A / N: I had another nightmare; D
And a really nasty one as it seemed ö. Ö I looked up the dream interpreter because it was just so real
I know, of course, that such a thing can be nonsense, but nothing at all, it worked and then there was this oppressive atmosphere ... I decided to write it down on the spot ^ _ ^
And please don't be surprised if this one sentence keeps coming up in English
Namely, I dreamed of xDD in English
I didn't want to translate the sentence because it only gave me a real shiver in this language ...
I think everyone can translate that even without having been a professional in the school subject, and if not, it means: Dear children, don't worry about me
I'm writing this again in the middle of the night although I told myself that I don't do it anymore>. <
By the way, you don't have to understand the story behind it - I don't do that myself: D
I just know that if this was filmed and staged well, it would make a horror film that scares me even xD

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Regard your soldiers as your children, and they will follow you into the deepest valleys. Lookat them as your own beloved sons, and they will stand by you even unto death.
- Sun Tzu

It was a busy Friday morning when Braden Casey started his service with the Detroit Police Department. The first thing to greet him wasn't his partner, Sloan, it was innocent office noises, like staple pins punched in, typing on various keyboards, and the sound of paper flipping through files. Even at this time of the day, its surroundings seemed more or less animated and bright.

Braden continued on his way straight to his desk. Detective DeAngelis was already sitting across from him, looking at him impatiently. Something sparkled in her jade eyes, but he would have to wait for her to speak out herself. Sloan's long, black hair was tied up in a braid, keeping it out of her pale face. She stared at him unchanged while the brown-haired man sank down in front of his desk.

"All right, what's wrong?" Braden finally gave in.

Sloan grinned contentedly and pushed a video tape towards him. "We got mail."

"We and Post ?!" he asked skeptically. "Who even sends Stone Age material like this? Do we have a television that is connected to a video recorder?"

"Don't complain like that, of course we have this one! And our names were on the envelope."

That alone was astonishing, Braden decided for himself. He and Sloan had known each other since their police training together, and it had been sheer luck that they were now partners. And they were fresh on duty. The young man was very concerned. Who should send a videotape to the office of two greenhorns who often had to be picked up by the hand?At least Braden himself didn't know anyone who would do that. Nobody had a reason to, neither his family nor his friends. Especially not his friends.

"Have you touched it with your bare hands too often?" Braden asked promisingly.

"Of course not," grumbled his partner, as if she couldn't believe he was accusing her of doing this.

"Good. The chance is small, but it could be evidence or something like that," said the brown-haired man dutifully. "Even if I don't know why someone should send that to us ...", he added mumbling.

Sloan deliberately ignored this and jumped up. Braden did the same, even if he looked less enthusiastic than the black-haired woman. "Then we'll just let the boss know, we'll finally have a look at the part!"

Braden followed his partner, whom he often smiled at. Since they were hired, Sloan dreamed of climbing the career ladder as soon as possible. She was an ambitious and bright young woman who literally exuded the necessary confidence. You could be sure with her that she would go a long way. Both inwardly and outwardly, everything screamed for success with her, even if she constantly maintained that this success was still a long time coming, in contrast to Braden, who approached things more comfortably. Not that he was acting like a frail old man, but he was glad to have a job, and period. He would always do his best, but he was also happy with what he had right now. He was not doing badly after all. And he would always be happy for his longtime girlfriend.

Braden watched her step out of the boss's office and cheerfully signal him "Okay" before pulling him with her to look for a suitable device to play. It wasn't nearly as long as Braden expected to find the television, slide it into the meeting room, and plug it in.

Sloan put his hands on his hips, satisfied, and looked at him questioningly, while Braden just casually slipped a hand into his trouser pocket.

"You were the one who reacted so excitedly. Push the cassette in," remarked the young detective patiently.

The black-haired woman did as she was told and waited eagerly. The tape recorder made a whirring sound as it swallowed the tape before the flap closed with a soft click and the television screen changed. At first the picture only changed the color, from blue to black, before it suddenly presented a snow screen and sent a contrite but noisy sound loudly through the whole room.

Sloan frowned. "That's strange ... Is that how it should be, or is the tape broken?"

Braden just shrugged and leaned to the side to grab the remote control. But as soon as his fingers had reached and encircled the remote control, a long drawn outKrrrrrrrrrrrrrksounded and the image rearranged itself.Braden decided to blame the old videotape technique and screwed up his eyes to get a better view.

A very faint rustling could still be made out in the background. A very darkened room could be seen on the television screen. It appeared to be largely empty, except for the shallow contours of a chair that you could just make out with the naked eye. Otherwise, nothing extraordinary seemed to characterize this video. For a while, the camera was neither panned nor spoken, so that one could only perceive the subtle noise, but then a soft but clear voice rang out. A child's voice:

"We don't know her name, but she looks after us very well. She saved us when wehad no one. She is a young woman, in a very old one, and she almost says it all nothing ...The only thing she says is "Dear Children, don't worry about me" but we don't knowwhy she likes to say that so much. white hair, like an ice princess andher skin is very, very pale. She always wears her favorite dress, that is also white and shenever gets it dirty. "[/i ]

And then a third child's voice spoke up. She whispered, and was definitely the most terrifying in Braden's opinion: "I laughed at her once. She killed me ..."

Without any kind of warning, there was a high-pitched, almost angry noise that stung Braden's ears and forced him to protect her from the pain with his hands. He looked over at Sloan, who had turned around, her eyes narrowed, as if this would help her in some way. The shrill stopped suddenly and the television screen turned black. Was that a short circuit? Braden cursed out loud inwardly. That crap thing nearly scared him to death!

He stomped over to the TV and began to force the tape out of the drawer, which seemed to be stubbornly closed.

His black-haired partner checked briefly that her ears had not suffered any permanent damage and finally watched the brown-eyed man thoughtfully. "What are you doing there?" She asked softly and turned on the light.

"The damn cassette got stuck here!" Whispered Braden.

"Don't get upset about something like that ..."

"I'm upset!"

Sloan took a deep breath and left the room. At first Braden suspected that he might have somehow hurt the feelings of the others, even if he had never dared to believe that in the first place. It was difficult to drive this burdock away, even if he had never tried seriously ... But the black-haired woman came back only a few seconds later to silently hold something brown under his nose. The brown-haired paused briefly in his fight against the cursed