• Henry cursed as he banged his fists against the now chained door. He had just gotten out of the ‘Forest World’, as he liked to call it, and was surprised when he saw his apartment the way it had been before Walter decided to mess up his life. As he had looked around his bedroom, he had turned to face the doorway and saw a person walk by the open door. Without thinking, he ran after the person. He had noticed nothing else except the person’s retreating back as they walked out of the door, closing it behind them.
    The moment the door closed, the apartment had reverted back to the nightmare he had been in for the past however long he had been stuck here. Time was irrelevant here, it seeming to have stood still, and he was in the middle of it all, still as old as the day he had stepped through that hole in his bathroom. Leaning his head against the door, he sighed and began to think back on his captivity.
    At first, after Eileen had died, he had been stuck here, still unable to leave. And for a week, there had been nothing. Only him and his apartment. But then, Walter, the man he had killed, the man he had watched fall to the ground and die, had made a comeback. And he had resumed trying to kill Henry, to complete the 21 Sacraments, to bring his mother to ‘life’.
    But then, one day, he had disappeared. And though Henry would never admit to it out loud, he missed Walter. Sure, the guy was insane and had tried to kill him, but he was the only other thing in this realm that could talk. And talk he did. He talked about murder, his ‘mother’, the ways of the Order, how he’d kill Henry, whatever came to his mind. But Henry hadn’t minded. To him, it had only been a meaningless drone. A background noise that kept his mental faculties intact, that kept him from finally succumbing to the madness that lurked right around every corner.
    And now that was gone. Now he was all alone in this world, fighting off monsters both old, and new. Some he knew for a fact were creatures made from Walter’s own twisted mind. But…the new ones…the new ones lately were the ones he was running from. Plus, he had noticed that he could travel closer to that dreaded town a day’s drive away from his apartment. Frowning, he pushed away from the door to stare at it.
    He knew he was going to go insane at any moment, and that thought scared him the most. The thought of finally giving in and never seeing the world he was once apart of. But it was also that thought that kept him driving forward. That thought that made sure he wouldn’t go insane. Yet, as he continued to run from whatever force was at work, he just knew. It was a matter of time.
    And then….today, after getting out of that world. His apartment had been normal looking. No bloody surfaces, no hauntings, no rusty metal surfaces. Just a normal apartment building on a normal day in Ashfield. It had surprised him, and then, the person who had walked past. The one, who hadn’t heard him call as he ran after them, hadn’t noticed the man in their bedroom. He ran after them, hoping to get their attention somehow. He just knew that he needed to help them somehow, he needed to before whatever was at work came after them but, before he could even do anything, they had gone and he was alone again in the dark world that Walter had wanted.
    As he looked at the door, an all too familiar sound reached his ears and he turned as he cocked his gun. He had to go, and now. Otherwise, that creature, always identified to the loud screech of grinding metal, would find him in this apartment. He ran into the bathroom and, hearing the noise again, judged how far it was away from the hole. And, he plunged in unexpectedly. He vowed to keep the occupant of his apartment safe. He couldn’t save Eileen, but he’d be damned if he couldn’t save this person.