We now open around a day later from our past events. In fact, it was exactly one day later. 3 AM again, and the city was silent once more. Rory had begun to unpack, and Alexander is not of importance at time. We open on the staircase- The elevator is being serviced, so the stairs are the only viable option for going in and out of the building at the moment, or at least for getting to and from the lobby. The hallway to the stairs is where we are now. Chipped beige paint and tacky, outdated wallpaper coat the place like a layer of filth- There is a layer of that too on top of it all, a layer of dirt and dust adding to the unclean atmosphere. The floor looked like it hadn't been mopped in ages, a ruddy brown hardwood floor with cracks and chips everywhere from where the wood had just given up and let go. There were a few dead cockroaches on the floor, and live ones feasting on a dead rat in the corner. Furthermore, there was some form of used needle just resting by the entrance to the stairs. But, this is where we open, and this is where we introduce our final main character.

     Hazel. Hazel Finch. This was her chapter. She was around 5'10 with short hair, and looked like she could kill a grown man with one finger. Hazel was used to being out at "crazy" hours. She knew the people passing by and the usual 3am crowd. But tonight, the was a new face. While making her way up the staircase she had heard another set of feet from above with an unfamiliar weight to them, getting closer and closer to her.

     "Who's there?" She exclaimed, with a bit of dread and fatigue in her voice. No answer. Just more footsteps. Each step that touched the surface of each stair made a loud echoing sound off of the room's flimsy ceiling- One that was perfect for creating ominous echoes. With each step that got closer and closer to Hazel, the suspense on the staircase grew higher and higher; the room, after Hazel's apprehensive call, only seemed to allow the silence to grow louder until a footstep had been made. Hazel was hesitant to continue up the stairs, the atmosphere around her was practically  dripping with suspense now.

     But she took another foot forward trying to close the gap between her and the mysterious footsteps.

     Eventually, she yelled out again. "Excuse me, you aren't supposed to be here at this hour!" Hazel felt like a hypocrite after saying that but maybe her statement might get a remark out of the maker of these bizarre footsteps.

   "Neither are you!" a deep voice yelled back, laced with a mocking tone. The sound echoed through the tall room yet again, leaving it ringing in Hazel's ears. The footsteps began again, once more moving towards Hazel, all the while getting louder.

     "Dammit..." She mumbled to herself. She stopped in her tracks, the footsteps getting louder and louder, pounding... Her heart felt like it was running a marathon in her chest, A wave of anxious nausea hitting her like a brick wall.

     "Don't come any closer!" Hazel yelped. "I have mace!"

     The stranger approaching seemed to have been visible, yet the lights conveniently flickered. The figure, while it was visible at least, was a little blurry since they seemed to be further away. You could see them look up as the lights flickered. The figure was about to come closer, when the lights completely shut down. The sounds of ventilation stopped... And all of the building's power came to a complete stop.

     The figure sighed.

     'Well for fuck's sake!' she thought. Unsure how to overcome her fear and whether to attack or converse with the figure, Hazel stood in confusion instead, all from the apparent blackout- Which, might I add, had some of the worst timing possible.

     "Jesus Christ, lighten up." The stranger said, clearly annoyed. "I'm not gonna hurt you"

They grabbed their backpack, unzipping it. "Hold on a sec." The sounds of plastic bags rustling filled the room, creating a loud clattering sound as the person rummaged through their belongings. After several seconds of silence, the bag was put back on and a small item was retrieved. It was a miracle: a shiny flashlight from what looked like a phone came on, finally providing some light for the dark room.

     In the light, you could make out enough of the figure to tell that he was an adult male... Interesting.

     Suddenly Hazel cried out in fear. "Oh my god! It's dark! I have to find them! Come with me!" She ran past the figure, grabbing his arm and running up the stairs, dragging him behind her. The two quickly went up the stairs, as they finally made it to a floor that didn't seem recognizable due to the darkness. The stranger could barely keep up, and nearly got his phone knocked out of his hand.

     "Hurry up you clutz! They need my help!"

     He trips over his own feet again, almost dropping the phone once more. "Gimme this!" She yells, grabbing the phone from his hands. Now that she could see, Hazel was running much faster towards her destination. The stranger was quickly to a realization that he had no idea why he was coming with her. He tried to pull away from Hazel's grip.

     "Hold on, why the hell are you taking me with you?!" The person demanded. Hazel stopped and looked at the man angrily "My friend-" She gasped "-needs-" Another gasp "-our help!" She was out of breath from running up the stairs so quickly.

     "Why the fuck do you need me?!" The person shouted, pulling away hard enough to let go. "Because this is your phone?" Hazel calmly said, ironically becoming the bigger person in the situation despite being a few inches shorter than the stranger. The stranger sighed, seeming very exasperated. Clearly they weren't in the mood for this.

     "Fine," they groaned loudly, "I'm only going with you since for some genius reason you don't have a phone. Now which floor do they live on?" They asked, as the flashlight shined onto their eyes for a split second, revealing grassy green eyes. "They live on the third floor" Hazel said, softly twiddling her thumbs. The person, who appeared to around his early twenties, based off of hearing his deep voice, flashed the light onto the small number drilled into the wall. It read "2", and the man sighed yet again. He grabbed Hazel's hand and ran with her up the stairs, already losing his breath because of the impressive amount of stairs that had come before.

     Hazel was trying to keep up but since the human is noticeably taller than her, it kept her at a disadvantage. 'Floor 3 apartment 666' she thought to herself in a frenzy. She didn't quite understand her emotions for her current companion yet. Was she grateful? Did she find his current reluctance to help annoying? All Hazel was really aware of was that her little friend was scared of the dark and this was her top priority.

     After another thirty seconds of running up a seemingly endless flight of stairs, they had finally made it. The man kicked the door open to the third floor hallway, and looked to Hazel. "Which way?" he asked frantically. "Right!" She said between gasps. The two sprinted left, nearly out of breath, and almost dropping the phone several times from sweaty hands and dizziness. They stopped at the door that read "666" in hot pink glitter.

     Hazel frantically pulled out her keys, fiddling with them trying to pull out the correct one which would typically be extremely easy since it happened to be an oversized skeleton key- But in this situation, it was the hardest thing she had ever done. The man grabbed the key from Hazel with a firm grip, shoved them into the lock, and twisted. He opened the door so hard that it swung open and hit the wall.

     A small figure was standing at the doorway, wrapped in a blanket. They were crying profusely and clinging to a stuffed animal with one arm. The other grabbed onto the man. The small being, who in reality was a very unhappy Alexander, sniffled a bit.

           "R-Rorrry..?"