I wrapped my fingers tightly around the steel pipe. Eileen's rugged breathing behind me was the only thing keeping me conscious. I was exhausted, not only from the lack of sleep, but from the constant feeling of fear snapping at my heels. The second I let my mind relax, I'd hear or see something. Wether or not it was in my head I did not know.

"Henry, you're going to fast!" Eileen exclaimed.

I turned to face her. She looked miserable, and probably no less fatigued than myself. Her eyes seemed hollow and ghastly, while the rest of her body looked ridged and panicked. I extended an arm out to her, which she greatfully took.

We were somewhere near the Wish House Orphanage. Some broken down playground equipment lined the perimeter of the area. I also noticed that there was a house foundation standing upright. It was a few feet off the ground, and gradually smoking. There was a wheelchair perched upon it, with what looked like a human torso atop it. Thankfully, it looked like it was prosthetic. If it were an actual human torso (which honestly wouldn't surprise me.) I probably would've left the area with Eileen.

Taking another look at my surroundings, I saw a large gaping hole in one of the walls. Feeling somewhat relieved, I began to walk towards it. It was indeed the one that led to my apartment. Many runes scattered the edges around the circle, most likely written in blood.

"Are you going to go?" Eileen asked.

Her voice sounded slightly distressed. She absolutely hated being alone, and I could understand why.

"Yes, Eileen. I promise I won't take more than 15 minutes. I just need to see if I have any more bullets for the pistol."

She nodded understandingly, but that didn't erase the hurt look from her face. As soon as I began to crawl in, I heard the gate open. Assuming that it was the wind, I continued to crawl into the hole. That is, until I hear Eileen's terrified shriek.

"Henry, look out!"

Almost on cue I felt something wrap around my left ankle and yank harshly. In one tug I promptly found myself out of the hole and faceplanted into the dirt. Not only did it knock the air out of me, but I was disoriented. I felt two fingers wrap around the collar of my shirt to tork my up into an awkward angle. This gave me the chance to pull the rest of my body onto my knees. I stood immediately, and twisted my body around to face what was handleing me.

It wasn't Eileen. It was a dirty-blonde haired man in a large grey trenchcoat. Blood painted everything on him; hair, face, coat, pants, and shoes. His green eyes seemed to study me for roughly half a second before he started grinning hysterically. He then pulled a gun out of one of his trenchcoat pockets and pointed it in the middle of my face.

Instinctively I ducked as the shot fired and hit the wall behind me. Before I had the chance to stand up, I felt the bottom of a shoe imbed itself in my chest and knock me flat on my back. I dropped my pipe in the process. The man towered over me, gun still propped at my head. He seemed amused at my attempt to evade him and lowered the gun, still firmly pressing his foot into my chest. He angled his gun downward, and before I knew what he was doing, agony ignited in my left calf as a bullet burrowed its way into it.

I clenched my teeth to muffle the scream, but it still seemed to deafen me. Eileen's screech in horror forced my vision to clear. The man lifted his foot slowly and set it beside the other. He stared at me as I clutched my leg; I pressed my hands against the wound to stop the bleeding. My shouts of anguish did not seize. His gaze seemed to hungerily feed off of what was happening. The sound and the sight made his grin widen, and a laugh broke out. The man continued to laugh as he turned on his heel, and started making his way where Eileen was standing. She was like a deer, all she did was stare in fright.

I wanted to tell her to run, but only a pained whimper made its way past my lips. My pipe was a few feet away from me, but I couldn't move. My unwounded leg was stiff as a rock, and my arms were wobbly and useless. The man reached up and wrapped his fingers around Eileen's neck. I need to get up. I need to get up! Eileen's strangled gasps were the only thing keeping me concious. I brought my unwounded leg in front of me, and stood up carefully. The bullet in my leg was excruciating, but I managed to step forward, my eyes locked on the two of them. Another step. And another. Eileen gave a harsh yelp as her breathing became more and more struggled. I barked at the man "Leave her alone!"

He seemed mockly surprised. He dropped Eileen like a sack of potatoes. His grin widened and his eyes seemed to get darker. "Please, don't hurt her. Please." The man sneered. "Why? I am merely ending her misery in this world. Mother will be born again." I narrowed my eyes and dug into my pocket for anything. I felt my finger brush against the X-acto blade I found earlier. Almost completely useless, but hey. I hurled it with all my might. It struck him on the shoulder and left him unfazed.

"Just leave us alone. Just..." I fell to the ground. My leg failed me after all. I let out a ragged breath and kept my head down. The man's footsteps approached me. I didn't bother looking up. His disgusting fingers dug into my scalp as he grabbed a handful of my hair. He pulled me to my feet and gave me a curious look. He released me suddenly, but I managed to catch myself, barely. His hand smashed into my neck and nearly picked me up. He pressed me into the wall cackling crazily. My breathing sounded somewhat like Eileen's; harsh and struggling. I pawed at his arm, but I felt them get weaker by the second. Blackness enveloped me in about a minute.

I woke up to see my ceiling fan. I sat up carefully and looked around. My head throbbed, but that didn't surprise me. It always did throb. It took me a moment for everything to rush back to me. I looked down at my leg. There was a gentle stream of blood leaking through my jeans. The bedsheets were soaked thoroughly. My teeth gnashed together. I was going to bleed out if I didn't bind it. I tore a strip off of my shirt and wrapped the wound tightly. It was hard, and I nearly passed out again from the pain. I threw my legs over the side of the bed and causiously stepped onto my good leg. I used the wall to support me as I hopped into my living room. My radio wasn't emitting static, on the contrary it was talking about a new baby tiger at a nearby zoo. Usually when my radio was buzzing, it meant something freaky was going on in my apartment. I hobbled over to my bin and opened the lid. I dug around inside until I found a small box. I shook it around to hear metal clacking around together. Bingo. I put the bullets in my pocket and made my way over to my laundry door.

Oh crap. Eileen was still there! She could be terrified, maybe even thinking I left her for dead. Or...no, no, she's fine. I just need to get there. I nearly leapt into the hole and began to crawl in anguish down the deep tunnel.

The next thing I knew, I was back in the area where I had last seen the man and Eileen. Sure enough, he was there, holding Eileens limp body in his arms. That bastard was running his finger down her cheek, whispering something into her ear. I growled viciously and pulled my pistol out of my pocket. I tore open the box of bullets and loaded the gun as fast as I could. I took aim at his head and pressed the trigger. The shot entered his head it looked like, but he actually turned around and smiled. I had to catch the wall to stop myself from falling over in shock.

"W-what the hell are you?" I stuttered. He gently set Eileen's unconcious form on the ground and twitched his mouth. "My name is Walter. Walter Sullivan. How could you forget me, Henry Townshend?" He said in a soothing voice. I raised the gun again, but I was hesitant to shoot. Not while I was facing him. He looked about my age, but more...older, in his eyes. "How do you know me?"

He grinned as if we were sharing an inside joke. He waved his hand away as if it didn't matter. I immediately gave another question. "What did you do to Eileen?" He merely shrugged, shoving both of his hands into his pockets. "Answer me!" I shouted. His next move surprised me. He whipped out a gun that was similar to mine and shot instantly. I was too slow to react once again. My shoulder made the most disgusting goosh sound as the metal met bone. My gun dropped and I let out a scream of agony. I dropped to the ground, grabbing my shoulder and rocking myself.

It took everything in me to ask "W-w-what do you w-want from us?"

Walter never responded. He stepped beside me and knelt down. He grabbed the gun I dropped and deposited it in his trenchcoat. He babbled something incoherent and replaced the pistol with the X-acto blade I hurled at him.

Ohhh, no. No no no.

He pressed his hand against my chest and pushed me onto my back. He repositioned his hand and put it near my right side, but the gentleness was replaced with pressure. Hard pressure. Bone crushing pressure. And then a loud snap. My cry could've been heard a mile away. He beamed sweetly at me and repeated the process on my left side. By this time I had tears pouring from my eyes and useless pleas running from my blood-filled mouth. He seemed oblivious to my begging and took my left arm into his hands. I knew what he was going to do. He took my fore arm and started to tork his hands in different directions. In a matter of painful seconds, I eventually heard the crack of my arm.

"Bastard." I managed to sputter. I was gagging on my own blood and my vision was filled with red. I managed a weak

"Stop, please..." I just wanted to die already. Eileen...she was probably dead. I failed her. I was all she had and I failed her. Like I failed Cynthia. Would she become a monster like the others? Would I become one of them? I felt the X-Acto blade dig into the flesh on my stomach where I had torn off a strip of my shirt. He skinned away a good amount of my skin before he let me drop to the ground. I spat feebly to keep the crimson fluid from suffocating me as Walter lowered the coller of my shirt.

The X-Acto blade met my flesh again as Walter seemed to stab pointlessly at my neck and down my chest. No, he wasn't stabbing. He was carving. I was going to end up like Cynthia, numbers carved into me mercilessly and my body beaten beyond recognition. As Walter finished his carving, he looked at my half lidded eyes and clucked. "

I haven't given Mother any eyes to see with. And yours are absolutely gorgeous."

He brought the blade to my face and positioned it above my left eye. He was going to jab them out, wasn't he? I started to accept this when he began to slit open the lid. He stopped abruptly though, and let out a pained yelp. He turned around and stood up, and I looked from the side to see Eileen standing with a riding crop in her hand. She had a ferocious snarl painted on her face and a look of hate in her visible eye. She lashed out with the black weapon and struck Walter on the cheek. Irritated, Walter took my pistol from his pocket and aimed at her.

No, no! Move, Eileen!

She glared at him and whipped her crop at him once again, striking his wrist with blinding speed. He grunted and released the gun, giving Eileen the chance to lean forward and punch him in the face.

Damn, did I feel useless.

Walter was so taken aback that he literally did so. He hit the dirt with a frightened noise as Eileen stepped forward and leaned onto him. "Stay. The HELL. Away from us." She sent her foot to his chin and spat on him. Walter muttered something I couldn't hear and got to his feet. He quietly made his way towards the gate and left moments later.

Eileen's softish features returned as she sprinted (or tried to, anyway.) towards me. "Henry!" She wailed as she fell to my side. I couldn't respond, I could only watch her as she broke down and sobbed before me. "I let this happen, didn't I?"

I managed to say quietly. "N-no, I just wasn't ready...for him." I lifted my good arm to touch her bruised and bloodied face. "I'll be fine, don't worry." She sniffed, rubbing her nose as she said "But look at yourself! He carved into your skin!" I looked down to see only a fragment of what he wrote. 211-. "What's the rest say?"

She frowned visibly as she said "21."

21121.

21 out of 21.

So he did plan on killing me. No surprise there. "Henry, he was going to take your eyes right out of your head. I couldn't let him do that to you."

I smiled gently. "You didn't now, did you? You actually...kicked his ass, really." I laughed a bit, only to cringe harshly and let out an uncontrolled groan as my ribs burned. She started to tear up again, but managed to rid of the concerned look in her eye. "No, you're alive, and I am too." After a moments pause, she leaned in and gave me a small kiss on the cheek. Despite the fact I was covered in blood, my entire face turned red. A girl's never kissed me before.

I felt stupid worrying about something as little as that when I was half dead, but it brought my spirits up. Eileen undid some of the bandages on her arm cast to wrap up my torso. She was gentle and stopped whenever I winced or groaned. She propped me carefully against the wall and retrieved two peices of wood and some burnt linen to splint up my arm. Setting it was terrible, but she tried to do it as fast and painless as possible. But there was nothing she could do to the carving in my neck. It was probably going to scar, she had said. I was going to have a constant reminder of today because of it. But atleast we were alive. For now, anyway.