Cindy sat up. She was in bed... her bed. Sunlight shone through the curtains as the birds chirped outside. Cindy was finally home. She looked around the room and saw Kirk lying next to her in their old wooden bed they'd had for years. Cindy was confused. She had no idea how she got back. She got up, careful not to wake Kirk and slowly walked down the stairs. With each step, a new thought filled her mind; a new question.

'How did I get here?' Cindy took another step, 'when did I get here?' And another, 'why am I here?' And another, 'was the orphanage a dream?' Until she was at the bottom of the staircase. She walked down the hallway and reached the bedroom that used to belong to Sam. Cindy could have sworn she heard Sam's voice from inside. Could have sworn he was talking to his camera again, making a new video.

Cindy pressed her ear against the hard wooden door.

"What's up, guys? It's Sam Golbach here! And today, we are filming another 3 am challenge video! It's only 8 am now, so I've got plenty of time to prepare! I'll keep you guys updated!" Sam loudly said. Cindy pushed the door open, but before she could see anything inside the room, it had all faded.

Cindy sat up and sighed. It was a dream. She was still in the orphanage, but she had to admit, it was nice to hear Sam's soothing voice again. Cindy stared up at the clock on the wall. It was 3 in the morning. Great. Right on The Midnight Man's schedule.

Cindy got out of bed and started her journey to the bathroom. She wanted to splash some ice-cold water on her face so she opened the door and silently stepped outside, closing it behind her. The hallways were dark, but the moon provided some dim light. Cindy had almost reached the bathroom door when she heard faint whispers from across the hallway.

"But, sir! We can't do that!" A male voice said

"Why not?" A deeper-sounding voice said.

"B-because if they find out they-"

"But they don't need to find out, do they?"

"Well, I guess not. But if they do..." They trailed off, sounding scared. Whoever they were talking to seemed in charge.

"I still want it up and running by tomorrow."

"But, sir. Listen to me for a moment. Where will we hide the bodies? Where will we get all the people to kill? It'll cost us 500 people each year, and we don't have those numbers anymore! There are only 300 people in this building! Please try to understand!" The nervous one said.

"Leave the bodies for me to hide. And if it comes down to it, there are always 3 other buildings on the other side of the hill." He said.

"But sir! No! Those buildings are the real orphanage! Those buildings contain children!"

"We can't kill the children?"

"NO! Sir, have you lost your mind?! Those children are what bring in customers. Have you forgotten? We can't risk having any adults up here. When business was going great, your father, Mr Midnight, wanted to kill the extras to make room for new people. He became addicted to watching innocent people suffer. But that was almost a decade ago. Now not many people want to adopt. I fear that if we kill more people, there will no longer be an orphanage."

"That was an... informative speech, but I'm afraid I don't care. I want to see people die. I know I'm not the only one. Starting tomorrow, I want one person to die every day until we have no one left."

"But... why?"

"Because I said so," The intimidating one said, obviously hiding something.