Dear sister, can you help me lie?

I've told the truth so many years

No one seems to want to hear that

I'm not someone else inside

I've been along this lonely road

Looks like I'm not coming home

But I don't mind

Please don't cry

- The Pretty Reckless

Shari Davenport stood at the balcony, breathing in the fresh morning air, inhaling the cool breeze in deeply and exhaling it out with a sigh of satisfaction. The sun had recently begun to reveal itself over the horizon, slowly rising, shy but promising. She took a sip of the coffee she had in her hands and admired the Sunday morning - they were her favourites. After the major array of events on Friday, Shari spent most of Saturday with Diana and Logan, reading through Lorelei's collection of books on Sachem Bay.

In the books, they discovered a cult had been in operation within Sachem Bay in the 1940s, lead by a notorious man named Garrett Chilton. The cult believed in fundamentalist traditional values, of extreme communism and divine leadership of Garret Chilton. They believed killing off the children would stop the social change and therefore maintain their core beliefs. The cult killed children, bringing them in from the city, until they were eventually discovered in the 1960s with the death of Sachem Bay children Annalise Bridge and Connor Kateson. After they survived 2 decades, the cult collectively performed a ritual, in which their sacrifice would birth a malevolent darkness which would grow and grow and grow, until it was powerful enough to return to the living world in a vessel, to continue their slaughter.

Shari took photos of the texts and forwarded them to her brother, Scott. It was the first lead they had had in days.

Today, however, marked one week since Shari's return to Sachem Bay, which was surprising as she didn't believe she'd survive one day.

When the sun was shining sure and bright, Shari finally retreated into her room and showered, changed and refreshed herself. She pulled on an old pair of jeans, a half creased T-shirt and a loose jacket. She pulled on her boots and escaped from her room and into the corridor, almost crashing into somebody.

Just missing her accidental target, Shari almost jumped out of her skin.

"You scared me to bloody death!" The guy half laughed, sounding shaken and exasperated, his voice cracking through his British London accent.

Shari smiled. "Sorry 'bout that. Nice to meet you, I'm Shari."

He shook her hand and grinned. "Tobias Loren."

"Well, nice to meet you, Tobias Loren." Shari said, enunciating his name with emphasis.

He chuckled at her humour, which Shari appreciated.

"Yo, we're living in the same boarding house... how about we make the most of it and go get coffee?" Tobias suggested.

"Yo?" Shari repeated, laughing at his choice of words. "Yo? What next? Dude?"

Tobias rolled his eyes, trying to hide his grin. Shari studied his ear length brown hair and sharp brows, defined jaw and perky lips. She blinked and distracted herself, turning to head down the staircase.

"What brought you to the boarding house?" Asked Shari.

"Cheap housing. Needed a place to stay. I was living with my parents, but things changed." Tobias said.

"What happened?"

Tobias bit his lip and continued. "Turns out that my parents found out I liked boys as well as girls. They don't like the bisexuality thing just as much as the gay thing."

"I'm sorry about that." Shari said as they slid into her truck. "That really sucks."

"You can say that again."

Because Shari was the queen of corny jokes, she almost did say it again, but she thought that was meant to be a saved for a less sensitive topic, so reserved her humour for later. She had just made a new friend, which made Shari feel a little more positive about Sachem Bay, and she didn't want to ruin that.

Gia Davenport closed Gracie's bedroom door slightly, just enough to see the red flashing light of the baby monitor, if by any chance her daughter would awake from her coma.

The hospital had allowed them to take her home, for she may be more comfortable, and Gia was at least happy about that.

She accepted Scott's soft embrace, comforting herself into his arms, leaning into his chest in a sigh of relief. He was her sanctuary. A tall, beautiful sanctuary.

"I'm gonna go sit with Gracie, okay?" Scott said, kissing his wife's forehead.

Gia nodded. "I have some errands to do. I'll catch you later, I love you."

"I love you too." He said and slid into his daughter's bedroom.

Gia turned to the mirror to examine herself before leaving the house. She had her Light brown hair tied into a ponytail, her mixed race caramel coloured skin shone, radiant, soft and healthy. She had minimum makeup today, only a touch of mascara, for she hadn't the time.

Both Scott and Gia worked, Scott dealt in computer technology and telemarketing and Gia worked in publishing, mostly fiction - she would rather pull out her own eyes than work for the Sachem Daily.

With a nod of confirmation, Gia left the house and slid into her Volvo, bringing the engine to life.

Ten minutes later, she pulled up outside the Rivers' household, and knocked on the door.

Ryan opened the door and invited her in.

"Is Prue home?" Gia asked.

"She's upstairs getting changed, she recently arrived home from work." Ryan said, making coffee.

Soon after, Prue came galloping down the staircase, giving a smile to Gia. Ryan offered them both a cup of coffee to which they accepted gratefully.

"Where's little Benny?" Gia asked.

"Oh he's in the lounge." Ryan replied, noting to the distant sound of the TV. "I brought my sister round to help, we're wary of even leaving him in a room alone."

"Me and Scott are exactly the same, now we've gotten her back. Of course, she's still already taken. I just feel like I'm to blame for all this."

"You wouldn't have thought this would have happened. It could've been Ben! Don't you dare beat yourself up." Prue said passionately, taking a sip of her coffee.

Gia nodded, still uncertain. "I can't help feeling this way, knowing Gracie is still in that ghost world place, cold and lonely."

"At least she's safe right now, huh?" Prue assured her, patting her back. "Remember what Shari said - she gave her the cross. And Gracie had found Sadie, her other aunt over there. They can protect each other."

"Sadie?" Ryan repeated, his jaw dropping. "As in your brother's little sister who died when she was younger? Shari's twin?"

Gia nodded. "Yep. She's over there still. I'm just glad she and Gracie can look out for each other. And now with the cross, they can surely defend themselves."

"I believe in Gracie. She's a strong young girl." Ryan said with a certain nod.

"Thank you... But I didn't come here just to talk. Prue, I need you to come with me." Said Gia.

Prue looked confused. "Why? Have we got a lead on how to fix this?"

"You could say that. Mother to mother, we have children to protect. So we're gonna go and find out how to kill this child-killing bastard."

"But, we've already looked in every book. We've found nothing." Prue said.

"We've been looking in all the right books and found nothing, but not asking the right people."

"And you think people with information are gonna just talk?"

Gia shrugged. "They fucked with the wrong mothers. We'll make them talk."

Prue smiled. "Ryan, get me my gun."

***

Shari finished the last of her coffee and put her cup down.

"You like coffee, huh?" Tobias laughed.

Shari nodded, wide eyed. "It's my life."

At that moment, her iPhone buzzed - it was a text from Gia:

Shari sent the photos across and wondered what Gia was up to.