"It looks like it's about to rain, doesn't it?"

Demo spoke from the kitchen, sensing somebody's presence nearby. Sarah stared at Demo for a bit before turning to the windows nearby. 

The sky did look a bit cloudy. Sarah couldn't tell if the clouds were filled with rain but time could only tell. she silently hoped that it wouldn't rain. the cold and the rain didn't mix well.

"..Yeah. I think?" Sarah entered the kitchen, blanket dragging behind her. she walked towards Demo, standing right next to her to find him reading through a book. Sarah took a good look at him and he looked like he hasn't slept. the bags underneath his were barely visible but they were there.

"..Have you slept?" Sarah blurted out. Demo looked at Sarah for a brief moment before returning to his book, sighing. "a little bit. I couldn't really sleep much." Demo rubbed his eye as he spoke. now that she was much closer, his voice did sound a bit tired. 

"Are you worried?" Sarah adjusted the blanket on her shoulders. she watched as Demo's eyes stopped moving across the page on the book. he blinked and sighed once more, fingers digging into his hair.

"..I don't know. maybe?" Demo's voice shook a bit. he sounded unsure, at least to Sarah. she turned around, back against the counter, leaning back a bit. "I'm pretty worried, If I'm gonna be completely honest." she mumbled, answering as if Demo answered properly.

Demo turned towards Sarah, staring at her with his sleepy eyes, his hair was getting in the way of vision. he swallowed hard before speaking. "you are?" he brought his fingers out of his hair, his eyes turning to his book and started tracing the words on the pages with his finger.

Sarah nodded. "yeah. I can't get the events of the last few days out of my head." she fiddled with the corner of the blanket, replaying those memories in her head. "I'm..I'm still processing everything." her grip on the blanket tightened a bit.

"..Same." Demo continued to trace the words across the page. "I try not to think about it." Demo's head lays low and his finger stops tracing letters. not matter how hard he tries, he cannot stop thinking about it.

Well, he cannot stop thinking about it knowing that his brother's life is on the line.

"But.. you can't? can you?" Sarah tilted her head to the side. it was as if she could read Demo's mind. Demo nodded wordlessly. Sarah hummed, looking down before she started speaking again. "it's because of Burt, isn't it?" she asked, now climbing onto the counter to sit on top of it. she let the blanket fall from her shoulders.

Demo swallowed the lump in his throat. "..of course, it is." his voice suddenly went quiet, as if he was telling a secret to her. "I cannot rest. I-I cannot sleep because I'm thinking about him." his voice quivers, he squeezes his eyes shut as if it'll block out any of the memories inside of his head.

He lets out a shaky sigh. "I'm not saying that's a bad thing.." he stands up straight, his hair no longer covering his face and he closes the book, meeting face to face with the cover. "I'm just worried that he'll get hurt." his eye twitches, probably the thought is just bothering him too much.

Maybe Burt's fine. he wants to think that but knowing deep down inside, he isn't fine. he could be close to death at this moment, Demo shouldn't be thinking that Burt would be "fine".

Don't be foolish. he scoffed and shook his head.

Sarah stayed silent, fiddling with their fingers before speaking up again. "..I heard Soph crying yesterday." Sarah's voice also went quiet, soft, like a ghost whispering into your ear to tell you a secret.

Demo looked up, his tired face easily morphing into a shocked expression. "what?" his hand lowered from his hair, fingers no longer in his hair. Sarah nodded, looking away. "do..do you think that she's aware of what's going on?" Sarah asks, her voice still quiet.

Now, with that information, she probably is. Demo knows Soph, even though she's so young, she wouldn't cry for no reason, unless if she wants something really bad. he sighed, scratching his neck before replying.

"Probably. it's normal for her to miss them." he grabs the book from the counter and walks out the kitchen, placing it on the dinning table. he heard Sarah sigh from behind him, perhaps she was just as tired as he was.

He couldn't really tell, though.

"I guess you're right." Sarah sighed, looking away from Demo. she started staring at something in the kitchen's corner, something that Demo isn't quite able to see. "I didn't expect for her to catch wind of the situation, though.." she looked down, tracing the lines on her palm before looking up again, her eyes sad and hopeless.

A few moments of silence passed, with the only sounded being the raindrops outside starting to fall, Demo turned his head and looked at the window, watching the raindrops race to the bottom of the window, to see which will be the ones to first dissolve into the forming, small puddle below.

Demo felt a sense of loneliness wash over him, a hint of sadness mixed in the sudden loneliness he felt. or was it, perhaps, despair? Demo couldn't quite put of a finger on what kind of emotion he was feeling. 

Sarah opened her mouth, attempting to make something come out, but nothing did. she sighed through her nose as she closed her mouth. she tired again, this time though, she managed speak. "she looked distracted." Sarah said, watching Demo turn his attention from the window to face her.

"What do you mean?"

"By distracted, I mean that she was just... y'know, being child. I didn't really think that Soph would understand everything that has happened." Sarah explained as she watched Demo sit down on a chair near him, rubbing his eyes once more.

"Maybe she just processed everything. but I doubt that." Demo replied, making eye contact with Sarah. the expression on her face morphed slightly into an expression of confusion. "why is that?" she asked. in response, Demo only shrugged.

"She's a child. I doubt that she would be able to process everything right now." he sighed. "when she's older, yes, but right now? she wouldn't be able to understand it all." he explained, breaking the eye contact to look at something else in the living room ahead of him.

"I suppose you're right." Sarah sighed, and got off the counter, exiting the kitchen and heading upstairs. "arr you going back to bed?" Demo asked as he watched her take the first step up. Sarah shook her head.

"No, I'm going to the attic."

"The attic? what for?"

Sarah took another step up. "I need to get something from up there." she mumbled, continuing to climb up the stairs. Demo stared as she did and once she was out of sight, he turned away from the staircase, now alone and deep in thought.

Sarah let out an exhausted breath once she reached to the top. she stood there for a moment, letting her breathing return to normal. she's still not quite used to going up and down those stairs. something that she's planning on working on.

Once her breathing returned to normal, she made her way towards the attic, which was at the end of the hall. once there, she pulled the string on the ceiling, stairs that would lead to the attic came falling down. Sarah sighed through her nose and made her way up. the dust in the air filled her lungs, causing her to cough while she climbed the stairs.

Once at the top of the stairs, she made her way through the dark attic, turning on the lights through a string connected to a light bulb. 

The light blinded her for a moment, but only for a moment as she blinked her eyes to get adjusted to the light. the attic was very organized, despite being covered in a fine layer of dust. Sarah walked up to a box that was at the corner of the attic, surrounded by bags and identical boxes.

She started looking through one box at time, trying to find her crystal ball. she remembered she left it up here, convincing herself that she wouldn't need it's glowing, purple light to sleep anymore a week ago. however, after everything that has happened, she kept tossing and turning, memories flashing in her head until she would dream a dreamless sleep.

She cannot sleep with out it, realizing this now the moment she woke up. she was just too distracted, with a having a conversation with Demo and all.

Sarah sighed, moving from one box to another when she was done searching through it. 

It would be helpful if these were labeled. Sarah thought.

While searching through one of the boxes, her elbow hit a bag nearby, causing it to loose balance and spill it's contents out. with the contents that were inside the bag, her crystal ball rolled out, causing Sarah to immediately stop it from rolling any further and picked it up.

"Found you." she smiled softly, finding comfort seeing the crystal ball. she looked down, staring the open bag on the floor and it's contents around her. she sighed softly, getting down on her knees and gently placing the crystal ball next to her, making sure that it doesn't roll away.

One by one, the contents on the floor go back into the bag where they belong. Sarah felt like she had seen these objects before at some point in her life as she was putting them away, however though, she couldn't exactly find a memory with these objects in it.

So, she ignored the strange feeling and stuffed the objects inside the bag. suddenly, she stopped, staring at the last two remaining items on the floor. a small book and a torn up doll. she let go of the bag and picked up the doll, feeling the old, rough fabric against her fingertips.

It did feel and look like it needed a wash. however, though, if one throws this doll into a washing machine, it'll likely come out in pieces. the doll was missing a button eye and her dress' left sleeve was missing.

Although, despite being old and slightly unnerving, she did feel a little bit of comfort holding the doll. she found it strange that she did.

Putting the doll down, she picked up the book, covered with a thin layer of dust.

The cover of the book was just a plain dark red, no cover title or anything to tell Sarah what it was. Sarah wiped the dust off the book, getting a good amount of dust onto her hand. she then wiped the dust on her shirt, ignoring the fact that the dust could get stuck onto her shirt.

When she opened the book, a photo flew out, slowly landing on the ground. she tilted her head slightly to the side, picking up the photo on the ground with her, now, free hand. the photo was only a house, an abandoned one. 

It looked dirty from the outside, one of the windows were broken and the front door was missing. Sarah flipped the photo to face it's back side, which had a familiar handwriting imprinted on it.

Found this old place! it's unrealistically trashed though. the house has probably seen some things. - the handwriting read.

Sarah shrugged, not really putting much thought into the photo. she opened the book to find that it's been written. now looking at it, it was probably a journal, the person who owned it had the same handwriting as the one from the photo.

Of course, it was from the same person.

"Sarah!" Demo's voice shouted, causing Sarah to jump slightly from sudden surprise. Sarah got on her feet, scrambling to collect the stuff below her. with the crystal ball in her arms, along with the torn up doll and the small journal, she rushed out of the attic, leaving the lights on.

"Come down here! I need your help with something!" Demo yelled once Sarah entered her room, placing the items down on her bed. "coming!" she yelled, exiting the room, grabbing the door handle to close it.

She took a look back at the bed, curiosity urging her to start reading the strange journal. she sighed and shook her head slightly, tearing her eyes away from her bed and slowly closed the door. 

She brushed off the dust that was stuck on her skirt before going down the hall, descending down the stairs to meet up with Demo in the kitchen, completely ignoring the open stairs to the attic.