(A/N: Okay, this chapter could be a little confusing. See, It switches midway through from first person to third person...this is how I intended it and I apologize if It annoys the heck out of you...infact, if it annoys the heck out of you feel free to flame away!)

Chapter 2

I woke up to the television on full volume. Zachreal was sitting in the arm chair with the remote in hand and he was flipping through channels. Groggily I checked the clock above the TV, it was seven thirty am on a Saturday! I looked for something to throw at my brother and then I realized that my hands were bound behind my back. My feet were also tied with duct tape.

"Good Morning," Zachreal yawned, seeing that I was awake. He put the television on mute, "All stations predict thunderstorms." He informed me as if it were the first thing that a person, waking up find themselves bound with duct tape, would want to know.

"What's going on?" I asked him, "Why am I tied up?"

"To make sure that you don't leave of course!" Zachreal replied, "Its Saturday, you always leave on Saturdays."

"That's because I have a life!" I snapped, "MOM! DAD!" I yelled. I was never too old to tattle on Zachreal.

"Oh, their not here," He informed me, "Remember? They've gone for good! But you won't leave me, will you?" He turned the sound back on and the music for breaking news nearly burst my eardrums.

This just in, blared the television, two bodies have just been recovered from a car that went off of Jergund Bridge sometime last night.. The police have yet to identify them- Zachreal turned off the TV quickly. I stared at the blank screen. That wasn't them...it couldn't be them. suddenly the phone rang. Zachreal answered it. He never answered the phone. It usually only angered him.

"Hello?" He said when he'd picked it up, "Yes, I am...no, its Zachreal...really? Oh really? Well..." His voice trailed off as he gave me a grin, "That's too bad...well thank you very much-questioning? Of course, I understand but...you see...if you come here I'll kill my brother."

"WHAT!?" I exclaimed, what was he talking about? What was he doing? He wouldn't, he couldn't possibly.

"Yes, that would be him," Zachreal told the phone, "I am dead serious- WARREN!" He shot at me, "Don't you dare move! Or I'll- I'll- I swear I will!" With that he hung up and returned to his seat in front of the television, humming softly to himself.

"Zachreal," I breathed, "Why are you doing this?"

"Doing what, Warren?" He asked. Not looking at me.

"You just told that police that you'd kill me!" I said frantically, "Please Zachreal, just untie me!" I was frustrated at this point, what had happened? My parents! Were they really...of course they were. Zachreal had gotten a phone call from the police. They were dead, and Zachreal had gone insane! He was going to kill me!

"Warren?" I jumped, a hand was on my shoulder, I looked up.

"Mom?"

"Warren, are you okay?" No I wasn't okay! I was tied up in duct tape and I thought that they had died!

"Mom!" I said again. The room went dark, the tape around my wrists and ankles unraveled and disappeared. I was looking up and my mother and father, I glanced at the clock, it was hard to tell but It looked like the time was a quarter before midnight. A dream...just a bad dream.

"Where were you!?" I asked, realizing that I still had the note in my had I handed it to them. Dad turned on the lamp, Mom read and gave me an odd look , "Exactly where we said we'd be," She replied. Handing it back to me my eyes re-read it. Went to see a movie, please make sure that the windows are closed, its supposed to storm.

"This isn't what it said," I told her. She sighed, "Are you feeling alright, Warren? It seemed like you were having quite the night mare." Then she looked at the windows, "Still open," She pointed out, "You're lucky it didn't rain while we were gone, now go to bed," I was still watching her, the dream had felt so real.

"Warren? Did you want to talk about something?" She asked. Dad had gone to bed with out so much as a hello. I shook my head, it was a stupid dream, nothing more.

"I'm going to bed," I said, "Good night,"

"Good night," She sighed, "Did you say good night to Zachreal?" I nodded yes, even though I hadn't. It suddenly occurred to me that he probably wasn't even in the house right now. I had never brought up his disappearances with the parents. Sometimes I wondered at how they couldn't know. But I didn't want them to worry. They worried about everything as it was. I was curious, though. I had given up on following Zachreal quite a while back but suddenly I wanted to know where he was. Maybe it was that girl Sophie or Sadie who had inspired it. Why had he been running? Was it possible that there was something that actually scared Zachreal? Even if it was imaginary, as was likely the case, I wanted to know.

"Good night," I repeated as I went to my room. But I wasn't tired after a dream like that, and I did not go to bed.

(switch to Zachreal)

Zachreal had a fondness for the night. It was when the rest of the people slept, and a whole different world would emerge. Anything worth noticing happened in the dark. Murders, theft and sins were committed in the darkness. Many people feared it. Zachreal hadn't, because he thought that he was above dangers. Then, one night, it came for him. And he found himself barreling from it with his heart pounding in his chest. Something was going to destroy him. Something could defeat him, and for the first time in his life, he was afraid.

It didn't stop him from his nightly routine, though. He hadn't even had to climb out of the window, seeing as how the only person who had been home had been Warren, and Warren had been safely asleep. Zachreal walked into town wringing his fingers. He never wrung his hands, it was a cowardly habit. But he couldn't help it. The anxiety of knowing that he was vulnerable was overwhelming, even if it did excite him. As he passed the small park, where the town's biggest oak loomed, he scowled. That was where they were, the people who talked. The whole town talked, of course, but that was where his brother talked. Warren didn't think that he knew, nobody considered what Zachreal knew. They all thought that the realm of logic was beyond him, but they had it all wrong. He knew more than he ever wanted to. They were ignorant. I don't care, he told himself, what do I care if they talk. It doesn't make them right. He dug his hands into his pockets as he plodded down the slope of the park hill. A solitary street light flickered across the road, and, as Zachreal passed it, it went out. He went passed the liquor store, stopped, and retraced his steps until he was back at the corner before it. Then he took a left and, two streets down, passed Bonnie's Hair Salon, he took another left. Then a few back alleys, some window shops and Kip's auto repair later, he reached the dirt road that led out of town, towards the apple orchard. It was here that he stopped and waited. He knew that it had come. This time he wouldn't run. This time he would face the true darkness. He turned when he heard footsteps on the gravel and sighed.

"Warren," He smiled, "Couldn't sleep?"

"Come home," Warren panted, he had been running, "You're too far out of town," Zachreal would have been angry if he hadn't been relieved. Nobody followed him, nobody had ever gotten so close. He shook his head.

"I can't," He told his brother, "-and neither can you...unless you want to go and dream again," It was too dark to see whether Warren paled at this, but he was at a loss for words.

"Now you don't know who to trust," Zachreal continued, "Yet you're here, following me," He didn't know where it came from. He just started talking and he knew it was true. Something was horribly right with him. "I can't bring you there," Zachreal smiled, walking up to his brother and patting his head, "Not yet, brother, its not allowed..."

"I don't care about that," Warren said, after a moment. His voice was heated by anger, "Just come home and stop wandering so far! If mom and dad knew-"

"They don't?" Zachreal asked, "Oh, you are a good son, Warren. You are kind, but they already know. They just don't want to... Now go back to them,"

"No!" Warren argued, "I'm not going back until you come too! So...so come on already!" Zachreal didn't. He turned to the direction he had been walking and resumed as planned.

"I am going to it now, if you come please be careful. If not, I'll see you tomorrow, in the morning...if you aren't gone," Warren didn't follow. This was good. Zachreal liked Warren, though he didn't know why, and he didn't want any harm to come to him. Zachreal went off road and into the woods that bordered a corn field. I will bring him soon. He told himself, But not yet.