"I've noticed a few things about living here." James looked to Josh. "Got any queens?"

Josh shook his head. "Go fish. What sorts of things?"

James reached down to pick a card up from the deck. It was nighttime now, the boarded windows no longer letting any light through. I was surprised that night even existed in strange, imaginary worlds such as these, but apparently life still went on somehow. We had all decided to wait until a new day dawned before we would set out on our respective quests. For now, it was a chance to play a game of cards on the floor with a can of soup for each of us. Our health drink supply was woefully short now, but we would certainly find some more later on. "Well, for one, when I was first here, I never felt the least bit hungry. After I began living here, though, my appetite returned to normal."

"Weird." Josh looked to his right to PH. "Got any twos?" PH grumbled, handing over three twos. Josh accepted them, placing his two of diamonds on top of the stack to lay with his other completed set of eights. "I'm amazed you even found a way to ward off the monsters and even the Otherworld, though. How do you manage it?"

James shrugged. "Well. I'm not about to give anything away, but it's all about figuring out the bane of the darkness." PH waved to me, then tapped the floor four times. I nodded, handing him a four of clubs. "It's the only thing that keeps the nightmare away from here. But I still have to be wary." He gave each of us a suspicious look. "So. How'd you hear about me?"

Josh looked up at me from across the deck. I nodded. "Any aces?" James shook his head. "Hm. Well, for one, there was a guy looking for you. You were reported missing. Aside from that…" I straightened up a bit, improving my posture. "I'm psychic."

James grinned. "Then what am I thinking right now?"

I looked at him for a minute, making sure to peer at him for a good while. "You're thinking about…" I picked a card up from the deck, adding it to my hand. "…How much you doubt my ability to read your mind."

"Very cute. How'd you know my name just from my voice, though?"

I shrugged. "Well, the fact is that I don't have a very good explanation. Think of it this way, though. What if we were all just part of some grand scheme that a creator had set out for us? Maybe he even brags about us to his friends, y'know, and shows his creation off." I straightened my hand of cards up a bit. "That's how I knew."

He shook his head. "I'm not going to get a straight answer from you, am I?" He looked to Josh. "Tens?" As Josh shook his head, he reached down to draw another card. "Why can't you just answer a simple question, though? I've taken you in, haven't I?" He glanced up at PH, as if to add the word "despite" to his sentence. Pyramid Head grumbled with discontent.

I frowned. "It's not a very easy question to answer. Please, just believe me when I say we're not here to do any harm to you."

James didn't look too pleased with the answer, but he seemed to understand that he wouldn't get anything else out of me. "I don't get something, though. I've been able to keep the monsters out, even when the door is wide open." He rearranged his cards a bit. "They can't get in. At all." James pointed to PH. "So what's make him different?"

Josh raised a brow, looking from PH to me. I shook my head. "He's not a monster. He's just stuck in a bad position." I nudged PH's shoulder, smiling. "You're just a regular guy, aren't you?" He snickered a bit, giving a thumbs-up.

"I mean it." James didn't look amused. "He's one of them. Even if he looks humanoid… I mean, come on, his tongue is about a foot long." PH grumbled. "And see? He can't talk."

I pressed my hand of cards to the floor. "See how well you talk with an iron maiden on your head, though." I pointed to the helmet. "That thing is lined with spikes. It's bad enough that he has to wear it, but don't call him a monster just because he can't talk."

"Look, I'm not calling him a monster because he's handicapped, I'm calling him that because he's obviously not natural!" PH's head sank down towards the floor. "He's huge, he clearly can't live on anything other than liquid, and let's face it, no human has a tongue that long."

"Yeah, but he's not a monster!"

"Then what is he?"

I stopped, looking to PH. His head turned towards me, waiting for an explanation. "I…" PH set his cards down on the floor. I bowed my head in defeat. "I don't know… He's just… He's not like us." I looked back to James. "But he's not a monster. The other monsters are afraid of him, too. And…" He didn't look too convinced. I sighed. "Look, what's it matter, anyways?"

"Well, if he's in here, then maybe others can get in, too." James tapped his hand of cards on the floor. "Look. I've been here for years. Up until you guys arrived, I figured I was completely safe here. That guy over there?" He pointed to PH. "He's the only reason I doubt. It's bad enough that my wife is missing, but now I'm sitting here playing cards with a group of strangers who might have something to do with it."

"What do you want, then? What would make you feel better?"

The card game was over. As a last kindness, James had allowed PH to finish his can of soup. After that, it was time to please our host and take PH outside. I pulled him by his wrist, by now used to his chilly, latex-like skin. Pyramid Head grumbled, pulling back a bit. "Sorry, PH." I looked back, pulling him past the threshold of the door into the fog world. "I'm not too happy about this either." His shoulders slumped, his helmet growing moist as the fog clung to it. "Look. We'll be out and about again soon enough. We might be able to convince James that you're not so bad after all." I smiled, giving his shoulder a pat. "I don't think you're bad at all, though. You're not a monster. You're just different. Y'know?" He seemed to consider it a moment, then nodded. "Now… Will you be okay out here on your own?" He nodded again.

Suddenly, his hand lashed out to grab hold of my shoulders, yanking me towards himself. "PH, what-" Pain shot through my body, causing me to cry out. I felt faint, the pain overcoming me. With the bare minimum presence of mind to do so, I looked down. Protruding from my ribs was a rough-shod metal blade, covered in blood. My legs grew weak, Pyramid Head's grip being the only thing holding me up. I heard pounding feet and the door opening. The blade roughly yanked out of me, causing me to cry out again. I pressed a hand to the wound, wincing heavily.

"Holy shit! JANE!" As his eyes started to tear up, Josh spotted the monster behind me. Its legs were covered by corduroy pants, its head covered with a plastic bag. Its forearms bore elbow-length, red rubber gloves. In its hands were two tonfa-like weapons, rectangular pieces of metal with the macabre addition of swinging blades on the ends. One of them bore fresh blood. The creature rubbed its blades together, making a heavy, metallic scraping noise. Josh glared at the monster, starting up his chainsaw. "You! You're DEAD, you bastard!" The monster dashed at Josh, his blades at the ready. Just as he was preparing to lash out and stab him, though, Josh swung his chainsaw over his head with a yell of rage, slicing clean through the Scraper's head, the saw teeth spraying blood and shards of bone everywhere. The Scraper quickly fell to the ground, twitching. James ran over, giving it one last kick as Josh ran to my side. "Oh god. Oh god, please no…"

Pyramid Head eased me to the ground, Josh grabbing hold of my hand. I tried to grip his hand in return, trying to reassure him, to let him know I was still there, but I couldn't muster the strength. "Jane! Jane… Oh god." He leaned in to my face. My blurred vision barely made out his frightened face. "Can you hear me? Hang on… Please hang on…" His words shrank into shaky whispers. "PH, what can we do? Our items… I don't think they'll help at all…"

"They won't." The light tinge of a French accent rendered the voice instantly recognizable. "Trust me." James whirled around, standing between me and the faceless man who now stood by the Scraper's corpse.

James raised a handgun, taking aim at the man. "Who the hell are you?"

Valtiel stepped closer. "You and I have some business to take care of." He chuckled. "But that will come later. For now, I have work to do."

PH groaned, standing up. He reached down, pulling Josh away from me. I whimpered, wanting to reach up to them, afraid to be alone as my sight began to darken. I felt a strong grip wrap around my ankles, hearing shouting above me. The shouting faded into nothingness. The last sound I heard was the rustle of the pavement against my dress as I was dragged along it.