Beatrice woke up from her slumber and rubbed her head with a slight yawn as she glanced towards her window. “Still dark huh?” She glanced at her phone reading the time as three-thirty in the morning. She got up out of her bed and moved towards the hallway. 

   ‘I could use some water,' she thought to herself as she opened the door and begin walking in the direction of her living room and kitchen area. She wasn’t sure if maybe it was because she was still tired or not but the walk towards her kitchen seemed longer than usual. In fact, it seemed like each time she was nearing the end the hallway kept extending farther and farther. By now she was starting to panic a bit. She increased the pace of her walk. The hallway kept extending. 

   “What the hell?” she increased her pace even more. Within minutes she was sprinting down the hallway, sweat beading down her forehead. She was determined to reach the end and get out of whatever she found herself stuck in. Soon a bright light started glowing at the end of the hall and she began hearing voices as it got larger and brighter, a man’s voice, and a child’s. The bright light overtook her vision enveloping her surroundings for a moment before she blacked out.

   Her eyes darted open as she frantically moved around. She was in her room, or rather the room of her childhood home. She was a kid, no more than 10 years old. Her father came rushing into the room and turned on a pink lamp on a dresser to the left of her small bed. She had tears in her eyes from a nightmare. 

   “Betty, what’s wrong,” her father asked. She looked up at his strong yet soft face decorated with brown hair pulled into a messy bun and hazel orbs just like hers. She began to cry as he sat down in her bed and shifted her body into his lap. Her head came to rest on his chest as he did his best to soothe her. After a few minutes, the young girl had calmed down and was resting peacefully within the man's embrace. Her father took the opportunity to speak. 

   “Talk to me peanut, which scary monster do I have to beat up this time,” the man joked with a slight smile on his face. The girl giggled a bit already starting to feel a bit better. 

   “You really thank you can scare this one off papa? It was big and scary and it had large teeth and a mouth as big as the whole wide world. What if it gobbles you up?” Her dad chuckled. 

   “Please I’m too much of a badass to…” The girl formed a pouty face as she cut him off. “Papa,” she warned. 

   “Oops, let that one slip out,” the man replied rubbing the back of his head. “You all good now peanut,” he asked Beatrice. She thought for a moment before meekly shaking her head no. 

   “What if the monster comes back?” Mr. Moreau lied the girl back down onto her bed then plopped himself down next to her making the mattress shake a bit from his weight and causing the little girl to giggle. 

   “Welp, I guess detective super dad will just have to stay here all night till we catch that monster eh peanut?” He ruffled the girl's shoulder-length brown hair causing her to giggle even more as she pulled his hand off her head.

   The night passed as Mr. Moreau stayed up with Beatrice watching an old cartoon about a talking dog and a group of teenagers who solve ghost mysteries. Beatrice was nodding off into sleep as the cartoon was nearing its end. Mr. Moreau took notice of this as he turned the cartoon off and carefully got out of the bed placing a kiss on Beatrice’s forehead and pulling the covers over her small body. He turned off the lamp and left the girl's room cracking the door behind him. 

   It felt like only minutes passed before the girl was roused from her slumber. She heard a loud crashing noise coming from the hallway. The girl groggily rubbed her eyes as she moved from her bed and towards her door. She stopped as she heard a loud bang coming from the living room. Her body froze as she stared at the door wondering what was going on out there. She heard a man's voice yelling, “Get out of my home you son of a bitch!” 

   “Papa,” the girl questioned to thin air. She heard another loud bang coming from the direction of the living room and the sound of a horrifying screech. It sounded like a willed animal was in their home. A thought ran through the girl's mind as she threw open the door, “Is it the monster? Is it attacking Papa? No!” She ran into the living room, and she froze yet again. Her blood running cold and her face painted in sheer terror.

   A metallic creature was towering over her father who was sitting up against a wall with his hand on his abdomen, blood was pouring from between his fingers. The monster's metal face was adorned with a skeletal look and an ebony mask as dark as the night sky. Its arm was morphed into a blade. It raised its bladed arm as it closed in on the injured man. 

   Beatrice spotted a pistol lying on the ground and without thinking grabbed it, aimed it in the direction of the beast, and closed her eyes as she fired a shot whilst screaming, “Stay away from papa!” The shot missed hitting the wall instead. The beast froze and Mr. Moreau turned to see his daughter standing there holding his ABS pistol with a frightened, tearful look on her face. 

   “No,” he uttered as his eyes went wide. The beast slowly turned around as it took notice of the girl. It stood up and walked over to her, its left arm still morphed into its bladed form. 

   “R-Run Beatrice! Run now,” Mr. Moreau yelled towards the girl, but she was frozen in fear unable to move. 

   ‘N-No,’ the girl thought in fear. ‘Not this again. Not again!’ she mentally cried out. The beast raised its arm preparing to strike. “Betty no,” Mr. Moreau yelled as he forced himself up and ran towards the direction of Beatrice and the monster. Time seemed to slow as Beatrice begin to recall this night. Reliving the nightmare that was the most hellish day of her life. 

   “No more,” she screamed holding her head as tears streamed down her face.

   The blade came down and everything went black briefly before Beatrice shot up in her bed startling and knocking over a figure that was looming nearby. She quickly grabbed the pistol from under her pillow and aimed it down at the figure as her puppy hopped up and started barking down at the floor where the person was lying. 

   “H-Hey wait it's me,” the figure yelled. Beatrice’s hand twitched and she farrowed her brows. She recognized that voice. It was a male voice that had some slight meekness laced within its tone. 

   She switched on the lamp near her bed and saw her amnesiac guest sitting on the floor with his hands up in surrender. She stared at him for a moment as he eyed the pistol in her hands and proceeded to let out a low growl of annoyance. 

   “The hell are you doing,” she questioned him with venom as her voice dropped deadly low in tone. Her pistol was still aimed squarely between his eyes. 

   “I just heard yelling coming from your room. I thought you were in some sort of trouble, so I came to check on you is all,” he explained to the clearly angered woman whilst rubbing the back of his head with his left hand and keeping his right raised in the air. 

   “Get. Out,” she hissed through gritted teeth. The man stared her in the eyes for a moment as if he was looking for something in them before sighing and standing up. 

   “Sorry to bother you,” he apologized before leaving the room, cracking the door behind him. Beatrice stared at the door for a moment before allowing her arm which held the pistol to go limp causing the gun to drop from her hand. Her dog walked over slowly and began licking her palm to soothe the woman as she began to cry sitting there in her bed. 

   ‘Why? Why won't the nightmares stop,’ she thought to herself before plopping back onto her pillow.

  Beatrice sat at a table within a small café adorned in her navy blue SCPD coat with a white shirt underneath, black form-fitting jeans, and black thigh-high boots. She stared absent-mindedly out the window to her right as she sipped on a canned beer. Her partner Jay walked up to her table with two white bags and a singular drink balanced in his hands as he sat across from her handing her one of the bags. 

   “Thanks,” she said to the man as she grabbed a plastic container out of the bag that had pancakes, sausage, and scrambled eggs in it. 

   “Don’t mention it,” the man said. “Beats your usual power breakfast.” He glanced down at the two empty beer cans next to her food. 

   “You really need to cut back on the drinking honestly Betty. On top of that,” he began, taking not of the bed hair the woman currently sported. "You look like absolute shit. Rough night?" The woman ignored the man as she pulled out another beer from her black bag and cracked it open. Jay sighed as he began eating his breakfast. 

   “So how was señor memory loss,” he asked munching on a piece of pancake. Beatrice just stared down at her food as she poked at the eggs for a bit before stuffing some in her mouth. 

  “That bad,” he asked. Beatrice shrugged in response. 

   “I’ve had worst guest.” Jay looked up at her. 

   “You learn anything more about him?” Beatrice thought back to last night when she looked through his journal and was only able to discern the name, Anna. 

   “Not anything useful, for the moment,” she responded as she continued to eat her breakfast. “Anything from the Med-Scan,” she asked Jay. He shook his head no in response. 

   “The team found something unusual apparently but apart from saying they're looking further into it I’ve yet to hear anything of substance back from them.” Beatrice sighed. 

   “So, this guy really is just one big enigma.” Jay leaned back in his seat turning his singular eye towards the window. "Well in any case I think it's best if we just keep an eye on him for now while we focus on more present matters. Got another case involving a rouge Autodroid". Beatrice sighed. 

   “And back to boredom villa we go with these shitty as Autodroid cases.” Jay chuckled at his junior’s exasperation. 

   “Welcome back to reality,” he said jokingly.