(A/N): I have some things to address.

Thing one: This is set in a strange mash-up of book- and movie-verse. It is mainly book-verse, and to get the scale of exactly how wrong this is, and some of the later parts, you will have to have read the book; however, you can just as easily get by with only the movie's canon, but I cannot guarantee safe passage / that everything will make sense to you.

Thing two: Building from that, the most important question people ask involving book/movie crossovers is: Is Wybie involved?

To answer your question, it's actually irrelevant because of [redacted: major spoiler]. Neither Wybie or OW make an appearance, but you can imagine that Wybie is out there somewhere if you so desire.

Thing three: I don't fucking know why, but when I wrote this, I read [redacted: spoiler] mother as having a Southern accent. I have no fucking idea why. I'm swearing at myself for reading her with a. Fucking. Southern. Accent.

No offense to Southerners, but I'm supposed to be reading her British (mainly book-verse, as I said). Why the fuck am I reading her like that?

Moving on.

~(::)~ ONE: NIGHTMARE ~(::)~

I wake up breathing heavily.

I begin to cry.

Each one is worse than the last.

I can't remember them, but I know.

I know each is worse.

My mother hears my sobs and rushes into the room.

"Shh, shh, it's alright… it's alright… shh…"

I try to slow my breathing. Mother wraps her comforting arms around me.

It's too bad I no longer have a father to comfort me.

I whimper.

"It's okay… it's okay…"

I bury my face in her nightshirt. She dries my tears.

"Another nightmare?"

I nod, wiping my eyes.

"Oh, it's okay… it's okay…"

I whimper again.

"I used to have nightmares, too… but one day, they stopped, and I lived happily after that. But my mother asked me to kill her one day – she was dying. So I did as she asked, even though I didn't like it. And now, here I am, happy as can be, with a daughter of my own."

Mother sighs wistfully.

"When you have a kid of your own, you'll have to remember the secret, you know."

I smile.

"Mother's hugs and hot cocoa can fix anything."

"That's right!" she says, wrapping me up in a big, warm bear hug.

Come to think of it, what's a bear?

"Let's go get that hot cocoa now, okay? I think we both could use some."

I laugh.

"Tag! You're it!"

I laugh again, running out of my room.

"You get back here, sweetie!"

I hear the smile in her voice and run faster, laughing joyously.

Eventually I become cornered in the kitchen.

My mother approaches me, a smile on her face, but it's not the kind smile I'm used to – it's sinister and evil and makes me shiver, making me think that I've been in this exact situation before.

The room seems to darken, and the walls shift and change, and a ball of white becomes barely visible in the corner of my eye…

She taps my shoulder and says, "I win," and everything returns to normal.

"Let's have that hot cocoa now, okay?"

I nod.

But what did that remind me of?

I look up into her eyes and see my reflection.

The polished obsidian makes me look dark and ghostly, doll-like.

I smile at my reflection and my unblinking button eyes stare back at me with the same delight.

(A/N): What, you didn't think I would pull this card?

Have you read ANY of my other fics? Seriously? You should know I'm going to pull that card. You should have known since the redacted signs up there.

...

Assuming you've read any of my other fics, you can also probably guess the ending. It will be entertaining nonetheless, because there's still the other redacted sign up there.

The end.

I've got two more chapters of this lined up. Fuck their A/Ns, you're getting them raw from the press.

The real end.