The brightly colored furniture and decor in Todd's living room didn't do much to comfort Violet. She still felt as though she needed to be on guard. She tried looking at Todd's baby pictures, which were hung in multiple places on the wall, to distract herself. His parents certainly loved him very much. Violet only knew of one picture of herself hanging in her apartment. It was also a baby picture which hung on her mother's side of her parents' bed. Her father wasn't much of a picture person.

Try as she might, she couldn't keep herself from looking into Todd's dark kitchen. It was nearly identical to her own, just as the kitchens in the other apartments were. The silhouette of a vase of flowers sat right in the middle of their dining table. Todd's parents sure were bright people. 

Every minute that passed felt like an hour. Violet anxiously tapped her feet as she tried to keep her focus on the pictures on the wall. It was getting harder and harder.

"Come on, Larry," she thought aloud. "Come on."

Addison Apartments was definitely not a good place to sit in silence all alone. It was too mysterious and far too haunted. While she may have only encountered one demon, Violet was sure that there were many others to meet. What better time for them to come out than late at night, when the building slept? It was enough to make anyone extremely uneasy when everything went quiet. 

Another few minutes went by. Violet glanced at the time on her phone, which read 10:07 PM. What was taking Larry so long? She was only 2 floors above him. Surely the elevator wasn't that slow. Her heart was beginning to race, causing her palms to sweat and her cheeks to grow flushed. She needed to get out of here.

For a final time, her eyes flitted back into the kitchen. And sure enough, her greatest fear had come true.

This encounter with the Red-Eyed Demon was different than the others. There was no buzzing noise or flickering lights. It just...stood there, right against the wall. Its blazing glare pierced straight through Violet, giving her the worst sense of dread she'd ever experienced. A scream bubbled up in her throat, but she choked it down. She couldn't disturb Todd's parents.

For only a short moment, her muscles grew so rigid that she couldn't move. She couldn't even breathe. All she could do was stare at the monster as her heart pounded so hard that she could feel her pulse in her feet. Finally, her fight-or-flight instincts kicked in and she booked it for the door. Todd's request that she turned the lights out when she left had been completely forgotten. 

Upon throwing the front door open, Violet slammed into someone's torso, causing her to tumble backwards and fall onto her bottom. 

"Woah, little dude. You okay?" Larry's voice asked her as he reached down to help her out.

"We have to go right now!" She squeaked. "It's in the kitchen!"

"What's in the kitchen?"

Violet looked back to where the demon stood as she used Larry's hands to pull herself up. It hadn't moved an inch. Instead, it watched as the frightened girl pushed past her friend to get out of the apartment.

Larry grabbed her arm before she could make a run for it to the elevator. "What's in the kitchen, Violet?"

"The demon! Th-The red-eyed thing! Please, Larry, we have to go!"

The dark-haired boy decided to take her word for it, releasing his grasp on her and allowing her to run as he closed the door. Sal was supposed to be working on getting this under control. Why was this thing still here? And why, of all people, was it tormenting Violet? 

Once he caught up with her, she was already pounding on the button to summon the elevator. For some reason, the doors weren't opening, even though Larry had just took it to this floor. It shouldn't have gone anywhere.

"Calm down, dude, it'll be okay," he assured his friend. He needed to keep his cool if he wanted Violet to maintain her sanity. "The elevator is a piece of shit."

"It's gonna come after us!" The girl cried, now moving to beat the doors with her fist.

"If it was gonna do that, it would've already done so. It's just trying to scare you."

"I think it's holding the elevator!"

"No, it's just old and slow."

Suddenly, Violet raced toward the door at the end of the hall that led to the stairs. Larry followed close behind, partly feeling grateful that she came up with the idea so quickly. Even though the stairs were rarely used and covered in cobwebs, they certainly felt like the better option compared to waiting for the elevator. At this rate, who knew if it would even come?

The pair tore down 2 flights of stairs before reaching the basement, where they booked it into Larry's apartment. Violet hurriedly slammed the door and locked it, desperately trying to catch her breath.

"What's going on?" Lisa's worried voice came from the couch. She was also wearing a robe and pajamas and held a mug of tea in her hand. "You two look like you've seen a ghost."

"We did," Larry breathlessly replied. He dragged his arm across his forehead, wiping away several beads of sweat.

Lisa rolled her eyes. "Stop showing Violet those horror movies of yours. I can't have all of your friends coming down here shaken up because they thought they saw a monster."

"You don't understand," Violet began. "It's the same thing we saw last time, remember?"

"Honey, stop letting Larry trick you into seeing things."

It wasn't worth trying to convince Lisa that the apartments were most certainly haunted by a horrifying demon. She always blamed things like this on the television. Instead, the two headed into Larry's room to calm down, wishing her a goodnight and promising not to watch any horror movies. 

Larry dropped into a bean bag, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I dunno what's going on here, man." He looked up when Violet didn't respond. She stood in front of the fish tank that still sat upon his dresser, staring into it as her body trembled. Her arms were crossed over her chest. "Violet?"

"This is all her fault," she muttered.

"Who?"

"My mom. That thing is after us because of her."

"Violet..." The tall boy pushed himself to his feet and moved to stand beside her. "This shit's been happening before you even moved in."

Her expression hardened. "How many times has that thing terrorized you before we came along, huh?"

"I—What does that matter?"

"Exactly." She began to pace. "If it weren't for her and her stupid research and summoning rituals, this wouldn't be happening."

Larry was speechless. He'd never seen Violet so angry. She wasn't one to have outbursts like this. She'd dropped subtle hints here and there about being annoyed by her mother's fascination with cults and paranormal activities, but never did so with anything more than an eyeroll. Now, she was stomping around his room, huffing and mumbling to herself.

"I don't think it's her fault," he finally spoke up. "I don't know who to blame for this, but I don't think it's anyone in this building."

"Well I do, and I'm blaming her."

Larry grabbed her by the shoulders, stopping her in her tracks. "Listen, don't tell Sal I said anything to you, but he's working on this. Todd's been helping him too. I think they're on to something."

The young girl let out a sigh as thoughts of her waning friendship with Sal resurfaced. He always kept this subject a secret from her. Anytime she'd ask, he'd change the subject or tell her not to worry about it. Eventually, she just stopped asking. "What am I gonna tell him? He doesn't like me anymore."

"Of course he likes you."

"Yeah...I can tell."

She watched as he reached for something taped to the mirror above his dresser. It looked to be a picture of a group of people. He gently pulled the tape off the glass, careful not to rip the picture. Once he brought it closer, Violet could see that it was from the sleepover in the treehouse. All of the boys (except for Neil, who must have taken the picture) were crowded around her sleeping bag, where she was curled up with her eyes closed. Larry had his tongue out while holding up a rock 'n' roll salute and Todd was squating beside him with an awkward smile on his face.

Then there was Sal. He held two fingers up near the back of her head as if to make a pair of bunny ears. With his other hand, he was holding hers. Even for the picture, he didn't let go. Judging by the way his prosthetic was positioned slightly higher on his face and his eyes being scrunched up, she could tell he was smiling. 

"He held your hand all night, little dude," Larry's voice came. "You really think he doesn't like you?"

Violet took the picture out of his hands, her eyes glued on Sal. "But he won't talk to me. He ignored my texts too."

"I'll see if I can talk some sense into him. Keep that picture."

"What? No, it's yours."

"I don't want your PDA hanging in my room. Keep it."

A small smile crept onto her face. "Thank you, Larry."

"Don't mention it."