I joined her on my knees and hugged her, rubbing her shoulder to comfort her. Not sure why I did that. It’s a stupid decision now, thinking about it. But my younger sister was losing it and I was barely holding it together.

“We’re not dying. Not yet. There’s no one here. Just a laptop,” I said, in quiet hushes, trying to calm her down.

I repeated the words over and over until she began to relax. I kept my eyes on the trees, darting through them to ensure we weren’t about to be surrounded and killed. It would have been in bad taste to comfort her and then still face the same end.

Just as she stopped crying, the laptop came on and all I saw, was static. I swore again but kept my eyes locked on the screen.

“The laptop?” she asked.

“Yeah…”

Static appeared on the video for a few more seconds before clearing out to show the same damned chair as the first video. I felt a shot of pain surge through me as I remembered how that ended. I looked around the forest once more to be sure that we were alone. When my eyes returned to the laptop, the chair was occupied.

The Oni-Masked guy was sitting underneath the single light bulb, his hands resting on his legs. He sat straight and doll-like, staring at the camera and I waited to see what would happen next.

As I opened my mouth to speak, Sarah jerked from my grip and rose to her feet almost immediately. She crushed the paper bag in her hand and I gasped in horror.

“Your eyes…” I was saying when she started sobbing again, running her hands over her face.

“My eyes… I can see,” she said, half-crying, half-laughing to herself.

“If you want your eyes to remain this time, run,” the voice of the masked man came from the laptop and we both froze.

Sarah looked at the Oni-Masked man and then at me, her face contorting in pain. She let out a shaky cry, trembling as she did before whispering a ‘bye’ at me. And before I could stop her, she began running through the forest.

I rose up, ready to chase her down when the guy spoke again.

“If you follow, she dies. Sit down, Will. We need to talk.”