She had a dream last night.

Sunshine was there. And when she says there, she means the sacrifice. She saw it all. Just like the black-and-white footage she found from so long ago.

Where Anna's dad killed her?

She'd just been standing, inches from where Anna fell, and her mask wasn't on. And Anna had looked at her and kept saying, "Help me, help me, why aren't you helping me?"

Sunshine begins to sob.

Then Anna'd reached out, desperate for a life-line, but she couldn't do anything. She couldn't help because it was a dream.

It was a dream.

It was horrible.
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It's a week after the Anna dream and Sunshine isn't exactly feeling better, but she's trying.

And then—well. As usual, she'd been sleeping when she heard a noise downstairs. She's going to be stupid and go find out what it is, because why not?

The house is swathed in shadows that make it nearly impossible for Sunshine to see her hand an inch away from her face. Thankfully, the red light of the camera slightly illuminates the ground, but doesn't exactly soothe Sunshine's nerves.

Still, the living room is empty. Sunshine can hear a soft ringing in the background, almost like a microwave going off, and then there's the voice in the vent and Sunshine can't move. "Do you guys hear it?" she whispers to the camera. "It's there again." She flips the camera around and a figure stands behind her, brows furrowed.

"It's time for you to tell it to leave," a voice says.

Sunshine gasps and whirls around, coming face-to-face with Victoria. Her eyes widen and she takes in the appearance of her—friend?—mentor?—and begins to shake profusely. "Victoria?"

She can't believe it. Victoria is here.

Victoria is back.

"Honey?"

Sunshine whips around to see her mother exit her bedroom, rubbing tired eyes with her knuckles.

"Mom?" Sunshine asks.

Kat immediately senses something. "What's wrong?"

"Victoria, she's—" Sunshine turns, but Victoria isn't there anymore. The only thing that greets her is open air.

Kat frowns. "She's what?"

"She was right there."

"Did you have a bad dream?"

"No!"

"What did you—" Kat walks up to her daughter and brushes hair out of Sunshine's face.

She closes her eyes. "I heard a noise."

"Okay. I mean, Victoria's, like, in the house?"

"Mhm."

"How? The door's locked."

As if that ever stopped her.

"I don't know."
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So, after Victoria just kind of showed up the other night, Sunshine is left wondering what to do. And now she thinks she might need her help, but she doesn't know how to get a hold of her.

I mean, she's not readily available. She's not in the phone book, not like Santa, she can't track her with the thing on Christmas Eve—anyway, it doesn't matter, but Sunshine feels kind of weird doing this and, well, she's going to just talk out loud.

As if Victoria is here or something. God, this is ridiculous.

"Victoriaaa...?" Sunshine calls loudly. "Um...I feel stupid...I kinda, I don't know, I need your help, I don't know how to get a hold of you—"

Knocking on the door.

Sunshine's eyes go wide as she walks up to the door. Guess who it is?

"Aaaand that's Victoria," she mutters to herself, opening the front door. "Hi."

As usual, Victoria strolls past without a word.

Welcome in.

Sunshine's used to this by now, though, so follows Victoria into the living room, sitting across from her. "Um...how did you find me?"

"I never lost you."

"Right..." Sunshine trails off, confused. "Well, how do I get a hold of you again? You know, if I need you?"

Victoria smiles softly, amused. "I think you figured that one out."

"Yeah. Yeah, I've been having—dreams about Anna again."

Victoria nods. "I know. I think it's time for you to get rid of this ghost."

"The—chanting one?"

She looks serious. "Yes." Her voice hardens. "Get rid of it."

"I don't know how!"

"Yes you do," Victoria nods. "Why is it here? What does it want from you? If you do that work, you'll figure it out."

"Alright, research."

Victoria stands, walks across the room, and leaves.

So that happened.

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"So," Sunshine says brightly, smiling at the camera, "I thought I'd show all of you Nolan's—" She laughs, "apartment."

"Hey, you want some water?" Nolan calls from the kitchen.

She giggles. "Uh, no, I'm good." She can't stop smiling. Is this really happening? Has his hot-dog selling been this successful?

"You mind if I have some water?"

Sunshine makes a face. "It's your apartment."

A pause. "Right on."

She looks baffled. "Anyways, so, here it is in all its..." Sunshine looks around at the white-walled apartment, a lamp illuminating the area next to a blue chair in the corner; Nolan's bed is pretty small and white, nothing crazy but it's cozy enough "...tinyness and...glory..." When she turns Nolan is handing a glass of water to her, grinning. "I...don't really want that..."

She takes it anyway.

"Thanks..." Sunshine sets it on the counter. "Just put that over here..."

"Yeah," Nolan says, smiling. "This is the place. You like it?"

"It's lovely, um..."

"Thank you!"

"How do you...feel?"

"How do I feel?" He sets his water down as well, walking over to the bed. "Like a new man."

"A new man." More like a new boy.

"Yeah." Nolan drops down on the bed, tucking an arm behind his head. "Well, I like the old man, but...independently domesticated, y'know?"

She raises a brow. "I'm...glad." Sunshine turns and peers into a bathroom, colored in pastel teal walls. "Got a tiny bathroom over here."

"So, yeah," Nolan says. "That's my bathroom."

"Tiny bathroom." She walks back into the main room.

"That's my bureau."

"That's nice," she calls as she pads into the kitchen, "I love that you use the word bureau so liberally."

"This is the kitchen," Nolan continues, ignoring her.

"Yes. This is where you keep...food."

He gets up off the bed and slides past her, standing in the middle of the kitchen with a big smile on his face. He's so excited. "This is where the magic happens."

"Uh huh."

Nolan laughs then clears his throat. "I'm feeling a little under the weather."

"He's under the weather," Sunshine whisper-yells to the camera.

"Um, yeah, just thought you should drop by, show you the place, this is it. I know it's not much, but...but it's home."

"And you moved out of your mom's house?"

He nods. "I did. Finally."

"That's nice."

"Finally."

She looks around. "Feel like a new man?"

"Yeah!"

Sunshine moves from the kitchen back into the main room, glancing over a yellow and red poster with a black cat on it. "So, how's the...the hot dog stand?"

He follows her. "The hot dog stand is...uh, it's doin' okay." Nolan throws a piece of wrapper across the room and sits across from her in the blue chair.

"Yeah? That's nice, I'm glad you're so...filthy."

"Yeah."

"Lovely." She pauses. "Well. That's good. That's all you have to say?"

"I like it," he says, fingers over his cheeks. "It's homey. Reminds me of like, what a middle-aged woman would decorate their house as."

"Yeah, it's not really your style, that's for sure."

"No, but it's pre-furnished, so I didn't have to pay for any of this."

Sunshine raises her brows. "That's good, because this really doesn't look like you."

"Well, my style is moderately priced." Nolan scrunches up his face.

"Moderately priced...yeah, especially that throw behind you," she looks at the brown throw behind him, causing him to turn, "it's got a nice...detailing, that's great, very un-you."

"Didn't even know that was there," he shrugs off.

"Hmm. Well. You've got a TV—"

"You wanna watch some television?" He stands.

"Not...really, no." Sunshine just now realizes he's wearing a button-up gray jacket identical to Victoria's. He's so weird.

"No? Alright." Nolan plops to the bed on his side then rolls on his back, staring at the ceiling.

"It's a little—it's a little toasty in here."

"You don't wanna watch any television?" He continues staring at the ceiling.

"No..."

Nolan sighs. "Alright, do what you want then."

"Okay, well."

"It's literally the only thing to do in here."

"Is...watch TV?"

"Yeah. Or you could read. I have some books if you want a book, I've got, um—I've got a book on—"

Both teens jump when something crashes in the kitchen.

"Hey!" Nolan shouts, jumping to his feet and charging into the kitchen.

"What...was that?" Sunshine follows him.

He stops in the kitchen, and when Sunshine joins his side, she stares at the floor. A bowl has fallen.

"So you have a...ghost, eh?" she says casually.

Nolan turns to her, serious. "Get out."

"Why—?"

"Get out, get out of the house!"

Sunshine laughs. "What do you mean get out?"

"Go! Go! Go, nope, nope," he swings his arms toward her, motioning towards the door.

"What?!"

Nolan stands in front of her, hands clasped together, staring.

"I didn't do anything."

He smiles and shakes his head. "I believe you. We were both in the living room." Nolan opens the front door, sunlight streaming into the apartment. "But you know what? Can't handle it. No, I'm sorry, I'm not gonna—" He jumps and looks desperate. "This place, it can't become haunted, this is my house now. I don't want any ghosts just hanging around, talkin' crazy stuff."

"I didn't do it on purpose."

"I know you didn't do it on purpose!" Nolan says. "I'm not blaming you for anything, but...just, come on."

Okay.

Well, that happened.

THE CAT PICTURE THAT NOLAN HAS IS LITERALLY ON ONE OF MY T-SHIRTS I'M SCREAMING AJSHSHDBDB