I followed the trail of light that my phone emitted, running as fast as I could and trying to perceive any sounds around me. A silent prayer replayed in my mind, that I was in the right direction, that Elliot was okay.

At first I didn't hear anything except for the sounds that I myself was making, not even the rain. I thought it was odd, but I didn't have time to focus on it. A few futile attempts to open the doors led me to the realization that they were all locked, and I couldn't allow myself to linger for more than a second on each of them. I had no idea if I was being followed.

A loud bang down the hall made me jump and grip tighter the handle of the door I was just trying to open. I could hear his hurried footsteps and panting before Elliot appeared in my light. He was bleeding in two points on his face and his eyes were wide open in terror.

"Olivia!" he called when he saw me. "Run!" Before I could react he grabbed my arm and started pulling me in the direction I came from.

"Wait, no!" I pulled him back to make him stop, but it wasn't necessary. He was strong, pulling me with him, but he automatically obeyed me. My voice had always had some strange power over him. "Someone's after me!"

"Something's after me, too!" he sounded genuinely terrified. "We're trapped."

"SOMETHING? What do you mean?"

"I don't know, Liv! This place is… insane!"

We looked at each other for a few seconds, listening in the deafening silence for any sounds and trying to figure out what to do. My heart was racing and I was sure his was too.

Suddenly he pulled me to him. For a moment, I thought he was going to hug me for some reason, but then he placed himself between me and whatever it was he was seeing. Confused, I looked over his shoulder at where his phone's light was aimed, and saw that the door that was behind me a moment ago was opening slowly and seemingly on its own. If there was someone on the other side of it, we couldn't see or hear them.

Something creaked behind me. I turned around carefully, trying not to make sudden movements, and aimed my light at the noise. It was another door that was opening. I stared at it, stunned. An alarm in the back of my mind went off and I decided to check the door to the left. It felt as if I was on autopilot as my hand moved the light so I could see the second door. It hit me like a punch in the face when I saw that my suspicion was right and it was opening, too. I looked to the door on the right and it was the same. They were all opening. Whispers and murmurs started coming out of all the rooms like waves of chilling sounds. They almost sounded like a swarm of giant insects.

"Elliot –"

"Liv –"

We both whispered at the same time and turned to face each other. He saw exactly what I saw, but on the opposite side. Fear still dominated his eyes when he looked at me. He was mirroring my own expression.

"What now?" he asked quietly.

"We have to get out of here," I didn't really know in which direction to go. He wanted me to make the decision, but I was scared. Nevertheless, it made me feel proud that he still trusted me like that even a decade later. I didn't want to fail him. "Let's go downstairs."

"Wait," he stopped me before I could take the first step. "I know it's gonna sound weird, but…" he lowered his gaze, embarrassed. "I need to find Eli. I can't leave."

"Eli? What are you talking about?"

"He was here, he was… he was d-dead," he closed his eyes and rubbed them with the back of his hands, as if trying to wipe off the things that he had seen. I wondered if he was doing it to avoid crying and it made me want to hug him and tell him that everything was going to be okay. But physical contact was always problematic for us, we mostly tried to avoid it because it was too confusing. The attraction had been palpable between us since the moment we met, and touching had only made it harder. In any case, I didn't know how I could reassure him, when I wasn't even sure I believed it was going to be okay.

"That's impossible," I said eventually. "Wasn't he in New York when you left this morning? Was he supposed to take a trip somewhere?"

"No, he went to school and then he was supposed to go to Maureen's. I don't know how it's possible, Liv, but I touched him, I held him for a long time. He was here and I need to find his… his b-body."

He started back to where he came from but I stopped him. "Elliot, think about it! It can't be"

"Well, what was it, then?!" He was getting frustrated.

"I can't explain it, but… I also saw someone... Or something downstairs," I stopped, not sure how to explain what happened.

"Is that what gave you this?" he pointed at the wound on my forehead and then touched the skin next to it so as to not hurt me. His touch took my breath away for a moment, but I had to pull myself together.

"Yes. I shot him in the chest, but it-it did nothing," I felt stupid saying it. I never believed in stuff like that.

He examined my face, trying to understand what I was saying.

"So what, this place is haunted? Is that what you're saying?" he scoffed, but I knew him and I knew that he believed in these things much more than I did. I never actually asked him if he believed demons existed, but I was starting to believe in it myself.

I tilted my head down, contemplating my response. The humming sounds all around us were getting gradually louder, and we still didn't know what to do. I was starting to think that something supernatural was happening here, but I couldn't bring myself to say it out loud. So many things were hard for me to reveal to this man, to whom I secretly wished I could be completely exposed.

Something moved on the floor behind Elliot and I saw it from the corner of my eye. I quickly aimed my light directly at it, and saw some substance that looked like a thick, black liquid coming out of the dark rooms down the hall and moving toward us. It seemed like a living thing, that knew where it was going.

"Elliot," I pointed at it and he turned to look. I had no idea what it was, but I wasn't planning on finding out by letting it touch us.

"Come on!" I grabbed his arm and started running in the direction he had emerged from a few minutes ago. He freed his arm from my grip mid-run and took my hand in his instead. I tried to keep up with him, even though he was faster, because I thought our lives depended on it and I didn't want to hang around and find out if I was right. I still didn't know much about the time he was gone, including how he stayed so fit. He seemed to be in better shape than he was ten years ago. I had so many questions but I had to keep on running to escape that place.

Suddenly something grabbed me from behind and tried pulling me into one of the rooms. Elliot was still holding my hand tight and it pulled him back at once, making him stumble.

"Liv!" He tried to pull me back to him.

I looked back and the first thing I saw was countless pointed teeth and then the entire horrifying face with its dead-looking skin. The teeth definitely weren't human, but it seemed like the thing had the general form of one. Its bony hands sent sharp nails into my upper arms as it grabbed me tight.

"What is that?!" I yelled to Elliot.

"It's the thing that attacked me!"

I could hear in his voice that it took a lot of strength for him to keep holding onto my hand.

"Punch it in the teeth!" he yelled.

I immediately sent my fist back with as much force as I could muster, but I hit its cheek instead. It moved to protect its teeth and I started twisting and sending punches over my shoulder again and again until I hit something hard.

At once I was let go of and got pulled forcefully into Elliot's arms, who stumbled backwards but managed to keep his balance once again.

"Are you okay? Did it hurt you?" He tried to examine me for any injuries, but I took his hand in mine again and started running away from the monster and the black liquid that was right at our feet now.

Our lights looked like they were dancing synchronously as they followed our hand trajectory when we ran. One moment they were in front of us and the next they made an arch on the floor and were behind us. The next time the light was ahead of me I saw a wall and realized we reached a dead end. The understanding took the air out of my already struggling lungs and I started to slow down.

"In here!" Elliot's strong arm pulled me effortlessly to take a left turn, to my surprise. All this time I thought that the building was a straight line when it was actually bigger.

We ran down a similar corridor to the one we came from, only this one was shorter. I could see the wall at the end of it already after a few steps and prayed that there was another turn or an exit. Neither of us dared to look back to see if the black liquid was still behind us, from fear it would catch up with us.

Elliot didn't loosen his grip on my hand even for a second, and I was extremely grateful for that because my strength was running out.

Before we even reached the end of the corridor, our lights had already illuminated a door on the left side of it. Without wasting any time, Elliot squeezed the handle and ran inside, pulling me with him. We closed the door behind us together, panting and sweating, and looked fearfully around us.

To my relief, we were standing at the top of a stairwell. I could hear the rain again as soon as we entered. It was as if its volume had been unmuted at once the moment we left the first floor corridor. The sound echoed loudly in the empty space of the stairwell and there was something soothing to it.

"Let's go downstairs and get out of here," I started moving but he pulled me back and got in front of me again. "Why do you always get to go first?" I said irritability as I followed him down the stairs. He was walking slowly, holding the rails tight and trying to see ahead with his light. I knew the answer already – he was protecting me. Not that I wasn't grateful, but I was also worried for his safety and wanted to protect him. In spite of his strong facade, I knew that he was scared too and could use someone to take care of him.

"If anyone's gonna get injured here it shouldn't be you," he said without offering an explanation to his strange words.

"Oh, so it should be you?"

"Liv…"

We reached the landing. There was a door that led to another corridor of guest rooms, and another one that seemed to be leading outside, to the hotel's outdoor pool, according to a sign on it. Elliot looked around him hesitantly, not sure which way was better. I took advantage of his confusion and tried to open the door to the pool before he could take the lead again, but it was locked.

He didn't seem surprised by it, as though he was expecting that exact outcome. "Okay, we need to go back to the entrance and straight outside."

We walked in silence down the dark corridor, this time shoulder to shoulder, expecting something to jump us at any moment. The doors here were closed and there were no strange noises coming out from inside the guest rooms. When we reached the parallel turn to the one upstairs, we peeked around the corner to make sure the place was empty.

"I have a bad feeling. It's too calm," I said quietly as we were finally walking down the longer corridor that eventually led to the main entrance.

Elliot didn't reply but stopped at once in front of a random door and stared at it. I took a few more steps before I realized it and then turned around, aiming my light at him and looking for the thing that had made him stop, but there was nothing there.

"Elliot? What's going on?"

He sighed and lingered for a while before answering. "I think this room is directly underneath the one where I saw… Eli," he tried to open the locked door and instead placed both hands on the doorpost, leaning against it with his head tilted down.

"Do you think there are more like that thing that attacked us?" I scanned the surroundings again but it seemed empty. Elliot didn't reply but stood in place without moving. I looked at his profile in silence for a few seconds and then walked up to him, placing my hand on his shoulder.

"You can't think that what you saw there was true," I said gently, giving him a little encouraging squeeze.

"Losing one of my children, Liv… that's my biggest fear," he said quietly without looking at me. I had a burning need to pull him into my embrace and comfort him. He looked so lost and vulnerable, but the wall that had been between us a decade ago was still there, with everything that it entailed – the love, the agony, the tension... I was scared to bring that wall down and look for something more in him, because I was afraid he might run again. Picking up the pieces of my shattered heart was not something I ever wanted to do again. That was the reason why I always dated men I knew I could easily let go of.

"I know," I used my work tone on him, the same one that I used to console victims. "Losing Noah is mine, too… and also…" suddenly a strange thought came to me and pulled me into my own mind. "Being attacked like that again…" I muttered. I was so preoccupied with what was happening inside my head, that I didn't notice I was thinking aloud and that it made him turn to look at me. There was a riddle in my mind that was being given a possible solution.

"Again? You were attacked like that before?" he asked, the worry noticeable in his voice.

I looked up and my eyes met his. I had no idea how to even begin to tell him about it, and I wasn't sure I wanted to. Especially not there, in that creepy dark hallway. "Yes. No. Well, not EXACTLY like that," I sighed. "It's a long story," I carried on without giving him the opportunity to ask, "but, Elliot, our fears ." I waited to see if he could still understand where my mind was going without having to ask.

He frowned and opened his mouth as if to say something, but at first nothing came out. Gradually I could see the understanding illuminating his eyes as he processed my words. "What are you saying? Someone's playing tricks on us, playing on our fears?" he asked quietly in the end. "That's some pretty elaborate tricks."

"I don't know, Elliot, none of it makes sense."

"No, it doesn't. Let's get the hell out of here," he said and I immediately nodded. He offered his arm for me to hold, breaking off the tension that we both spiraled into by trying to figure out the craziness of the place. I gave him a little nod as I accepted the offer and we started walking again toward the main entrance.

It felt like the walk was longer than it should've been, as if the length of the corridor was an optical illusion, or something somehow magically made it longer. At that point I was open to believe almost anything. I didn't mind it, though. It felt nice to walk arm in arm with him, even if it was in a creepy, abandoned hotel.

As we walked, I wondered if he was thinking about our recent exchange and tried to imagine what it would be like to talk to him about my past traumas. Even when we were partners, it was hard for me to open up about such wounds. I saw it as a weakness. I always felt like I had to prove the men around me that I was their equal. Over the years, I realized that talking about it was not showing weakness at all, but the opposite. Elliot was long gone by then, however. Now he was here and he had brought back our old dynamics with him, and it felt so easy to fall back into old patterns. I had to remind myself I wasn't the same person anymore.

By the time we reached the end of the corridor, I didn't have a clear answer to my inner question, but I had to file it in the back of my head and revisit it at another time.

Hesitantly, we stood at the edge of the corridor and looked around the entrance hall before stepping into it. The broken front desk was a big shadow in the darkness. I aimed my light at it just to make sure it was really what I thought it was and not some strange creature. The room looked normal, except for the omnipresent eerie feeling that I couldn't get used to.

"Let's go," I said and we started walking together towards the front door. I couldn't wait to be outside again, storm or no storm.

A swift movement all along the opposite wall followed by a loud bang startled us and we stopped in our tracks at once, clinging harder onto each other.

"The windows," I whispered, tugging on his sleeve in fear. All of the old, exterior wooden shutters, that were up until then open, had slammed shut at once, casting an even denser darkness around us.

We started running to the front door, still arm in arm, not willing to let go of each other, but even before we reached it, I already knew what was about to happen.

Elliot grabbed the door handle with his free hand and tried to open it, but it was locked. He hesitated for a second but finally I released him from me and he started pulling on the handle with both hands. I was not surprised to see that it wouldn't budge, but it still felt devastating.

Determined not to give up, I went to the window next to the door and tried to open it, but reached the same result. I took my gun out of its holster and covered my face before hitting the window with it forcefully. Elliot stopped his desperate attempts to open the door and watched me. We both stared at the window in shock as it didn't even crack a little.

"You try it," I handed him my gun, panting, hoping that his muscle power would do the trick.

Elliot took the gun from me with a worried face. We both knew it wasn't going to work, but he gave it his best shot anyway.

"Son of a bitch, not even a crack," I said as he gave me my gun back and I returned it to my holster. "What are we going to do?" I grabbed my head in desperation, fighting not to break in front of him.

Elliot remained quiet as he was thinking of a way out. He squinted right before he talked, as if doubting his own plan before even uttering it.

"That exit to the pool… maybe there's another one, an open one, on the opposite side of the building. We could give it a try."

The thought of going back to that part of the ground floor, and passing by the room where that sheet-covered thing had lunged at me earlier, gave me goosebumps.

"I'm not sure we should go back there."

"You got a better idea?"

We stared at each other in annoyance for a moment without saying a word. I had a feeling that going to that exit would lead to a dead end, and judging by his face, it seemed like he was thinking the same, but neither of us had a better idea.

I looked away from his gaze and gasped at what I saw on the other side of the room.

At the bottom of the staircase stood a young woman. The white color of her summer dress was barely noticeable underneath all the gray, brown and red stains. Blood was trickling down her face and thighs, and she was dragging an ax with a long, wooden stick that went all the way to the floor from her hand. Her eyes were looking in our general direction, but were not focused on us.

Elliot followed my shocked gaze and automatically placed his arm in front of me for protection. This time I was too taken aback to get irritated by it again.

"Hello?" I said in a shaky voice.

The woman's eyes moved slowly to look at the source of the sound. She stared right at me but didn't say anything.

"What happened to you? Do you need help?" my knees felt weak and I had to hold onto Elliot's shoulder.

The woman murmured something I couldn't understand. She seemed to repeat it over and over, each time a little louder.

After several times she repeated it, I finally understood. She was saying, "It's all your fault."

She sounded so angry that it immediately sent chills all over my body.

"You killed me!"

"Do you know her?" Elliot asked me without taking his eyes off of her.

"No!" I said, but I wondered if that was true. I had always thought that I remembered all of my cases, but what if it wasn't true? I have had a lot of cases in over two decades. What if she was someone who never got justice for what had happened to her?

The woman swung her ax over her head and at once started running straight at us.

"Ahhh!" she yelled in rage and her voice sounded distorted, just like the voice of the man who attacked me earlier. "You need to pay for it!"

We watched her as if in slow motion as she drew nearer. The sight was absolutely surreal, and we were both too shocked to do anything other than watch our death approaching us.