By the time that sunlight began pouring in through the windows of the hotel room in the morning, Greg felt a wave of nausea and sickness rise from his stomach to his throat, as he clutched his stomach in pain and rolled over with a whimper, trying to keep his nausea at bay. Today was the day.

Everything in this journey had lead up to this; from the silly little arguments over coco puffs towards the start of the trip where Lisa had eventually put an end to that when she had snatched away the last box in frustration and thrown it out the window while they were barrelling down the highway going 90 miles an hour, to Greg's night time confessions to Lisa as they sat watching over the highway all night in the cool air, to James yesterday; going completely mad- hurting Greg, threatening to go after that woman, and nearly jumping into traffic. Of course, they were all going to have to do the trip in reverse on the way home, but that felt like a lifetime away; because before any of that could happen, they had to spend time with Greg's family.

He was sure that Lisa, always one to be able to turn herself into a chameleon and find the best in anyone or at least find something in common with them; would be able to tolerate and be cordial with Greg's family; or at least keep her mouth shut and her opinions to herself. James though; James was a different story, Greg had discovered first hand recently how much of a wildcard James could be; he wasn't as mild mannered and passive as others often assumed and thought him to be, and Greg just prayed that James wouldn't do anything to cause any trouble, or to at least keep himself restrained enough to avoid being sent to jail. I guess I always knew that he had a bit of a temper on him… hell, the first time we met was because he shattered and destroyed a $10 000 antique mirror and started a bar room brawl simply over a song being played on the juke box, Greg smiled down at the man, snoring away beside him; oblivious to the world, I'm so glad that I bailed him out and found my forever person in him, though.

He limped into the bathroom and got in the shower, letting the hot water run over his body, and all the fears and concerns wash away for just a moment. Getting out and dressed, James was still dead to the world, in a purely deep, exhausted sleep, as Greg limped out of the room and met Lisa, who was picking anxiously at a piece of toast with a cup of coffee in front of her, "well, today's the big day," she smiled falsely, and Greg nodded curtly.

"Too late to turn around and go home?" he only half joked as he wandered over to the table, taking a seat.

"Is that what you really want?" Lisa asked, "to go home now?"

"No, no, it's not," he faltered, "this is the right thing to do, I'm sure… kind of… I don't know how it's all going to go, and I don't know how anyone is going to react, and I really don't know how James is going to react, and if I'm being honest, Lisa, I don't know how I'm going to go either,"

"Well, you'll have me and James there to support you," Lisa continued.

Greg nodded, "yeah, if I wasn't so nervous about how James would go, then it might be a bit easier,"

"I'm sure that he'll be fine," Lisa comforted, although she didn't quite believe it herself, James had been acting strangely lately, and I actually don't really know how he's going to handle it. But we'll just have to take it one day at a time I suppose. "Do you want some breakfast?" Lisa had asked and Greg just shook his head.

"Nah, stomach has been giving me a bit of trouble this morning," he grumbled, taking a seat at the table when James appeared in the doorway shortly after, "it awakes!" he joked as he laughed, but with no humour or fun behind his voice, to which James just grumbled not to remind him and sat down at the table.

The mood in the motel room was sombre as the three of them packed up their few belongings and headed back out to the truck. It wasn't a particularly long drive to the ranch from where they'd been staying, and they arrived at about 1pm. A gigantic, double storey ranch style house came into view, leering over them, at the end of a long, winding, gravel driveway, where several other trucks were parked haphazardly out the front. "Home, sweet home," Greg muttered, gathering up his stuff and climbing out of the car, James and Lisa climbed out the other side and just stood there in awe for several moments, noticing as well that Greg was doing the same, staring up at the giant house, it felt as though it was looming and standing over them; testing their nerve, as though it was teasing and testing them to enter. It felt sinister was the best way Lisa could think to describe it, as they headed up the front steps, across the veranda and to the front door and knocked on the heavy wood of the front door, waiting for whatever stood on the other side of that door for the three of them to greet them.

An elderly, petite woman with dyed blonde hair and grey roots opened the door, "Greg!" she smiled, embracing him in a hug, which Greg awkwardly reciprocated, "we're all so glad that you could make it! And look, you've brought some friends with you! I'm so glad that you've got some friends, my little Greggy boy!" Greg and Lisa both felt James bristle up, but he kept his mouth shut, "who are your friends?"

"Uhh, aunty Sarah, this is James, and this is Lisa," Greg introduced, and then winced when Sarah wrapped her arms tightly around James and pulled him in for a hug, and without warning after she'd let go of James, who'd stood as poised as a statue, grabbed Lisa and dragged her in for a hug, before insisting that the three of them come in out of the chilly, cold South Dakota air.

Greg followed her in awkwardly, and James and Lisa followed Greg, their footsteps on the old wooden floors echoing through the house, Lisa and James exchanged glances; both reading the others as the exact same as their own, this is like the setting for a horror movie, and that's without the knowledge of the legitimate, real life horrors that occurred within these walls…

They entered into a large living room space, and there were a few people standing around, each with a drink in their hand and chatting. Greg went over towards the small crowd and made his obligatory greetings to his family, before a tall, wiry man came over who neither James nor Lisa recognised; although going by Greg's sombre trailing behind him and apologetic look in his eyes, they could tell immediately.

"Henry House," the man said with a big grin, who despite having lived in South Dakota for so long, he still had a heavy, thick Southern accent; "nice to meet you both, welcome to our home,"

James stiffened up ever so slightly, trying to size up the old man, but he stood very tall, he was at least a head taller than James, and looking at the pained expression in Greg's eyes, he left it be without uttering a single word, "I didn't realise that there were going to be three of you… luckily we have a spare room upstairs, follow me," the old man mumbled as he walked past them and headed up the stairs, which the three of them followed, each stair creaking and croaking with every step up it.

"So, you must be James," he smiled to him as he reached the top of the stairs, "Blythe and John have told us all about you, you've been a good friend of Greg's for a very long time, haven't you?" he put out his hand, which James took and shook like he was handling a wet fish, before Henry turned to Lisa, who looked up at him wide-eyed, "and you would be?"

"Lisa, Lisa Cuddy," she answered, plastering on her best fake smile, taking his hand, matching his firm handshake and making eye contact with a man who she'd love to do nothing more to than to shove him down the stairs with all of her strength and watch his body tumble and break on each step before falling into a broken heap at the base of the ridiculously steep staircase.

"How long have you known my only nephew for? My little Greggy boy?" he grinned at her, reaching out to tussle his nephew's hair, who dodged his touch and took a step back, "ha! He's always been a funny one, never been one for much touch or affection; always been very cold, closed off and isolated," I can't imagine why, Lisa thought as Henry continued, "don't tell me that you're his wife?"

"No, sir, we're just friends. I met him in college, we studied together in Michigan," Lisa answered, trying her best not to clip her words.

"Ahh, right, doesn't surprise me that he's still single, could never seem to get along with anyone it seemed. Always took issue with everyone, over something," Henry continued, and Lisa felt James bristle up next to her again. "Anyway, let me show you to the rooms," Henry turned around and headed down the narrow corridor right towards the end, he opened the door at the end of the corridor, each door wooden and white, "this is the spare room," he started, "are you two a couple?" he queried, obviously curious as to the alternative of three single people travelling so far to attend an event that only one was invited to. Nobody answered, and Henry just shrugged his shoulders and opened the door, there was a double bed made up in there with beautiful linen and duvets, expensive chest of drawers and wardrobe, and a full-sized mirror. An antique mirror, the three of them thought in unison, "sorry it's not much," Henry shrugged, "it's a spare room, we very rarely use it,"

"And, of course, Greggy boy, you can have your old bedroom," Henry continued on, and walked out past his three guests to the white wooden door on their right, and opened it up, it was essentially a total time capsule, and Greg took a sharp breath inward as he noticed that nothing had changed. His bed was the same, the furniture was the same, even the now faded Batman poster was still taped up on the wall above the bed.

"Nothing's changed," Greg muttered, placing his bag down on the ground, "we'll see you downstairs, Uncle Henry, we just have a few things to unpack and stuff, need to relax and so on. It's been a long trip,"

"You flew in this morning?" Henry frowned curiously and cocked his head.

Greg shook his head, "no sir, we drove over… it just ended up being easier in the long run, that's our black Ram 1500 out the front,"

"Don't you live in New Jersey?" Henry asked, clearly becoming more confused and Greg shrugged his shoulders, clearly just saying it's a long story. "Fair enough," Henry continued, "come downstairs soon, everyone would like to say hello,"

"Will do," Greg smiled back, and held his composure until he heard the creaking of the stairs, the creepiness of the stairs creaking in light of everything that had happened in this room, on this bed, wasn't lost on anyone, as Greg sunk down, sitting on the side of his childhood bed, "wow… this is freaky," was all he could muster.