Drizzle began to soak through the jacket Nina was wearing and the wind had become even colder, the chill seeming to reach Nina's bones as she stared up at the small cabin the narrow path had led her to.

The cabin looked old, though well kept. A desolate air hung around it and the clearing it was situated in—still as if frozen in time. Nina couldn't help but stare for a moment, the small cabin seeming to stare back through dark windows. She stood there for what felt like hours before cautiously moving closer.

Still, nothing stirred as Nina reached the door, the inside of the small cabin remaining dark. Bracing herself, Nina reached out to grasp the doorknob and gave it a turn. She was almost surprised to have it open, but then she remembered that was what Alice wanted. That was why she was there in the first place.

There was a staleness in the air when Nina stepped inside. Dust mixed with the scents of wood and earth while shadows seemed to dance as light poured in through the doorway. Nina pulled out her phone, using it as a flashlight to look around the place.

It was sparsely furnished and consisted of a single room. Nina thought it had probably been used for hunting at some point. Most likely, it was a place that had been in Alice's family for a while. There were a couple of bunk beds on one end of the cabin, both bare though Nina could see some blankets folded and stacked on the top one. A small stove and a table with a set of chairs made up most of the other pieces of furniture. Nina looked through the cabinets in the room, all of them empty save for dust.

Nina stood there, the only light that which filtered through the windows and emanated from her phone, and found herself lost as to what she was supposed to find there. For a second, she wondered if there was even anything to be found. If the whole thing hadn't been some worthless hunt for something that was never there. Something her broken mind had conjured up.

No, there has to be something here, Nina thought. There was an undercurrent of desperation to that, one Nina didn't want to think about.

Before she knew what she was doing, she was searching the cabin. It was dark and cold, Nina's fingers feeling stiff and her body cold. The bag she'd carried was left on the floor as she searched every nook and cranny she could reach. Nina ignored it, all of it, and kept searching, only to come up empty handed.

Alice's eyes flashed in her mind.

Red lips smiled as mismatched eyes stared mockingly at her.

A mother's voice called for her child.

Nina sat back, her head aching and her heart pounding. A heavy feeling settled in the pit of her stomach as a rush of panic rose inside of her. The cold seemed to finally settle upon her as she found herself shaking. Outside, the rain began to fall in a steady, harsh beat while Nina sat still. Her mind was a rush of thoughts and memories, enough to almost make her want to scream.

Her hands shook, and Nina could almost feel the scars on her arms pulling at her skin. Even so, the ones in her mind were ever more apparent. They tugged at the frail remains of her own memories, shattering and scattering them until Nina wasn't sure what was left was ever hers.

Green eyes flashed in her mind's eye once more, and Nina felt a surge of anger that she'd been fighting against for a long time.

There was anger at Alice. Anger at the way she'd tampered with her mind to get what she wanted. At the way she'd broken a man now sitting in prison. Anger at the woman she'd seen as a childhood friend for lying to her about such a big part of her life. And there was anger at herself for allowing memories that weren't hers to drag her into such a mess.

At that moment, Nina found that she didn't much care for the truth. She didn't care about who it was who'd killed Alice or what it was that the woman had known. All Nina wanted was to go home. To see her father.

To be the person she'd once been instead of a shattered fragment of herself.

Nina sat on the floor of the cold cabin, and for the first time, she truly felt the loss of all that had been taken from her. For the first time, she truly considered giving up. Nina thought about the pieces of her old life she would be able to salvage and tried to convince herself it would be enough. That the memories haunting her would fade away with time.

She told herself all of this even as the idea of Fearnley languishing in prison surfaced. Alice's mother, grieving in a home filled with memories of her daughter. The people Nina had left behind and the questions she would have to answer when she returned. It all made her realize that there was no going back. There was only one option for her—to move forward.

Nina felt the anger—the loss and pain—drain out of her. Hands shaking and a dull throbbing still slowly fading from her head, she stood.

The cabin was just s dark, just as desolate, as it had been when Nina first walked in, but Nina gazed upon it in a different light. She saw it not as a worn cabin, but as one of the only places where peace and safety were a guarantee. It was a place where Alice knew no one would look.

And she did all she could so that I would find it.

The thought made Nina wonder just how Alice had known that Nina would make it so far. That she wouldn't simply give up or succumb to the madness that she felt lurking so close to her, waiting to wrap itself around her at any moment. Alice hadn't known her, hadn't know how far Nina would go to find the truth behind the memories in her head.

She didn't, Nina thought. But she had faith. She had hope.

And then she was killed. Nina felt the remnants of the anger she'd felt towards Alice leave her. Green eyes flashed in her mind, and Nina reached a hand up to her head.

"Why did you bring me here?" she asked, and wasn't certain why she did so in the first place. "What did you want me to find?"

Nina began to search the cabin once more, this time in a less frantic manner. She swept the walls with the light of her phone, sliding her hand along the wood. The rain continued to rage outside, a rush of sound that was almost deafening. Idly, Nina thought of how difficult the journey back would be if she didn't head back soon.

She thought of wandering the narrow path strewn with fallen branches and roots in the weak light of the waning sun, a storm raging around her, and knew she should get going before it was too late. Getting lost in the forest was not something Nina wanted to experience.

Her thoughts were cut short as she searched the area around the bunk beds, dust having gathered atop them. She looked up at the top bunk and caught a glimmer of light that lasted for a second. With a furrowed brow, Nina climbed up one of the steps to get a closer look and felt as if her heart had stopped as her gaze fell upon a picture hanging over the bed.

It was a small thing, the frame plain but the glass clear enough to reflect the light from Nina's phone. Nina paid little mind to these things as she focused on the picture the frame held.

A landscape painted in warm and earthy tones greeted her, the woods so similar to the ones she had just trekked through. Leaves were scattered on the ground at the foot of bark painted a dark brown. Above it all, hung a dark sky, streaks of weak light breaking through the clouds. Nina stared for what felt like hours before reaching out to pull the picture down.

Unlike everything else in the cabin, the frame wasn't nearly as dusty. There was a thin coating over the top that was easily wiped away. Nina noted how it lacked the distinctly aged look everything else had and could almost picture Alice placing it there during what would be her last visit—placing it there for Nina to find.

She climbed down, juggling her phone and the frame, before walking to the small table on one corner of the cabin. There, Nina carefully inspected the object, certain it was the exact same painting she'd seen so many times in Alice's memories. The ones she'd felt so relieved to realize were there in the place of a mirror and green eyes that seemed to stare through her.

Nina shook away those thoughts, and instead turned the frame around to open it. She felt her heart pounding in her chest, her hands trembling just the slightest bit as they turned the small latches holding the back in place. The seconds it took to pull away the back and reveal what was inside felt like hours until, finally, it was gone and Nina was able to look at the white expanse of paper broken by a small memory card taped to the back.

She felt her stomach sink at the sight of the small, innocuous object. It sat there, unmoving, while Nina stared, frozen without knowing what to do next. The simple action of stretching out a hand and taking the small card took too much of an effort.

Still, Nina soon had it in her grip, the tape peeling off with ease and the frame left on top of the table, open and forgotten. The small bit of plastic in Nina's hand felt ridiculously insignificant for something that could potentially be of so much importance.

Outside, the rain had lessened to a light shower. Nina decided it was time to leave. She walked away from the cabin moments later and didn't once look back.

- - - - - - - - - 

Hey everyone! So, here's the new chapter, hope it's good, and thanks for checking it out. As always, comments and votes are much appreciated. Have a great weekend!