Once we got everything loaded into the van and settled in for the two-hour drive home, it was oddly quiet. Usually, after investigations, we were all chattering about the things we'd experienced or talked about possible evidence we'd caught, but not this time. This time, we rode in silence.

Sick of the awkward stillness in the van, I decided to get some conversation started, myself. "So, what happened to you, Erik, up on the top floor?" He'd fallen to his knees shortly before we wrapped up the investigation, but no one had talked about it since then.

He took a deep breath. "I have no idea. All I know is I was following Nick down the hall and then a sharp pain shot through my head, like it was splitting open, but then it went away as quickly as it came." He shrugged. "It's never done that before." His words were light, but his expression was just the opposite.

"Yeah, that's pretty weird," I admitted.

"No, it's not," Nick said from in front of me, who'd grabbed the middle seat when we got in, forcing Tanya and me to sit in the back. "Think about it. Eleanor Cosgrove was killed by an ax to the head. Maybe it was just a type of possession or transfer of energy."

"Whatever it was, it hurt like hell and I hope it never happens again," Erik said, rubbing his head like he could still feel it.

"I can't wait to see our video. Y'all are gonna die when you see what Tanya and I saw while you were upstairs. I've never seen anything like it." I shivered at the memory.

"We'll check it out as soon as we get back to headquarters," Alex informed us. "I know y'all are probably tired, but we'll load it really quick and check it out before heading home."

We always went back to TAPT—Tennessee Area Paranormal Team—headquarters after investigations to drop off the equipment, but usually didn't go over evidence until the following week, except for cases like this, which we rarely, if ever, had. If we caught something substantial, like we did tonight, we'd stay up a little longer the next morning to take a look at it.

Once again, most of the rest of the ride home was quiet, so a majority of us took advantage of it and slept. However, we were all suddenly awakened when Alex swerved so hard that we almost ran off the road, causing some of us, even Mark, to instinctively scream, afraid we were going to careen into one of the deep valleys that lined the side of the road.

"What the hell are you doing?" Nick yelled. "We survived the sanatorium and now you're trying to kill us!" Even though he laughed, I could tell it had startled him, too.

Alex pulled off at the next pull-off and put the van in park, obviously shaken up. "There was a woman." He shook his head like he couldn't believe what had just happened. "I came around the curve and there she was. There's no way I could've passed her without hitting her."

"Do we need to go back and look?" I asked.

"Yeah, but I don't think I can," he replied.

Nick and Erik got out of the van. "We'll go look," Nick said. "Y'all stay here." He didn't have to tell me twice.

They walked back in the direction we'd just came from, disappearing around the big curve. They were gone for about five minutes before returning to the van, looking all around it before getting in.

"We didn't see anything," Erik informed us. "No woman, no blood, nothing, only your tire tracks where you swerved."

"There's no way," Alex said. "She was right in the middle of the road. I swerved, but she was right there." He ran his fingers through his hair. "I saw her eyes; I was that close."

"Well, nothing is back there," Erik said. "And if we'd hit her, there would be some kind of evidence, but the van is clean. We didn't feel a bump or anything, either, so...."

"Maybe you dozed off. Want me to drive?" Nick asked. "I'm wide awake."

"I think we're all wide awake at this point," I admitted.

"Yeah, I think that would be a good idea," Alex said as he got out of the van. I could tell the woman he'd seen, or thought he'd seen, really had an effect on him. I knew how he felt.

"Hey, if you don't mind me asking, what did the woman look like?" I asked.

He slid into Nick's seat and put his seat-belt on. "She had long, dark-looking hair, stringy almost. Her face was really pale, but her eyes were what stood out. It was like they were glazed over or something, almost all white looking."

"Like a zombie?" Erik asked.

"Well, yeah... sort of."

Erik grinned. "Maybe you did fall asleep. I was awake and didn't see anything."

Alex looked at him for a few seconds before nodding his head. "Maybe I did."

I sat speechless in the back seat, knowing he'd just described the same thing I'd seen on the monitor, which he hadn't seen yet and I hadn't described to him. Not wanting to upset him further, I thought I'd wait until we got back to headquarters and see how he reacted when he saw the video.

"Yeah," I agreed. "I'm sure you did."

***

As we walked into TAPT headquarters with the last of the equipment, I was anxious for them to load up our footage from the DVRs. Even though I didn't want to see that face again, I was excited for the guys to see it, especially Alex. I was also extremely nervous that the face he saw would be the same one Tanya and I saw.

"Okay, give me a few minutes and then I'll track down the approximate time-frame when we were upstairs," Erik said. Being our tech guy, he knew more about that stuff than we did.

Tanya and I dropped ourselves onto the couch while we waited, fighting to stay awake, but losing miserably. "Hey, it's ready," Mark yelled at us, causing me to jump awake, not realizing I'd dozed off.

Tanya sighed. "Okay." She stood up and stretched. "Like I want to see this again." She laughed nervously, obviously feeling the same way I did.

When we walked into the review room, which was a small room in the back where there was only enough room for one long table that held two monitors, as well as a corner table for a computer, I felt claustrophobic. With all the guys already in there, it was a bit tight, so Tanya and I squeezed in to the side, since we'd already seen it, anyway.

"I loaded the files and found the approximate time," Erik said as he pressed play. "It should be pretty close, but I may have to fast-forward it some." When he hit play, there was nothing but a black screen, so we waited for the video to pop up, but it didn't. "Wait. What's going on?" He messed with it some more, going to different times in the video, but they all looked the same. "It's all blank," he said, puzzled. "There's no way."

"What do you mean it's blank?" Alex asked. "We watched the monitors all night and verified first thing that it was recording."

"I know, but it's like all the video and sound is gone. The video we took is here—see, it scrolls through different time-frames—but it's all blank." He shook his head. "I don't understand how this could happen."

"Is all the DVR footage like that?" I asked.

"Yes," Erik replied. "It appears that all feed from our DVRs is no good. You all were able to see everything on the monitor, but for some reason nothing recorded."

"But we checked that," Alex fussed.

"I know." Erik took a deep breath. "I just... I don't know."

It was quiet for a minute before Nick spoke up and said he was going on home. "I'll call you when I wake up later," he told Erik, patting him on the back. "Maybe you'll have it figured out by then."

To be honest, I knew it wouldn't be figured out. This had happened on purpose. Whatever was at that hospital didn't want us to see that video or see what had happened—see them.

"Yeah, I've got to go, too. I promised my mom I'd pick up Kylie after her volleyball practice—" I looked at my phone "—and I have exactly twenty minutes to get there."

After setting aside an evening to go over the evidence we still had, which wouldn't be much, now, mainly pictures and audio, we all said our goodbyes and I left. I ended up getting to the school to pick up my sister a few minutes early, so I pulled to the side and waited, wishing I was at home in my bed. It felt like I'd been waiting forever, and was about to go in and see what was taking so long, when a girl ran out the side door of the gym.

When I saw her, it felt like all my blood drained from my body. It looked like Kylie's friend, Jenna, but her face was distorted with fear and covered with blood. Her once blonde hair was bright red, sticking to her face and arms. She ran to one of the nearby cars, falling over the hood and then collapsing to the ground. As soon as I processed what I was seeing, and the feeling returned to my legs, I jumped out of the car and ran toward the door to find Kylie.

Once I ran in and saw the inhabitants of the gym, I dropped to my knees, my legs unable to hold me up. Most of the girls on her team appeared to be dead, their bodies scattered across the gym floor, lying in their own bloody messes. Some were still alive, crying for help or whimpering in pain, so I tried to find Kylie.

"Kylie!" I knew the killer might still be here, but at this point, it didn't really matter. I was so scared that if they were I wouldn't be able to run, anyway. "Kylie!" Where were the other parents? Where were the coaches? Were they already killed and drug off somewhere?

I felt a hand on my shoulder. Who knew the touch of death was so light? I dropped my head into my hands, waiting on the pain that was about to come, unable to breathe, wondering if they would kill me, or if I'd be left to die slowly, whimpering on the floor like some of the other girls.

"Wanna play?" a familiar voice asked. "I've got a few more spikes left in me."

I turned around at the sound of her voice, thankful that she was okay, but once I saw her, I fell backward, slipping in the blood that was all around me, scrambling to get away... away from Kylie.

"What's wrong, Amber? Have a rough night?" She smiled down at me as her face began to morph into that of the face—the one from the sanatorium.

"No... no, no, no." I got up to run, but only slipped in the blood and fell, busting my knee hard against the gym floor.

"So quick to get away? I thought you wanted to talk to me?"

A hand reached out and grabbed my arm, causing me to scream. I jerked my arm away before I realized it was Kylie—the real Kylie. Before I could help her, she collapsed, obviously dead.

A scream echoed all around me, hurting my ears, and I didn't even realize it was mine until I felt a hand clamp down over my mouth, stifling it. "What's wrong with you?" Kylie asked as she reached through my car window.

I jumped, looking all around, disoriented. "Kylie!"

She covered my mouth again. "Can you hush? You're embarrassing me. People are going to think my sister's crazy."

I looked around the inside of my car, wondering if, in fact, I might be. "I... must've... I must've had a bad dream." Bad dream wasn't even close to describing what I'd just experienced. "Get in." I looked around to find some of the parents looking at me questioningly, probably wondering if I was on drugs.

"So, did you have a rough night?" she asked as I started to pull out, causing me to stop, whipping our heads forward.

"What?"

She gave me a look. "I asked if you had a rough night." She laughed. "You seem a bit out of it." I sat there, looking at her. "Really, Amber." She put her hand on mine. "Are you alright? I can call mom if you need me to."

I swallowed harder than normal, pushing back the bile that was rising in my throat. "Um... no. I'm okay." I continued to pull out of the school, turning my air conditioner on and rolling my window back up. I aimed the vent towards me, letting the cool air hit me in the face. "Yeah, I'm okay." I forced a smile. "Just a little tired. I fell asleep and had a nightmare, that's all."

As I drove home, I hoped that's all it was... a nightmare. It had seemed so real, though, it was hard to shake off. Little did I know, nightmares aren't half as scary as what reality could be; reality can be far worse. Unlike nightmares, you can't wake up from reality.