The night had been brutal, and I could already tell today was going to suck because of it.

At least because I stayed up all night, I had a few minutes before I had to get ready for school. That gave me time to try and get one of Alex’s videos in. I scrolled through the list until I reached the bottom.

There at the very end of the list was the last video he ever uploaded. This specific video was titled “The Brain”. Considering how messed up my brain felt right now, and how curious I was to see what he was doing in his final days, I figured this specific video might be worth watching.

I opened the file and watched as a picture of Alex appeared on the screen.

Damn, he looked awful. Even worse than I could have imagined. Poor guy. This wasn't the same cheerful looking Alex I had seen in the first video. This specific version looked extremely frail. On top of that, his skin had turned a weird yellow color and he had bags that gave his eyes a deep sunken appearance.

It was one thing to hear about his passing, but it was another to see him right on deaths doorstep.

I tried to remember his comments about death from his first video, where he claimed he wasn't afraid of dying. Then I took a deep breath and pressed play.

###

Hey future me. I realize it might appear like I'm cosplaying a Pikachu right now. From what they tell me, it's a symptom from my cancer called jaundice. All I know is, I miss my old coloring, even if I was as pale as a ghost before. Now, it looks like I just went out and got an awful spray tan.

But you don't have to worry about all that. We have more important things to talk about.

Hold on, something isn't right with my usual background. I don't see my posters.

Oh damn, I should have checked before I started filming. This is embarrassing, I apologize for the mess of crap behind me, I'm just really scatter brained these days. But that's no excuse for lazy production quality.

With all of the issues I'm having remembering things, I thought a board to collect all the evidence I'm working on would have been a good idea. After all, Naomi's team does it all the time. This was sadly my best attempt.

I don't get how hers turn out so pristine. She must have people there who work full time on that crap, because there is no way they had time for anything else! On top of that, I haven't found it all that helpful and I poked myself like four times in the process.

###

I paused the video.

“Holy fucking shit, was that her?”

My brain stumbled over itself, as I tried to make sense of what I was seeing. One of the pictures on Alex’s board had an uncanny resemblance to the dead woman I saw in gym class.

She looked like an exact copy, only the girl in this photo was alive and smiling. The picture showed her sitting behind a desk. She wore a bright pink and rose patterned dress, and there was a large wall to wall fish tank that filled out the background behind her, really making the shirt color pop.

While the picture itself was impressive, the photocopy Alex had, even over a webcam, was more fuzzy and pixelated than it should have been. It was clear he had printed off something like a myspace photo. Still the picture was eerily similar.

The woman in the photo had all of the same imperfections I noticed when we met, from a small mole on her right cheek, to a slightly crooked nose that looked like it had previously been broken.

That didn’t necessarily mean they were the same person, but it would have been a hell of a coincidence.

I took a screenshot on my laptop, connected to Dr. Klanderman's old phone, and then transferred the image to it.

Then I turned the phone to silent, and shoved the device into my backpack, making sure to keep it as hidden as possible. The last thing I needed was my parents questioning where I got the phone from, because I had no way to explain it.

I threw on some old clothes that had been on my floor for far too long, doing the sniff test to make sure they didn't smell too bad, then tossed my backpack over my shoulder. If I left now, I'd have time to confirm the photo was the same woman.

“Hey, we’re leaving early for school today,” I said to Josiah, who continued to stare out the window.

He hadn’t moved all night, the poor guy. Hopefully he joined me today because I was going to need him to stay up through some of these classes.

I looked back at the laptop, before closing it and adding it to the bag. Hopefully at some point today, I'd have time to finish Alex's video. Maybe there would be more useful clues on.

###

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

I swung by Murph’s house on the way to school, and despite the angry look he shot me for ruining his breakfast, I managed to convince him to join.

At first he protested, reminding me of my promise to lay low until we found more information out about the Roche brothers' involvement in all of this. That was, until I assured him that this case had nothing to do with the brothers.

I quickly filled him in about the woman from the gym and once all his questions were answered, he agreed to follow along.

The hallway clock outside of the gym showed 7:36. That gave us roughly fifteen minutes before the halls would start filling up with the usual chaos of teen drama.

I dropped to a knee, unzipped my backpack, and pulled out the doctor's, now my, cell phone.

Murph’s eyes locked onto it immediately. “Whoa. Where the hell did you get that?”

“I stole it from the doctor’s secret room,” I said, like it was no big deal.

“Sorry, I must have misheard you. You did what?”

“It’s a whole thing. I need to update you on so much, but we only have a few minutes.”

To be honest, I still hadn’t told Murph about what exactly went on in that hell hole. Ghosts were one thing, but how do you tell another person that monsters were real? I still hadn’t figured that part out, but I needed to soon. Just not right now.

Instead, I flipped open the phone and pulled up the picture. “So, the girl I told you about.”

Murph looked over, “Yeah. The one in the gym?”

I turned the phone toward him, watching as he studied it, “I’m almost certain this was her.”

Murph turned then peered through the glass window into the gymnasium. “Wait, you have a picture of her? What, how, wait…”

He blinked. “You know what? Never mind. I don’t wanna know.” He rubbed his face, already regretting his decision to get involved. “So, what’s the plan?”

“I need you to give me five minutes to confirm its her. Will you stay out here and keep watch for me?”

He sighed. “Fine. But hurry up.”

I pushed open the gym doors and stepped inside.

The ghost was exactly where she had been the day before.

There was no sign of the teacher or anyone in sight for that matter, which more or less ruled out the possibility that she was a protector. Not that it seemed likely in the first place.

Technically, Nicole had been able to leave her dad to join me so they weren’t technically tied to one person, but I doubted it was normal to leave the person you were protecting. On the plus side, it meant she might be easier to save.

"Lets see if you're the same person," I whispered as I pulled up the picture again and studied it carefully.

Between the face, the mole, and the nose, I had no doubt it was her. Unless she had an identical twin out there, which seemed pretty unlikely. It still didn’t explain why Alex had a picture of this woman on the board behind him in the video.

I turned the phone screen toward her. “This was you, wasn’t it?” My voice came out softer than I expected. “What happened to you?”

She stared at the image. Her lips parted slightly. Her eyes glazed over, distant and unfocused..

The air, once cool, became noticeably warmer, like stepping too close to an open flame.

I swallowed. “I—I’m sorry if the picture upset you.”

My eyes flickered to Josiah, who stood silently by the door, watching.

Something about this felt somehow familiar.

Last night, when I touched Josiah on his shoulder, everything, including his gaze, had felt oddly similar.

Maybe she was experiencing the same thing as him.

I hesitated.

Then muttered, “This is gonna suck,” and reached out to touch her shoulder.

The moment my fingers made contact, the world ripped away from me and I once again felt myself shift into another memory.

Like with Josiah, despite my best effort, I felt my reality drain away. Replaced instead by a vision of the woman's past.

###

In the vision, we sat behind a desk, a large executive type desk with beautiful accents hand carved into the woodworking. From what I remembered it was the same as the desk from the photo. The picture didn’t do this thing justice.

On the top of the desk was a top of the line mac pro monitor, keyboard, and mouse that sat off to the right. To the left was an assortment of organizers, notepads, and a cup of pens all neatly organized.

Her glance moved so quick, I couldn’t read much of the calendar, but I did catch one event highlighted and circled. It said RHI Final WTH, on February, 10th, 2004.

She turned, and I caught a view of the large wall to wall fish tank from the photo. Holy crap it was impressive! It was filled with hundreds of fish and even a small shark.

A door to the right of us flung open, causing a deafening smash from the force behind it as it slammed into the wall.

I felt her heart stutter with what I could only assume was worry as a man walked out. He was at least six and a half feet tall and built from head to toe with muscle. He had dark black hair that was perfectly slicked back and wore a dark suit and tie that contrasted his perfectly white teeth.

He was on the phone with someone and it was clear from his tone, that the conversation wasn't going well.

“We didn’t build those chairs and I don’t care what my father would have done. He’s dead and this is my company now, ” he said into his phone.

He stood there momentarily, as if waiting for a reply. We watched him, heart racing, trying to figure out what was about to happen. I could feel her squirm in her seat, like she knew someone powerful was on the other end of that line.

“You’ll just have to figure that out,” with that he closed the phone, and shoved it into his suit jacket.

He walked next to us and got so close that I could smell the cologne coming off him.

“Ok, I’m heading out. I'm sorry you had to see that, but these assholes need to learn that I’m not some pushover like my dad. I’m trying to run a legit business here,” he reached down, laying a kiss on our left cheek. It was so real that I even felt the hairs from his beard.

He pulled back, then reached over and grabbed a coat from a rack, before turning and flashing a large smile, “I’ll be ready for our date tonight, I just have a few things to get done at the site before next week. Is it ok if I meet you there? I promise I’ll make it up to you.”

Before I heard a response, the room went dark again.

###

My reality came rushing back. At least this time, I was ready for it. I pulled my hand back and the intense sting from last time returned.

“Why the hell does everything about this power have to hurt!” I yelled, feeling the fire course through my hand.

Like with Josiah, her flame was notocibly weaker. I wonder if this hurt her too.

Murph pushed open the door, “Hey, we gotta go. Jameson’s coming down the hall. Are you ok?”

I reached down and grabbed my bag off the floor, “Yeah, I will be.”

“Did you get what you needed?”

“I got enough for now. Get on aim after school, and I’ll fill you in,” I said. Students were starting to flow in, and we had to lay low for now.

The woman was alive four years ago. That much I now knew. She was also dating or married to the man that worked in whatever office they were in. Now I had to figure out what that meant.