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"Why are you here this tie, and plant , is she?"

He shakes his head "Can’t I just drop by to check up on you?" he asks, leaning against the doorframe with his arms crossed

"You’ve never done that before," I re the notebook out of the way "Usually, you co hidden in a riddle Or to tell me to beware of Mother and Father, which I already knew I’ve known since I was four and they strapped me to the bed for the first tiht"

"That was the saht Father took me into the basement and punished ht that here he took the people who betrayed Elderman"

"He did that, too But sometimes he would take me down there when I betrayed hinize my screa low "But it didn’t always sound like you"

"Soed, but it was usually in the basement… In the basement" His voice echoes at the end

Bile burns at the back of hthe concrete "Ellis, I’m so sorry that that happened to you I should have tried to help you"

"Don’t worry about it What’s done is done" He waves e the past, Ee your future"

"And now it’s riddle tiht? Could you by chance tell me a riddle I could solve this time? Like why I see you here, yet every time I call back home to talk to you, Mother won’t let ry whenever I mention you I know she’s upset with you, but… it’s still so odd"

"Mother never let us speak to each other before you left You know that And that’s not why I caht I just wanted to see if you’re okay" He scansfor visible wounds He won’t see them no matter how hard he looks Most of my scars are internal, except for the one onwas about to happen to you"

"If you’re not real, how is it possible for you to have a bad feeling?" I wonder, nervously wringing my hands on my lap "For a hallucination, you seem to know a lot Maybe it’sto tell me stuff I already know?"

"How do you know that I’m not real?" he questions with speculation