This one is a bit of a short one. It's one of those chapters that has a lot happen in a short amount of time, and putting any more in would be excessive. It took me a while to get the hang of writing this one, but I like how it turned out.

The path ahead led across a stone bridge. The bridge was naturally formed but had an artificial path hewn in, with cobblestone and marble railings marked by columns that seemed purely for decoration. Aya had to wonder just when her parents had all of this stuff built. The basement seemed to have been constructed inside a natural cave complex underneath the house. Aya sighed in anticipation of the many winding pathways she would inevitably have to trek through.

Aya made her way across the bridge, trying desperately not to look down into the inky abyss below. She felt sorry for the workers who had to handle this part of the construction. The bridge ended in a narrow archway that led into a larger hallway pointing east. The hallway that more closely resembled the stonework of the rest of the basement. Inside the hallway were several discarded oil drums and Aya wondered why there were so many of those just laying around. Did it take that long to bring them to the incinerator? Why not have a pipeline installed and pump it in outside? Have the workers just empty it into the pump. What were they burning so much of, anyway? The six barrels here were already excessive for the amount of medical waste the Doctor could be disposing of, even with the killings.

Aya turned the corner and headed down a long staircase at the end of the hallway. She entered the dark hall that continued at the bottom, only to find herself back at the entrance to the hall with the barrels. She turned around in confusion, leaning out into the room before. Sure enough, the bridge was there, hanging over the void.

Huh? But… didn't I just go down the stairs? What is this?

Aya shook her head and returned to the stairs. She headed down them once more, and once more she found herself at the beginning of the passage. She groaned in frustration. She decided to try the stairs once more. Senseless as it felt, what other option was there?

Just as she was about to repeat the cycle again, something appeared in the corner of her eye. She turned to see a young woman standing in the corner, facing the wall. She had long black hair reaching down to her mid back and was wearing a hospital gown. Aya couldn't see her face, and braced herself for the worse as she approached the woman.

Aya's imagination toyed with her as she got closer. She saw the woman's face countless times. A bare skull, long stripped of flesh, a permanent grin affixed to her face that stretched from ear to ear, a blank, featureless area where a face should be, an all-consuming void, and countless other possibilities filled her mind, each one more disturbing than the last. Aya finally got close enough, and put a shaking hand on the woman's shoulder.

The woman turned to reveal a completely normal human face. She was gaunt and pale, with dark circles under her eyes. Her eyes were blank, and seemed to be looking lazily in Aya's general direction rather than at her specifically; it was the expression of someone so used to misery that it barely even registered anymore. Aya felt her nervousness make way for sympathy.

"U-Um, are you keeping me from going ahead?" Aya asked, as politely as she could.

The woman nodded.

"I need to get through here to save my father. So please let me through." Aya soon realized how uncompelling that statement was.

The woman looked at her skeptically.

"What can I do to convince you?" Aya felt for the woman, but she didn't know how much time she had. She hoped she could appease her quickly.

The woman motioned to the archway. Aya looked, but didn't see anything. She walked forward and the woman followed. Aya reached the bridge and turned to her.

"Why are you following me?"

The woman simply gazed at her, a twinge of desperation in her otherwise blank expression.

"Do you want to go home?"

The woman nodded sadly.

"Do you want to go out?" Aya asked again, hoping leading her out of the house would fulfill her wish. She had no idea where this woman lived and certainly didn't have time to lead her all the way there.

She nodded again. Aya suddenly felt guilty for her exasperation. She wanted to help these spirits, but the toll of having to grant so many of her father's victims' peace in increasingly elaborate and time-consuming ways on limited sleep was starting to weigh on her.

"I see… Come with me, I'll take you outside. Then let me through here, okay?" Aya offered her hand to the woman, who took it. Her bony hand struggled to manage a solid grip. Aya mustered up a smile, and lead her back the way she came.

As they made their way back to the basement entrance, Aya experienced a vision. She stood in the morgue, confused and afraid. She was shivering as much from fear as from the cold dampness of the room around her. Her feet were cold, the cobblestone floor sapping the heat from them.

Huh? This place… Aya looked around, and then down at her body. Wait…I… These are that woman's clothes. What's going on?

Aya made her way quickly to the exit of the morgue. As she reached the door, it flew open. The Doctor entered holding his chainsaw, his face concealed with a medical mask. He approached menacingly.

Father! Aya wanted to shout but for some reason no sound would come out.

"Stay still, won't you?" The Doctor spoke coldly.

Father? Aya's excitement was quickly replaced with fear.

"Now, shall we begin?" The doctor said and turned on his chainsaw.

W-what's father doing? Aya stepped back in fear. It was the first time in her life she truly feared the man.

"Let me have those beautiful hands." The Doctor's voice was dripping with gleeful anticipation.

Stop father! It's me! Aya tried to speak but nothing came out. The Doctor continued his advance. I can't speak!

Aya tried to run, but her legs were frozen. Soon they gave out and she fell to the floor. Oh no… Those were her last thoughts before her vision went black. She heard mad laughter and the sound of a revving chainsaw, before snapping back to reality.

Aya fell to the floor, breathing rapidly. She looked around and realized the woman was gone. She slowly got to her feet, and placed her hand on her chest. Her heart was beating rapidly, and for a moment she felt light-headed. She carefully made her way back to the room where she first found the woman.

She found the woman laying in a pool of her own blood. Her hands had been messily severed and her eyes were wide with horror. Aya remembered her vision, and began quaking with fear. She felt light-headed again, and leaned against the wall to regain her composure.

After a few minutes, Aya finally regained her composure. She glanced over at the woman's corpse. Strangely, the gore didn't really bother her, she was too used to it by now. Even before the start of this madness, she'd seen her fair share. But the more she examined the scene, the more she thought about the vision. After a moment, she ushered up the courage to walk over to the woman, and close her eyes for her. It wasn't much, but at leash she looked more at peace this way.

Aya realized that in the confusion that she'd left her own chainsaw back on the bridge. The sight of the bloodied weapon made her pause, but it was the only means of defense she had. She reluctantly collected the tool and made her way forward.

So you may have noticed that I've slowed down a bit in updating (as in, a chapter every few days instead of like, five a day). I had finals this week so I didn't really have the time or energy to write much. I may slow down a bit to recuperate, and to get my creative juices flowing again. I feel like the last couple of chapters, while good, weren't quite up to par. I think some rest would do me good. Then again, Idk what else to do with my time. We'll see.

I know some people get nervous when updates deviate from the normal schedule since sometimes that can go on for a very long time. I get like that sometimes, since there's no real way to know what's going on. Rest assured, the story will be completed. I have wanted to write this for a couple years now, I'm not going to quit before it's done. This warning may be a bit excessive since, in all likelihood, I won't be slowing down that much (I'm not overexerting myself, I just have an open schedule and hypefixate on things for long periods of time). But the last thing I want is for anyone to get anxious about this, given my own experiences, and I want to establish my dedication to finishing this fic now incase I really DO need a longer hiatus.