"Can I come in?" Tyler asked, that same concerned expression stuck on his face.

Your mouth was uncomfortably wide open and you couldn't get a word out no matter how hard you tried. You could only shake your head in response as your whole body became overwhelmed with violent shudders.

Shock was the first thing to hit you, although it was quickly followed by intense, primal fear.

Why? How did you let this happen?

You blinked, heavy and slow, unattached to your body, it felt like you were underwater. It was an attempt to wake up from this nightmare, but you never did. No, this was real. You were living and breathing this moment. You gave yourself to a monster, the monster who has been hunting you. You were completely and utterly powerless. You have always been when it came to this monster's twisted, sick games.

You couldn't take it anymore. You didn't think your heart was equipped to handle this.

"No, no you can't come in, I'm sorry, you can't!" you yelled at Tyler before slamming the door in his face.

"Hey, please open up! I need to talk to you," Tyler begged, banging on the door.

"No, go away! Please just go!" you cried, pressing your body against the door.

"I don't think you should be alone right now, and neither do I. Please don't push me away," Tyler persisted.

"Did you not hear me? I said go away! Please Tyler, I don't need this from you right now!" you shouted back.

Tyler knocked on the door one more time and sighed in frustration. You could hear him lingering around the door but after a long moment you didn't feel his presence there anymore. You couldn't bear to look at him, right now. You wouldn't be able to physically stomach it.

You stared vacantly at the room before you, your breaths slow and shallow, each one was painful. It was suffocating in the worst possible way. Everything seemed to be spiraling around you, you could hardly see straight, your body heaving as you tried to catch your breath. You were trembling, your mind racing as you replayed what happened in your head again and again and again. You started gasping in air but it was getting stuck in your throat. Your eyes were brimming with tears, your face as pale as a ghost. You were coughing, shoulders shaking as you try to pull in more air, though it remained futile. You were cowering against the door, unable to hide from your own mind. There was a tingling in your fingers and when you looked down at your shaking hands, it was the only thing that you could focus on. It was like an out-of-body experience, and you were watching a tragedy unfold before you, only you were hoping that the main character wasn't you, but it was.

The noise in your head was incredibly loud. It was overstimulating to the point of madness. You wanted it to stop, you needed some semblance of sanity, some bastion of peace. But you were here in your room, breathing heavily, eyes burning. Your heart was pounding away as if you were getting stabbed in the chest repeatedly, it was tight and hot and restricting. You could feel–––hear your heart beating rapidly, you felt like it was about to burst right out of your chest.

Tears streamed down your face, great heaving sobs wracked your body. Your hands curled and uncurled in your hair. Sweat beads formed on your forehead. Your stomach churned. You shuddered again, practically doubling over. You whispered to yourself, "Make it stop, make it stop, please, make it stop."

You didn't know how to deal with this crushing weight that was against your chest, crushing your ribs and piercing your heart. You stayed against your door, trying to focus on anything other than the monster, that malevolent clown.

Once your breathing had slowed down more and your shaking and unceasing panic had eased somewhat, the only sign of your distress was the tears falling down your cheeks like little waterfalls and the incessant pain in your chest. You took in air, deep and slow. In through your nose, out through your mouth. The itch in your throat died, but you could still feel an it in your bones, under your skin, in your head.

You stepped away from the door, but not without stumbling and nearly falling to the ground.

"I-I know it was you! You can come out! Stop hiding, why don't you?!" you screamed, your hands formed into fists. You were challenging him–––it–––whatever this monster was.

There was no answer. Silence was the only response, it rung back to you and it was deafening.

"Please stop! I know you can hear me! Please just stop! I can't take it! Please!" you begged, the words coming straight from your throat.

"I've had enough! I can't do this anymore, I can't! Stop it!" you continued, but again, there was no answer. Your breathing was still hitched, but it started to slow to a much more manageable rate.

"Why? Why? Why?!" you screamed, grabbing fistfuls of your hair, eyes full or rage. "Why me?!"

You slumped to the ground next to the wall and started rocking back and forth. Your hands remained in your hair and you stared down at your knees as you kept them pressed against your body. You were going crazy, out of your mind. This was bad, really bad. You didn't know what to do with yourself. You didn't want to be alone, but at the same time you didn't want to be around other people, because you couldn't tell the difference between what was real and what wasn't anymore, that line was blurred, dangerously so.

What followed was the loudest silence you had ever experienced. The cacophony of your thoughts were turbulent and terrible, and you couldn't escape the crushing weight of what you just experienced. You bit back a sob and brought a hand up to wipe your eyes. You didn't have time to fall apart. You knew that you couldn't stay here a moment longer. You had to get out of the house.

There was still work to do.

You decided that you should go search for Lily again. You felt wrong whenever you were not doing everything in your power to find her and you really needed to focus on anything but what just happened. No, you couldn't bring yourself to think about that right now. You had to look for Lily. You took off your robe in a hurry and slipped on a pair of grey pants and a matching hoodie.

It was past midnight and you started wandering in the woods with only a flashlight. The night air was cold and biting, the sky a deep shade of blue and the moon was full and bright, casting a pale glow on everything below. The wind plucked at your clothes and tugged at your hood. You pulled your hood low over your eyes, your footsteps a quiet whisper over the ground as you ventured further into the woods.

You were twitchy, your eyes flitting to every rustling leaf and snapping twig as if they were warning signs. In the darkness, you thought you could see shadows out of the corner of your eyes, shifting and fading away when you looked directly at them, and it was just about driving you crazy. Your nerves were already grated down to their last thread and you didn't need shadows that weren't there to finally make you snap.

You knew you shouldn't be out here at this time of night but sitting around doing nothing wasn't helping and you couldn't just pray that Lily would find her way back, you had to do something about it. It certainly wasn't proper or safe for a young woman such as yourself to be out alone at this hour. As a girl, you had been told many stories about things that lurked in the night. You knew of the monsters, the depraved strangers, but you couldn't pay mind to that when Lily was in danger and she needed your help.

The branches around you shook and creaked loudly. You shivered, taking another step and a leaf crunched underneath your boot. The wind whistled through the trees, crickets chirped. In the distance a dog barked and a man yelled at it. Your foot landed squarely in a mud patch the light rainstorm earlier that day brought on. You muttered a few words your mother would have been abhorred you knew and stomped on.

You kept a steady pace, trying to keep your eyes fixed ahead rather than the surrounding shade.

You pulled your jacket tighter around yourself. It had been hours since the rain had dissipated, but night had come before the sun could warm the world again. A part of you minded the cold, but you were far more worried about your little sister.

You looked once more through the woods, hoping to see a flicker, even a small one, of movement. There were none. You started to call your little sister's name because if she was hiding out here like in one of the bushes, maybe she'd hear you and come running out, green leaves stuck in her hair and she'd be safe in your arms. That was just wishful thinking, though.

The trees were serene, quiet but for the winds whispering through them. An owl hooted somewhere from the darkness and fluttered into silent flight. You slowed your pace, incredibly aware of the crunch of dead leaves and twigs beneath your feet. You were on high alert, your eyes darting from tree to tree and the shadows in between.

The woods stretched on seemingly forever, like there was no end to the narrow path in front of you or the choices you could venture off to. It was getting difficult to keep track of where you came from and where to go from here. God, maybe this wasn't such a good idea coming out at this time of night by yourself.

Coming to a stop, you placed your hands on your hips, slowly turned around in a circle a couple times, gaze wandering over the massive expanse of trees surrounding you and nodded. Yup, you were one hundred percent lost. You did not recognize anything around you. Not that there really was anything that stood out as being recognizable but the fact remained, you couldn't place where you were. And since you didn't know where you were, you had no idea where to go. You pushed strands of your hair away from your forehead, letting out a frustrated sigh through your nose as you took another look around. Getting lost was not going to help Lily.

There was no landmarks or really anything to indicate where you were. Far as you knew, you were stranded in the middle of nowhere. Nervously biting your lip, fighting down the beginning stirrings of panic, you wondered if you should turn around and attempt to go back the way you came. That seemed like a good option since continuing to go forward would only put more distance between you and your house. Nodding again, you quickly decided that would be what you'd try. Turning around, you took one step forward and came to the immediate realization that you didn't know what way you had come from. During your pirouettes, you had completely loss sense of your bearings.

You stared up at the canopy of the big trees for a moment then uttered under your breath, "Fuck."

You weren't going to panic. You would not allow yourself to panic. If you panicked, you would end up doing something stupid. There had been more than enough stupidity from you today. No, you would need to tackle this like a battlefield. Utterly calm, composed, and thinking through everything carefully. Taking a deep breath, you held it for a couple seconds then let it out very slowly. You didn't feel any better afterwards but you could, at least, think a bit more clearly. First, you needed to figure out which way you had come from. There had to be some kind of indication anywhere that you would be able to recognize.

Looking around you with a careful, scrutinizing gaze, you quickly discovered that there was absolutely nothing that told you anything. There was no certain spot or area that looked any differently from anywhere else. In fact, you couldn't remember having seen anything that stood out. Just trees and trees and more trees. If there had been a stream or even a pile of rocks, that would have been something but all you could remember was passing by trees.

Okay, now the panic was beginning to get a lot stronger. Shaking it off, you scrubbed your face hard with the palms of your hands. You came to the conclusion that the best option would be to just choose a direction and start walking. It wasn't a good option but better than just standing around, slowly being overwhelmed by trepidation. Unfortunately, you were just going to have to hope for the best. You shuddered at the mere thought of leaving your fate up to just chance but as of right now, there was no other option left to you. Taking another breath, you spun around in a slow circle then picked a direction at random.

Didn't look any better or worse than anywhere else so might as well. You still hesitated for a few moments, really not wanting to go that way or really any way unless you had some kind of concrete proof that you were going the right way, which now you weren't even sure if there was a right or wrong way anymore. Scratching your cheeks, internally berating yourself for being stupid enough to get yourself lost, you sighed, straightened your shoulders and took a step forward. Did not feel good, did not feel good at all. You took a couple more steps, feeling apprehensive of your choice with every moment, when suddenly, a familiar voice called out.

"There you are!"

Letting out a startled yelp, you whirled around to find Tyler, standing right behind you.

The sight of him did nothing to relieve the tension from your body, and after the encounter in your bedroom, you didn't know if it was really your Tyler, or not.

"Didn't I tell you to leave me alone?! God, Tyler, can you not take a hint?!" you yelled, pushing him away with both hands. "You were following me this whole time?!"

"Kind of, yeah. I was really worried about you, and you're out here by yourself, in the woods, in the dark, that's just asking for trouble, it's a recipe for disaster and you know that," Tyler said in his defense, but you weren't having it.

"I need to do this, okay? I need to! With or without anybody's help," you snapped. "So please, just stop following me!"

"Hey, can you just hear me out and stop pushing me away for one second?" Tyler asked, desperation in his tone.

You placed a hand on your hip and looked at him with a glare. "What? What is it?"

"I heard you talking to yourself, well it was more like you were screaming," Tyler started.

"Don't worry about it. It's none of your concern, alright?" you said, turning away because it was difficult to look him in the eye now.

"What got you so riled up? Did something happen?" Tyler persisted. "You know, just because we're broken up, doesn't mean I don't care about you. You can still talk to me."

"It's not important, okay? So stop pestering me about it!" you yelled at him and continued on your way in the woods, but Tyler followed you, much to your dismay.

"You were really upset, it sounded like someone was terrorizing you," Tyler said as he walked next to you.

"You don't know the half of it," you mumbled under your breath.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Tyler asked.

"It means I tried to talk to you about this shit but you didn't listen, or you didn't care, or maybe it was both! I don't know, but I tried! I needed someone to talk to and you just made me feel like I was crazy," you yelled, throwing your hands up dramatically.

"What are you talking about? Of course I care! I'm just really concerned because I don't understand, so help me understand, let me in," Tyler pleaded.

"I don't want to talk about it, okay? So drop it! Please just drop it! That's all I'm asking of you," you said, your rage boiling over.

"You shouldn't be searching for Lily at this time of night especially by yourself. There's a lot of freaks that come out, lurking in the darkness. It's really not safe," Tyler said, attempting to reason with you.

"I can't sleep to save my life! I can't! And every moment that I'm not searching for her matters! I have to find her! If anything happens to her, I-"

"Nothing's gonna happen to Lily, I swear," Tyler cut you off, clasping a hand over your shoulder and looking back at you with earnest eyes. There was honesty and sincerity and love dancing behind those irises and you felt in your heart that it was real. This was your Tyler. That kind of emotion could not be faked. You were sure it was him, but hadn't you been sure it was your Tyler earlier? No, now wasn't the same to be having doubts. You had to believe it was him. It was him.

"I just can't let anything happen to her, she's supposed to be my responsibility, and if anything does, I've failed her," you said with a frown and continued wandering through the woods, avoiding his gaze. "She's been gone for too long. I'm scared that––I'm scared-"

"She's going to come home because we are going to find her. Together," Tyler reassured, cutting you off.

You nodded your head.

You two delved further into the woods, walking side by side. You didn't dare bring up the incident in the bedroom, you couldn't bear Tyler looking at you like you were crazy, not again. If you were being honest with yourself, you were starting to believe that maybe there was some truth to that. Maybe you were going crazy, but you weren't about to admit that to anyone.

"You know, any time you head out to look for Lily, all you gotta do is ask me and I'll join you," Tyler offered with a smile.

"Thanks, I appreciate that, but I can handle this on my own," you answered.

"You say that, but another pair of eyes couldn't hurt, right?" Tyler said, raising his brows.

You scoffed. "You're really fucking persistent."

"You need me to hang up flyers, spread the word around, go searching in the forest, whatever. I'm down for that, I just want to do my part and bring Lily home," Tyler said sincerely.

You sighed. "I'm sorry for blowing up on you. There's just too much going on and things have been so hard."

"I get it. You don't need to explain yourself to me, I understand," Tyler assured. "You're going through a lot and I want to make things easier for you."

"I know," you answered.

With Tyler's assistance, you two found a street and started walking under a streetlight. You glanced down at the cement beneath you and you spotted small muddy footprints that came from sneakers. The pattern of the footprints resembled Lily's sneakers.

"Hey, look. This – This looks like Lily's sneakers," you said, looking back at Tyler. You and Tyler walked over in a hurry, following the muddy footprints.

You looked ahead and the footprints led to a storm drain. You and Tyler rushed over, adrenaline pumping through your veins. You two knelt down near the storm drain and there you found torn up costumes stuck by the bars, there were capes clinging to them. You noticed the costumes looked vaguely familiar. Then you realized they were the costumes of the little boys who knocked on your door that fateful Halloween day.

The little boys who were dressed up as Batman, Superman, and Thor. Now their costumes were by the storm drain, like someone or something had dragged them down there. You could feel something twisting and turning in your gut.

You and Tyler exchanged somber looks.