Episode 3

Gerald and Ryan pulled up to the parking lot by the quaint looking antique shop.  It reminded Gerald of a cabin the way it was styled; mostly made of wood.  It helped too that a thin layer of snow coated the roof.  The building was a relic compared to the little town, most of the strip had been updated.  Starbucks was even across the street.
"Cozy," Gerald stated.
"Right?" Ryan nodded in approval, "I love this stuff.  Think we'll find anything?"
"Nah."
"No?"
Gerald shook his head, "Most of those Thanatos artifacts are probably fake.  It's not difficult to make butterfly or skull designs, ask any tattoo parlor."
Ryan frowned, "So... Why are we here, then?"
"Doesn't hurt to check, plus I'm curious."

Jingle bells hung from the doorknob and sang as Gerald and Ryan entered the room.  They were welcomed with a warm and scented blast to the face.  It was a mixture of the heater turned on too high and smelly roses.
The shopping experience was hard on the eyes.  There were too many objects to take in; clothing, jewels, furniture, tea sets, almost anything you could think of, and they were all piled onto each other.  Not necessarily in a heap, but definitely in an organized mess.
"Hi! Hello!"
A cheery woman's voice called to them from behind some stacked books.  She was rather short and had a gray tuft of hair.  When she approached them, she barely came up to Gerald's waist.
"Can I help you boys look for something?"
"I think the looking will be the easy part," Gerald gave the store one more glance, "It's the finding.  I heard you might have something I need."
"Finding is all part of the adventure here," she smiled, "And you 'heard'? Am I spreading rumors again?"
She genuinely appeared as though she was recollecting something.  Ryan was exploring some of the tea sets, almost dropping a cup, but spastically caught it before it smashed to the floor, "Nice collection you got here," he said while pushing his hair back.
"Thank you!"
Gerald cleared his throat, "My friend stopped by the other day and said you might have artifacts related to the cult that's been on the news."
The woman's cheery face turned serious, but in an almost entertained way.
"Oh yeah... Come. I'll show you."
She led them to the back of the store, dodging shelves with fragile dishware.  Gerald spotted a tall slender figure lifting boxes.
"Dylan!" the woman said, "Reach that trunk for me. Please."
Dylan looked like he could still be in high school or just barely graduated.  He had a youthful and sporty build and thick brown hair.  His eyes were dark chocolate and they stared lazily at the three standing in the room.
"Sure," he said.
He pulled down a black trunk from a high shelf and brought it over to Gerald's feet, "Sorry... there's not a lot of table space."
"No problem," Gerald waved.
Gerald knelt down and opened the trunk.  The trunk itself looked like a decorative piece, probably to conceal the artifacts hiding inside.  He pulled the gold locks open and took a gander at what was inside.
Three artifacts lay comfortably fit inside the trunk.  Two he could already tell weren't authentic, or at least not what he was expecting.  Gerald studied the pictures from his folders several times over and knew almost every detail of the symbol.
"This one," Gerald pointed at the heavy metal torch.  It even had flames that were swirly and silver in color.  Ryan lifted it up to examine it, his hands traced over the designs on the handle.
"These characters look funny," he said.
Gerald tipped the torch upside down for him.  Looking concerned, Ryan observed it again, "It's... Greek?"

θάνατος

"The upside down torch is a common symbol for Thanatos or death I should say.  It represents the ending of a life, but the flame is still there, representing the soul."

******

Not again.

Alaire woke from a daze.  Her eyes adjusted to the pitch blackness around her.  As she slowly regained consciousness, she noticed her body was sitting upright in a chair.  Her neck hurt from flopping over for who knows how many hours.  When she attempted to move, her hands refused.  Tied?

She was tied to a chair, brilliant.  It wasn't exactly like last time, she noted.  Surprisingly, she was scared but not as scared as she expected.  After they escaped The Thanato Project, life felt like a waiting game; waiting for the horrors to return, anticipating every shadow or turned corners.  Now it was like she never left.

That was her assumption anyway.  It would make sense to be kidnapped by the same people.  It didn't look like she was in a game, though.  She was alone instead of with strangers.  They were probably going to finish her off quickly.  Alaire braced herself, trying to breathe evenly.

The sound of a door creaking broke her concentration, and fear overwhelmed her.  The door let some light into the room, blinding her, but she tried getting a good look at her captor.

He was tall, she could tell it was a man by his build, but he wore a hood and a mask.  The mask was all black, making the spot where his head should've been a dark void.

"Alaire." he greeted.

His voice was rough and unnatural like he was trying to disguise it.  Alaire didn't respond.  The dark figure came closer until he was inches away.  He crouched down until they were eye level with each other.

"Perhaps you can tell me about this night."

In his hands was a tiny black recorder.  He clicked it on, "Oh no... He's so very mad at me..."   

Alaire gasped.  It was Taylor's voice, just like she heard on Aaron's phone before she was kidnapped.  That was the night Thanatos appeared in his ghastly form, crushing the skulls of Taylor and Matt.  The night Aaron and Alaire barely escaped with their lives.  The night everyone else died.

"Are you a killer, Alaire?"