"Mark?" I yelped in shock after opening the front door.

Without answering, my brother attacked me with an all too familiar hug. For the first time in so long I cried in tears of joy. Finally, I had my family with me again.

"I missed you so much." I uttered, burying my face on his shoulder.

"I can't believe they made me forget you." He said, backing away to take a look at me. "You've grown so much."

I let out a little laugh. "I guess. H-how did you manage to get your memory back?"

"I don't know... I guess your presence helped me."

"You knew I was nearby."

"I had a feeling. I knew I'd recognize your voice. What were you doing in Jeff's room?" He asked.

"Oh... we um... he kidnaped me." I answered quickly and unsurely.

"Shit... that bastard, just one of us wasn't enough?" I could feel him getting upset.

"No, it's not that. I... I like Jeff." I murmured from under my breath.

"What?? You what?" Mark yelped in shock.

"I like Jeff, but... that doesn't matter, he left me."

"(Y/n), you don't like him. He kidnaped you right? It's an illness." He said.

"I know. But it feels so right." I looked down at my feet. "And uh... there's one more thing."

"What is it?"

"Why don't we sit down." I suggested.

And so we did. I made both of us some nice tea and for a while we didn't talk.

"So, there's something more to it." I broke the silence.

My brother looked up at me, waiting for what I was going to say.

"I-I'm pregnant..." I mumbled.

Mark's eyes widened in shock. "What?? From... him?"

I nodded, looking down at the cup of tea in my hands like a guilty puppy.

"Gosh, (y/n)... That's... that fucking bastard." He growled. "I swear, the next time I see him." I didn't let him finish.

"N-no! It's okay... I'm getting an abortion. It's fine, I'll just forget all about it." I tried to calm him down.

"It's not fine! What did he do to you?" He didn't back down.

"Nothing! It was all consensual." I admitted.

"That doesn't matter! You only agreed to it because you thought you liked him, how else were you supposed to react? You were trapped with that bastard. He was the only one you could turn to. The only person you could talk to. If you can even call him a person..." Mark was getting more and more infuriated. "And on top of everything, he left you? Just like that? Does he even know you're pregnant?"

"No, he doesn't. And it's fine! Like I said, I'm getting an abortion and we can just forget about everything then. Live normal lives. Now that we have each other everything should be much easier. Much better." I claimed.

Mark stayed silent for a while. Then finally spoke. "Fine, if you don't want me to do anything about it, I won't. But all you need to do is say a word and I swear, I will cut his guts out. Okay?"

I nodded, giving him a little smile.

"So what is this place anyway." He asked.

"This is where mom moved with her husband. It happened years after you disappeared." I explained.

"Her new husband?" Mark furrowed his eyebrows.

"Yeah. He drank all our money, so we had to sell our house and move here." I continued.

"Shit... you must have been through so much. The drunk stepdad, then Jeff... I'm so sorry I couldn't be there." Mark said and pulled me into another hug. I accepted it happily. "And, (y/n)."

"Yeah?"

"I think it's really brace if you to get this abortion." He said, looking into my (e/c) eyes. The exact color of his.

"Thank you."

"How have you been living here all alone? And when did Jeff leave you?"

"He left me a little more than a week ago. And I got a job in the nearby coffee shop. There's this guy Alexander there that I know. He helped me a lot." I smiled.

"Alexander eh?" He laughed.

"Oh stop!" I playfully punched his shoulder. Only then I noticed how buff he had gotten.

For hours we talked, laughed and caught up on what had happened to us. I told Mark about Natalie, about our mom. We cried a little, consoling each other at the same time. It felt like good old times.

"Mark, what did they make you do?" I asked.

"Just like everybody else in his possession, I had to obey his orders, that being... kill people. The worst part about it is that I felt like I wanted to. And now that I'm away from him, I feel so guilty. I feel like a monster." He spoke, sadness in his voice.

"Awh... Mark..." I put my arm around his shoulders. "It's not your fault. Slenderman is an ass."

He looked at me. "You know about him?"

"Of course, Jeff told me everything."

"That's strange. He's not the kind to tell anyone about the way creepypasta works." Mark thought, more to himself than to me.

"Well, he did." I confirmed.

"Sounds to me like he really had a liking to you." Marks words sparked a little something in my stomach, but I quickly shook it off.

"No way... he left me remember? Just like that."

"Right..." something in my brothers face told me he wasn't telling me the whole truth.

"Mark? I-is there something you have to tell me?

"No..." He answered, looking at the clock in his phone. It showed 11:36pm. "We should go to sleep now. It's getting late."

I nodded. "There's a spare bed in my old room."

"Okay."

I took a quick shower before heading off to bed. Tomorrow was supposed to be my first day of period. That's when I was gonna take the pills.

***

I woke up early and as expected, no period. I filled a glass of water and took one pill out of the package. After a second of hesitation I quickly swallowed the drug, without thinking much longer.

I took a few deep breaths and made my way to the bathroom. I needed to freshen up, so I splashed some cold tab water on my face and looked at myself in the mirror. I looked pale, lifeless.

Suddenly, a sharp pain came across my uterus. As if someone stabbed me there. I moaned and kneeled down. After I gathered some strength to stand up I felt something running down my legs. As I looked down I saw that it was blood.

"My god..." I cried in pain and in shock.

Something was begging to come out of me. I felt it squeezing it's way through. The pain increasing every second. I screamed at this point and fell to the ground.

Finally, the pain stopped. I looked at the creature between my legs. It was the ugliest and scariest thing I had ever seen. As I got closer to inspect it it started squealing in an inhumanly manner, blood came out of its mouth. Drops of it splashing on my face.

I cried and screamed.

And then I woke up, still screaming, Mark by my side.

"Hey hey, it's okay, it's just a dream." He tried talking me down by holding me close.

I was drenched in sweat and I could barely catch my breath.

"It's okay. Shhh." Mark pushed through my hair with his fingers. "It's gonna be fine.

"H-he's a monster." I cried.

"Who is?"

"My baby."