Caleb nodded, arm tightening around the backpack as he gazed apprehensively at the entrance. He put out his free hand, taking Christa's and stepping through the doorway.

A normal hospital. Nothing amiss.

The beeping of machines could just be heard coming from patients' rooms. The hustle and bustle of visitors and staff produced a white noise that flooded the hallways. Once in a while, a phone rang. It was, in every sense, completely ordinary.

Completely ordinary to everyone except the seven-year-old boy standing among them.

He took a long, deep breath, then walked forward. In his peripheral, he could sense something ghostly following after them, behind, beside, then ahead to lead the way toward the nearest exam room; a place he was intimately familiar with.

By some stroke of luck, nobody noticed when the two unsupervised children disappeared into the vacant room and shut the door.

"Is he here?" Whether or not she expected an answer, Christa asked anyway.

"Yes." It was said with such certainty that she accepted it as fact even before he gave an explanation. "I can see him... there." He pointed a finger. "Not all of him, but his shadow."

Nodding, Christa took stock of their equipment one last time before giving him the go-ahead.

"...We're back."

Just like that, the lights went dark. It was during their adjustment to the sudden blackness that the droning ambience of the busy building was snuffed out, extinguished so abruptly that their ears didn't have time to make it make sense, offering a dramatic whoosh produced by nothing just to provide some sort of transition.

Atop the cot perched the man who'd been waiting- they could only assume- much longer than he would have liked. A familiar bandaged face gazed down at them. 'Crawler' looked drained, uncovered eye half-lidded and unfocused.

As obvious as it seemed, Christa had to ask just to be sure. "Did you do that?"

He flinched but offered a tired nod, relaxing into a cross-legged sit and resting his heavy head on his hands. The antennae on his head jittered as Caleb rummaged through the backpack and produced a notebook, handing it to him cautiously.

Christa lifted the blinds to peer out the window, listening to the scribbling on the page as she squinted to see.

As if hearing her question before she asked, Crawler tossed the book toward her. It landed on the window sill beside her with a tap, and she shined a light on it, curious.

HE is in tHE BAsEMEnt.

She turned, showing the text to her brother. Across the room, Crawler dropped off the bed to approach the door, opening it with his tail and slipping outside.

Caleb looked confused, whispering up at her. "There's a basement?"

"You'd know better than I would."

"I've never been down there... I've only left this floor once, to go upstairs. I thought it'd be safer, but Crawler was up there. He's been around ever since."

She blinked. "He wasn't here before?"

A shake of his head, and Caleb found himself catching the door before it closed to look for the man in question. "I think there are people on each floor, and I just never unlocked them because I never went there... or something."

"Well..." She slid through the doorway, spotting Crawler a few meters ahead. His head was cocked back unnaturally to look at them, likely waiting for them to follow him. "We know who to ask, at least."

A page flipped, and Caleb started writing- to the best of his ability- his questions in point form. How organized. Who had taught him that?

Crawler turned when they started towards him, heading to a stairwell. They followed uncertainly, taking turns coming up with things to add to their list.