When Melody woke up in the morning, the first thing she did was grab the pictures off her desk, where she had placed them before going to sleep. She inspected them again, but they were just normal pictures, nothing particularly eerie about them. However one photo was missing - the one with the body of May. She started to panic. It was important evidence, and if she had lost it, she could potentially be fired from the case. She searched everywhere but it was nowhere to be found.

Just then Melody saw the time. Swearing under her breath, she picked up the pictures she still had, counting them one last time. There was still eight. For a moment she paused, checking again for the missing snapshot. It was definitely not there. The clock now told her she was going to be late if she didn't hurry. Melody packed her bag, took a banana to eat on the way to work and left the house, sprinting towards the train station before she missed the train.

*

"Hi Melody," somebody called on the train, and Melody turned to see Mark waving at her. She walked over to him and sat down next to him.

"I've got some bad news," they both said simultaneously, and they stared at each other.

"You go first," said Melody.

"Well," said Mark, "I was looking at the papers again this morning and found that one was missing. It was the one with the girl. I counted the photos again, but there was still eight. I still haven't found that photo. It's weird. What's your news then?"

Melody could only open and close her mouth in shock. "T-the same happened to me," she managed to splutter.

"What!?" exclaimed Mark, "Let me see your set of photos."

"Here," said Melody, pulling the papers out of her bag and handing them to Mark. He slowly flicked through them, brow furrowed. Then his eyes widened for a second. He rubbed his eyes.

"What is it?" asked Melody.

"For a moment I thought I saw a tall man in the forest picture, the one that was the same as the painting. He was well dressed, he had a suit, but his face..."

"Go on."

"...Funny. I can't remember. There was definitely something strange about his face. I've forgotten what it was now."

"I saw him too," whispered Melody, "in the picture of the forest in the office. He was tall, wore a suit, and his face was funny. Can't remember what was so strange about it, though."

"This is weird," breathed Mark. He handed the pictures back to Melody and his eyelids began to droop.

"I feel tired," he said, and promptly fell asleep.

For a moment Melody felt alarmed, Mark suddenly falling asleep like that. He looked like the girl in the forest, May - dead, but sleeping.  She was going to touch his hand, to make sure it was still warm, but then she yawned. The sleep was creeping over her as well.

It felt like she had been drugged, and she tried to fight the tiredness. However it was useless. She felt her own eyes closing, and the sleep smothered her as she drifted away.

*

Mark was in a dark forest. Night had fallen, and clouds covered the sky, but he could see, for in his hand was a flashlight. The forest seemed strangely familiar. He touched the bark of one of the trees and shivered. It didn't feel like a tree. The bark was cold as ice.

Suddenly he felt very self-conscious. He was sure he was being watched. It felt like eyes were boring into his back. He whipped his head round, shining his flashlight into the gloom. There was nothing there. His heartbeat quickened. He turned back around.

A rustle reached his ears. He shone the torch all around him, but all he saw was trees. The only sound now was of his loud, thumping heart, and he hoped that whatever was preying on him wouldn't be able to hear it.

"Mark," floated a voice on the wind that also sounded oddly familiar. "Mark."

Mark's heart was literally in his mouth. He walked backwards, shining the flashlight from left to right, scanning the forest for danger. He felt himself bump into something soft and turned. His torch illuminated the face of a young woman looking at him with staring eyes. He screamed.

"Mark!" said the woman, "I've been looking for you!"

At once Mark realised that the woman was Melody, and the voice on the wind had been hers too. He was so relieved that he hugged her.

"Lucky!" said Melody, "You got a torch! I had to struggle through the darkness using my hands, feeling the trees. I called your name too, but you didn't seem to notice. This forest is creepy. Let's get out of here."

Together they ran, Mark's flashlight illuminating the path before them. The forest seemed endless, but after what seemed like an eternity, they reached a fence.

"Let's follow the fence. There's bound to be a gate somewhere. We'll leave a stick poking up in the ground here to show we've already been here." Mark walked up to the nearest tree and snapped off a branch. He winced at the noise and prayed that anything else in the forest  wouldn't hunt down the source of the noise and kill it.

He carried the stick to the fence and viciously stabbed the ground with it. But it was bone dry, and the earth gave no way to the branch. After many attempts at inserting the stick into the ground, the dirt looked exactly the same as before. Finally Mark gave up and threw down the branch.

"Screw it. This branch is big enough. We can see it, even if it isn't upright. Let's go, Melody." he said grumpily, grabbing her arm and pulling her along with him as he marched forwards crossly.

After an even longer eternity, they reached the stick again with no sign of any gates anywhere. Mark swore.

"What do we do now?" he muttered.

"Mark, I've got something to tell you," murmured Melody, looking at Mark in a strange way.

"What?" asked Mark.

"I'm not who you think I am," said Melody, and she started to take off her clothes.

"What are you doing!?" shrieked Mark, blushing furiously and turning around.

"Look," said Melody, and Mark couldn't help but sneak a peek. Melody wasn't naked, but now she was dressed in a smart black suit.

"Keep watching," she said, and she grinned as she grabbed her chin and started to pull. Her face began to peel off like a mask. Mark was hypnotised. Under the mask was a pale white face, and when it got to the main facial features, she pulled extra hard and the rest of her face peeled off in one swift, fluid motion.

"I'm not who you think I am!" screamed a voice that was not Melody's, and Mark stifled a scream, because it was the man, the man with the strange face, and the creature that now stood before Mark reached out its arms and touched Mark's cheeks with two ice-cold hands. He finally screamed.