Walking home from school that day, Todd couldn't help but feel guilty for making that lady so upset. It was written all over her face and he knew he should have just kept his mouth shut. It was just too weird to be running into "the one that got away" after all this time. What was even weirder, though, was running into her after everything started happening again.

It wasn't more than a few hours before running into her on the street that day that Todd started hearing sounds coming from inside house number 777. At first, it was just this creepy cracking noise. It sounded like something was ready to snap from the inside. And then late last night, well... it did.

You see, Todd was finally on the brim of falling asleep when a loud, thunderous crack (it sounded like an explosion) brought him back to the real world. He leapt up out of bed and ran over to his window, seeing if Nny's house had self-destructed or something, but there was nothing. So whatever happened, happened from the inside. It struck Todd as rather strange, though, considering his neighbors house had been inactive for the past few years after he left.

He wondered if someone had broken in and did something to cause the disruption, but that was highly unlikely. Nny's house has been condemned and everyone in the city thinks it's the most haunted location in the world. Kids try and dare each other on Halloween to go spend the night inside, but no one makes it past the front door. Although, that might just be because whenever you get too close to the house, the smell of rotting... everything... overwhelms your senses.

That was the other strange thing Todd didn't understand. With Nny's house being condemned by the city, they were supposed to knock it down, clean it up, and build a new house ages ago. But after the contract with the demolition company was signed, they called off the destruction due to "equipment failure." It wasn't just one machine, though. Every single piece of machinery owned by Knock-R-Down suddenly malfunctioned. The day that was announced was the last time Todd heard any noises coming from inside the house.

But now that he ran into that lady... Devi, he thought her name was. Yes, now that he ran into her, the house seemed to pick back up on its activity. Aside from that loud crack, it didn't seem to be anything major, but it was still creepy and more than likely dangerous, because there was no one inside to be making noises like that. Fearing for his and his family's safety, Todd decided to investigate that old tunnel that led from his house to Nny's. He wasn't what you would call brave, but he was extremely curious and scared. If the monsters had surfaced again without Nny there, he feared more than anything that they would come to his house.

But putting that aside, Todd tried to piece everything together. He ran into Devi not too long ago, and just based on the two encounters he had with her, he had his own suspicions that she was also mixed up in this somehow. She had dated Nny, almost got killed, and then got away. And if Todd was assuming correctly, she was responsible for all of the cuts and bruises on his body the next day. If two and two added up correctly, Todd was willing to bet that the activity in the house was caused by the two people Nny cared about the most finally meeting each other. Whatever's in there has something to feed off of now? Oh, he didn't really know, he was just wracking his brain.

He walked back down his street, his eyes fixated on the homicidal maniac's house, and he couldn't help but hear a gurgling noise. It was faint, but he could still hear it. Shuddering at the thought of whatever might be in there, Todd picked up the pace and ran straight into his house. His father was still at work and his mother was passed out in the bedroom upstairs. He pulled Shmee out of his backpack and tossed it on the couch.

He went and grabbed a flashlight and glass of water before braving his basement. He looked to Shmee for comfort and reassurance, praying that the little bear would protect him from whatever monsters were lurking around in the darkness. But whenever he looked at the stuffed creature, he felt like he was being held back. Like Shmee didn't want him to go downstairs and face his fears. Well, find, not face. That had also only started happening recently.

But he gulped and moved his hand to the doorknob. He kept reminding himself that it was daylight and monsters didn't like to be scary and come out in the daylight. The door creaked open and he clicked his flashlight on, tucking Shmee under his arm and grabbing the railing as he headed downstairs. He left the door open, hoping if he needed to, he could make a quick escape.

When he got to the bottom, he looked around for the light switch. Much to his displeasure, the only light available was accessible by pulling a cord that hung by the light itself. He was not yet tall enough to reach it. His fears were growing with each passing second, but he wandered around until he found a small, narrow cubbyhole along the wall behind the stairs. He knelt down and shined his light inside, prepared to have a zillion bats come flying at him or something. But there was nothing there.

He slammed his eyes shut, trying so hard to force himself to crawl forward into the tunnel. He felt like there was a voice commanding him to stop. He felt as if his life was in danger and that wherever that voice was coming from, it knew something he didn't.

"H-Hello? Is someone else here?"

Todd was calling out to whatever made contact with him, but he got no further response. Against his better judgment, Todd decided to inch forward and get a head start into the tunnel. If he saw even one scary thing, he was gonna hightail it out of there. Whatever was causing him to act was also scaring the daylights out of him. He wanted so badly to listen to the voice and turn back, but his legs started moving on their own. He knew he came down here for a reason and he had every intention of going into that tunnel, but... well he just didn't expect it to be this creepy.

It wasn't long before he came out of the small space that he was able to stand comfortably and move around. Whatever area he was in was quite spacious. He moved his flashlight around, shining the light all around the room-passageway-thing. It looked like an old mining or railroad tunnel. There was dirt everywhere and everything was supported by these old wooden beams. There were no tracks or tools, though, so it must have been cleaned out.

He took a few steps forward and his nose was greeted with a vomit-inducing smell. His eyes burned and he groped his stomach, trying desperately not to throw up everywhere. He held his light directly in front of him and just lost it. All along the rest of the tunnel was a thick line of forgotten corpses. The bones and rotting flesh were stacked on top of each other like a barrier or a lining. There were rats and insects having a field day with them and Todd just couldn't take it anymore. He turned sharply on his heel and just barfed.

He let out a scratchy scream and made a run for it. He almost clawed his way out of the narrow crawlspace and bolted up the stairs. He slammed the basement door shut behind him and used his body to hold it shut as if some horrible monster had followed him out and he was trying to seal it away. He panted heavily and his heart felt like it would leap out his chest. His legs were shaky as he tried to pull himself upstairs. He knew exactly what all that was. Nny had been the one to tell him about the underground tunnel, but he had no idea that it was full of bodies. He knew Nny had too many victims to remember, but he questioned how long the scary neighbor man had been in his line of work.

He already felt his night of terror beginning as he wasn't going to sleep well after seeing something as horrifying as that. He went straight to the bathroom and started almost violently brushing his teeth to rid himself of the horrible taste. He felt dirty, partially for crawling around in an old tunnel in his basement, and partially because he was in a room-type place with hundreds of rotting dead people. So after brushing his teeth, he went over and turned the knobs to start the shower.

He undressed and stepped inside, pulling back the curtain and letting the warm water fall on him. As he was scrubbing his hair, he got this odd feeling that something bad had happened. He tried to figure out what it could possibly be, but he kept getting nothing. So he decided not to worry about it until he was done bathing.

He rinsed his hair and washed his body, thankful for the feeling of being clean. He stepped out of the bathtub and grabbed a towel, wrapping it loosely around his waist. He grabbed his clothes and scurried into his room. He took the towel to his hair and began drying it while also grabbing some basketball shorts and a t-shirt. It was only six o'clock, but he wasn't going anywhere, anyway.

"I don't know what it all means, Shmee, or what I'm gonna do. Those bodies, though, they were disgusting! Just thinking about it makes me feel like throwing up again. Shmee, I wonder if- Shmee?"

Looking around for his companion, Todd's heart stopped at the lack-of sight of seeing him. He sprinted back to the bathroom, but he wasn't there. He hurried back downstairs and didn't see him by the basement door, in the kitchen, or in the living room by his backpack. Looking back to the basement door, Todd realized that he must have dropped Shmee when he turned to vomit and then left him when he ran away. His eyes widened in pure horror and tears were forming at the brim.

"Shmee."

"A/N: Just a little chapter from Todd's point of view. Don't worry, the next chapter will continue from Devi's perspective. I don't have a whole lot to say in this authors note, so... I hope you enjoyed this chapter, reviews are loved and appreciated, and I hope you'll stay tuned till next time."