Fear… What a wonderful companion. It refused to leave him alone. It was there, looming over Vincent's shoulder at every moment of night. Right now, he sat in the very back of the room, trying to quiet his own heavy breathing. Three golden, slightly see through, chains littered the floor around him. Two connected to his wrists, and one fastened tightly around his neck. If anything, he was no more than a chained dog in this horrid building he now was forced to call home. What, one may ask, could one man have done to deserve such a terrifying fate? Well, let's just say some things are best left forgotten… for now.

'You know they're going to find you…' The low voice in the back of his mind cruelly taunted.

Vincent would've growled at the voice were it not for his hope of remaining hidden. Just a few months ago he had thought that he held the record of being the most terrifying being on the planet when he was angry. Oh how wrong he was! The children weren't supposed to come back. They weren't supposed to haunt him and mentally beat him for days on end. They used to seem so sweet and innocent but now… he would rather not think about it.

They were monsters. Blood thirsty vengeful monsters out to harm him in any way they possibly can. They were murderers but… it takes one to know one. That was the irony of it all. In trying to get rid of the annoying brats that plagued his life, he created monsters that desired to taunt him and laugh at him. And they did… their laughter echoed in the back of his mind. It wasn't the sweet teasing laughter of a child, however. It was the dark malicious glee of patronizing someone whose mind had already been broken.

'They're coming closer… Can you hear them?' The voice asked.

Yes… he could hear them. He could hear the metal chains that connected them to the suits dragging across the floor as they searched for him. He could hear the clanking of the animatronics moving behind their spirit masters. They were searching for him, and no matter how much he wanted to deny it, the voice in his head was right. They would find him, whether it took three minutes or three weeks. They would find him, and when they did… he shivered, not wanting to think about it. He didn't want to see the truth of the situation but he had no choice. It stared him straight in the face every night.

The scrapping got louder and closer. Vincent buried his head in his arms to muffle the pain filled and fearful breaths that came from him. Closer and closer the sounds came.

"Are you here?" A voice asked in a whisper, her blue glazed over eyes searching around the seemingly empty room. A tattered and blood covered yellow dress hung over the pale girl's body, ruffling against the draft that seemed to blow through the building. A childish bib hung around her neck loosely, a splatter of crimson red staining it's corner.

He huddled closer, not daring to answer the seemingly innocent question. The sound of footsteps came closer. "Why won't you answer us? We only want to play…"

Technically, he was already playing their game. Their demented game of hide and seek. Never in his life before this had he ever thought that he would have something to fear rather than being the object of the fear itself. Now, he knew what the people who had faced his knife and crazed grin so many years ago had felt. And revenge? The children certainly got their revenge. No, they got more than just revenge. They got eternal satisfaction. They had accomplished more than just their revenge when crushing him in that suit and dragging away his life. They unintentionally made it to where he would be stuck there, practically at their nonexistent mercy.

His shallow breathing was apparently beginning to get louder, because the footsteps of the little girl came closer to where he was hiding beneath the broken desk. He could practically feel her smile. "What are you hiding from? Don't you want to play with us?"

He could feel his hair practically stand on end at the chilling and warped voice. 'please leave, please leave, please leave…' He chanted over and over in his mind. All he wanted to do since the day that he committed the brutal crime was forget. They wouldn't let him. They would never let him. He knew that they would remind him every day of the monster that he was. It sickened him. He wanted to be alone, even if only for five minutes, he wanted to be able to rest peacefully without the judgmental voices of the children in his mind. For only a few minutes he wanted to forget his past, his pain. Hell, he would willingly wipe his memory and start his whole life over if he could.

Such hopes were as useless as his chances of being forgiven for what he had done though. Vincent's breath hitched in his throat as he suddenly saw the small crimson covered fingers of the little girl grip the edge of the table above him, as though she was about to peek over. He shook in fear of being caught, even though he knew it was inevitable. She leaned against the table, about to peek over to claim her win of the game when…

CLANK!

Vincent jumped slightly as the sound of one of the pots from the kitchen on the other side of the pizzeria echoed loudly through the halls. The little girl seemed to stop her advance of checking over the table and looked back towards the noise. There was a pause before her fingers slowly retracted from the edge of the table and a few footsteps, then…silence.

For a few seconds, he didn't dare move or disturb the silence that lingered. Had she left? It certainly seemed like it. He waited a few more seconds but nothing happened. With angst and fear of the unknown weighing heavily on him, he cautiously turned and looked over the table. The room was empty, no sign of the girl. With a slight spark of relief, he let his breath return to him and went back under the table.

"Found you…" The unfortunately familiar feminine voice sounded right next to his ear and Vincent froze up in horror.