Warning: This chapter contains implied reference to suicide

Erin's memory, although blurry, had severed her correct. She had remembered the bus route and they'd made it in less than an hour. Nate and Erin were now standing outside a dilapidated ground floor flat in a grim looking area.

"Are you sure this is the correct place?" Nate asked

Erin nodded "I remember being left out here whilst mum went drinking" she said motioning to the front door step.

She took a step forward towards the door and gave it a little push, it was locked and no amount of ramming from either Nate or Erin would budge it.

"What are you going to do now?" Nate said resting his hands on his knees whilst he got his breath back.

Erin wrinkled her nose as she glanced around, she'd been relying on the door to be open or at least be less secure. She looked around and finally a smile broke across her face when she realised her way in had been right under her nose.

"Give me a leg up," she said to Nate, motioning to the boarded up window.

"Erin…" Nate said reluctantly, it looked dangerous and Erin was hardly the most graceful person.

Erin just rolled her eyes and started to hoist herself up. Nate decided it would be less risky if he helped her up, at least then she was less likely to knock herself out in the process. With Nate's help, she was level with the window and managed to prise the boarding off the window.

"Are you going to fit through there?" Nate asked

"What are you trying to say?" Erin said twisting back to look at him

"Erin, please concentrate on the window and not plunging to your death," Nate sighed

"It's only a short drop," she said looking down

"Onto rock hard concrete," Nate said trying not to picture what would happen if she slipped.

"I'm going in," she said swinging one leg into the room "Nate and Erin's awesome adventure continues"

That was the last Nate saw of Erin as she slipped through the window and into the darkness of the house. He heard no noise from her apart from the small thump as she dropped to the floor.

"Five minutes," Nate called

"Yes dear," Erin shouted back

Inside the house, it was dark and damp. There was just enough light to see and Erin could just make out some battered old furniture and a dented television that looked worse for wear. She searched through the draws in the kitchen but she could find nothing there apart from some dirty cutlery. She sighed, there seemed to be no other obvious hiding places in the house.

Erin was on the brink of giving up when she spotted the battered old bed in the corner. She smiled to herself; it was the perfect place to hide things out of sight and mind. Dropping reluctantly to her hands and knees, she crawled until she was level with the bed and pushed the top half of her body underneath it. The dust was thick under there and it made Erin sneeze, however dust was the only thing that seemed to have taken up refuge in the bed. Feeling her muscles start to cramp she tried to move out but only succeeded in banging her head on the iron bed frame. Her eyes started to water and she tried to move her hand to rub the bump on her skull, it was just as she was doing this action that her hand brushed against something.

In the corner was a battered old shoebox, Erin grabbed it and pulled herself out of the claustrophobic space. The dim light in the room showed the shoebox was in as bad a condition as the rest of the room but Erin was undeterred. Setting it down on the floor next to her she gingerly opened the lid to reveal a whole bunch of papers nestled within the yellow cardboard structure.

"What is all of this?" Erin mumbled to herself

As she searched through the box, she found stacks of photographs of her mother and Nora. She set these down on the floor, turning them over so she didn't have to see her mother's face. The room was ghostly enough without the eyes of her dead mother following and watching her every move. There seemed to be no trace of Erin pr her father in the box, there were no photos of anyone apart from ghouls of her past. Even when she came across her mother's wedding album, she found that her fathers face had been cut out of all the photos turning what should have been happy photographs into eerie works of surreal art.

Right at the bottom of the art, half hidden by the rest of the contents was a yellowed envelope. When she picked it up, she gasped as she saw her name scrawled across the front in beautiful italic handwriting. Erin didn't recognise the handwriting, it wasn't like her mother's block capitals or Nora's scratchy scrawl. This was something new and striking; Erin was shaking as she opened the envelope and pulled out the paper inside. With shaking hands and an aching heart, she started to read.

My darling Erin,

I'm sorry I have to write this letter but you deserve to know why I am no longer in your life. Erin, I can't find the words to describe how happy you make me, I am honoured to be your father but I can't stay and watch you grow up.

You were the smallest baby I have ever seen, the doctor's didn't even think you'd make the night, but I knew you would. My little fighter, you have surprised us all reaching your first birthday. But I can't stay any longer Erin and I'm sorry. I know you might not understand why I have done this and I'm not sure I can even find the words to explain.

Your mother and me met when we were still in school and we married when we were still children. However, people grow up and change, your mother changed from the sweet girl I once knew into a monster. Things got worse and worse between us until she found out she was pregnant with you. I thought this would bring us back together but sometimes things are too broken to fix.

Erin, I know that sometimes your mother won't act in a loving way but know that you have not suffered alone. I wish I could be there to soothe every bruise and slap, I wish I could hold you and soothe you when you cry from the pain and I wish I could tell you things will work out but I can't.

I don't expect you to accept what I have done but if you let me into your heart, I will always stay there. Erin, there are good people in the world and I know that times are dark but if you can find that small sanctuary in the darkness then it will make the pain just that little bit more bearable.

I have to go now my love, know that I love you forever and always. You will eternally have my heart as you did when I first set eyes on you. Please keep on fighting and searching for that sanctuary, I will always be with you when you want me.

I love you my darling little girl and I want you to know that. None of this is your fault. I am giving this note to your godmother in the hope she will explain it to you one day.

My eternal love to you my beloved,

Dad

Erin was shaking all over as she read the words on the paper. She felt sick and clammy as she took in what she was holding. The tears bubbled up inside of her and streamed down her cheeks. This was her father's suicide note, something he had left for her and something that Nora had cruelly taken away from her. A chiming of the clock brought her to her senses and she remembered Nate was still waiting outside, slipping the note into her pocket she made her way out of the room. Still shaking she managed to make it through the window.

"Nate, I found it," she called as she dropped to the floor.

However it wasn't Nate that was waiting for her outside the window, but a stern looking police officer.