A/N: This is dedicated to all the old, and new readers who took their time to go thru all 25 chapters of this seemingly endless story! (I kid, there is an end so please stay in tuned for updates) Anyway, I've been gone for a long time, and I know I owe you guys an explanation.

First off I'd like to thank everyone who messaged me, and encouraged me to keep going even after seeing when this story was last updated. You guys are one of my biggest inspirations. Please don't stop, it helps me keep going. I'd also like to thank my awesome detectives, you know who you all are. Great detective work my sherlocks because all of you are REALLY close to the truth, haha.

Secondly – ...sigh, a lot has happened... it's been the toughest year for me yet. I won't bore you into the details, but things are finally settling down, and the updates will be more frequent (like how it used to be when it first started, 1 - 2 weeks per update), I hope you all will be patient with me and continue reading on.

Lastly, I hope you enjoy~

Disclaimer: I do not own DP, cuz if I did I'd make more episodes.

Chapter 26

"Pretty neat." Tucker pushed his glasses back up the bridge of his nose.

"Yeah, she's quite the minimalist." Sam agreed, looking around but not touching anything.

"That's good," I deduced, "Lesser things to go through, I just hope we find something useful."

Tucker pursed his lips into a line as we started our search, I can already tell what he was thinking. Hacking into a guarded security system and going through personal property are two different things.

My eyes skimmed through the apartment once more and, recalling what the old man had said, I found that it definitely matched his story. Whether or not that was a good thing I couldn't say.

The kitchen was the first room we decided to investigate. Opening the fridge, I found half a dozen eggs, and carton of expired milk. At the bottom were a couple of rotten vegetables, and at the top was a stick of butter that seemed to be untouched. There was an ice cream box at the corner of the freezer, next to chunks of frozen meat.

Sam made a face when she saw it, but decided not to comment.

The cupboards were filled with what you would normally find in any home. Some sugar, jam, and a few spices were at one end, honey, loose tea leaves, and surprisingly a box of unopened mac n' cheese on the other.

Besides an abandoned chicken leg on the stove, everything was clean.

"She didn't even think of eating it at least before leaving." Tucker sighed. "Such a waste of good meat."

Sam scoffed. "Well, considering she was running away from a manipulative boyfriend, I could understand why."

"Boyfriend?" I faced her and raised my brow. "Where did you get that idea from?"

"The old man told us about overhearing her just before she disappeared." The goth told me. "Something to do with not wanting to be used again."

I thought for a moment. "Yeah, I remember that." Vaguely... But she didn't need to know that.

Sam smirked at me. I guess she already knew.
"So, her solution was to run away from her problem." Tucker mused.

"Maybe she didn't have a choice." Sam said, biting her lip. "What if it was some sort of abusive relationship?"

"Wow," I put my hands up, "slow down there."

"What else could've made her run away, Danny?" Sam frowned. "I mean, if it was just some normal problem, I doubt she would up and leave."

"She has a point." Tucker agreed, less enthusiastic. "But that's only a theory."

"A logical theory." Sam pointed out.

I sighed. "I guess so..." I didn't like the thought of it; I don't think anyone in his or her right mind would. "Lets keep looking."

Much to our silent relief, we didn't find any photos. Actually, there were no frames anywhere. She must've packed it all when she left.

The bedroom was slightly disheveled. A drawer was open but empty as expected. The wardrobe was bare, but the bathroom had a bar of soap and small shampoo bottles.

Sam looked through the vanity mirror, and found lip-glosses lying about randomly.

"Looks like she really did leave in a hurry." Tucker was under the bed and he pulled out an old worn out shoebox.

It was filled with old letters, scrunched up paper, a journal, and a red cased pen. I nearly choked when I remembered where I saw a pen similar to it. I slipped my hand in my pocket and pulled out that same one that we found in the rubble under the stage.

"You carry that around with you?" Tucker questioned hesitantly.

"Um, not really. Pure coincidence I guess." I shrugged. It really was just a coincidence I decided to bring the evidence with me today.

We set the pens side by side, and boy was it a match. It gleamed at us as if it knew something we didn't.

Tucker dug through the opened letters.

"Guys," Sam called out to get our attention. She pointed at a cassette recorder on the bedside table.

"Oh man, I haven't seen one of these in ages!" Tucker's eyes grew with curiosity and amazement. He picked it up and gave it a quick check. "It looks like it'll still work."

"By ages you mean, since you could barely walk?" Sam smirked.

"Tomato, tom-ah-to." Tucker shrugged.

"Should we listen to it?" I looked at it warily. I was torn between looking at this in a positive light and a negative light. Positive because we found something that could potentially be useful, negative because I don't know what to expect when we play it.

"We got nothing to loose." The techno geek said, then looked at all of us before he we can to a unanimous agreement. He hit the play button and at first we were greeted with some static.

We got home late that evening, and by late I mean the new "standard" of being at home before sun down kind of late. The sun was just showing off its last rays of light when I got into the house only to be bombarded by my sister.

"Danny!" She hissed. "Where were you? You didn't answer your phone!"

I held my hands up in surrender and scratched the back of my neck. "Sorry, I was with Sam and Tuck investigating Ms. G's place."

She sighed wearily and took my wrist. "You're lucky Mom and Dad are too busy in their lab to notice your little slip up."

I hung my head not wanting to think about it. As far as any one else knows, there's a criminal on the lose who doesn't seem to be afraid to draw blood. The image of our principal flashed in my mind and I quickly shooed it away.

"Sorry…" I murmured.

Reaching my bedroom, my sister took a seat at my desk chair and folded her arms to her chest. "So what did you find out?"

I pointed to my bag near her feet.

Digging through it she found the cassette player. She looked at me confused.

"We found it on under Ms. G's bed." I told her. I sat up and rubbed my neck.

My sister studied the player again before shuffling around my drawers. She pulled out a headset and jacked it in.

zzzttt… –

Ms. G: Hello, this is… day 1 of my supposed "Physiological Therapy" – But for the record, I AM NOT CRAZY! Sorry… I guess I should begin when all this first started.

It was a normal day at Casper High. The students just got their cast finalized when the first accident happened. Mrs. Nettle fell off the staircase, not something completely alien but what confused me was the bruise that started to form on her ankle. It looked eerily like a hand, as if someone pulled her down the staircase. She was laughing it off though. Then suddenly she disappeared. The next time I saw her was…

Jazz heard the ex nurse gulp and gulped along with her. We all did when we were reminded of what happened to Mrs. Nettle.

The taped played itself in my mind

zzzttt… –

I don't know what's gotten into me…

My memory feels… incomplete. I can't remember most things. Not like bad memory or anything, but it felt more like a black out – it's absurd. I've never faced anything like it before.

My sister cleared her throat and furrowed her brows.

zzzttt… –

Sometimes I feel like I'm being watched… I first thought I had a stalker. A chill always ran down my spine when I left the school grounds… as if something or someone wanted to keep me there…

But then I started to feel it at home too – eyes… always on me…

Watching…

zzzttt… –

Mrs. Nettle's voice became a hurried whisper.

I think I saw something…

zzzttt… –

He's in my head. I don't know how I know but I do. He's making me do things. I can't… *inhales sharply* I can't remember what… but there have been many accidents happening lately surrounding the school play. That damn play…

I don't know what I did but I know I did something…

One of my students… Baxter, Dash Baxter, came into the office today. He said he fell through the stage, which was impossible because the floorboards were sturdy. I knew I done something… It's at the back of my head…

zzzttt… –

There was a loud sound that exited the earphones, and I knew instantly that my sister was nearing the end of the tape.

Ms. G: I can't take it anymore. I'm going mad… I can hear him… constantly whispering in my ear. I have to leave. I can't take this… The farther away I go the better –

Jazz looked up at me, and pulled her earphones out.

A/N: That's all for today, chapter 27 is being written as you read this.

See you all soon! And don't forget to review, I want to know what you guys think.