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I ran as fast as I could, feeling him get closer and closer. The trees were behind me, and the cliff was my only view. I screamed, stopping myself at the edge. There was nowhere else to run. I had to face my demon.

“Fuck you,” I said, spitting in his direction. He was walking toward me with an eerie smile plastered on his face.

“How poetic. Are you, my Juliet?” he said. “You would die for me? Tick-tock!”

I backed away from him. My feet sent small rocks tumbling off the edge, and I had to stop.

“No! Get back!” I waved the weapon in his face. He was on me now, just an arm’s reach away. He could push me, and I would be dead.

He stared at the barrel with intrigue.

“Hmmm…You’d think when up against death yourself, you’d pull the trigger, Pet.”

I whimpered, trying to find a way around him.

“Unless, of course. You can’t.”

I shoved the barrel into his chest, tears streaming down my face.

“Please. Stop.”

He pushed his body into the metal, reaching his hands up, gripping my hands tight to the trigger.

“Are you afraid, Pet? Tick-tock, tick-tock, the clock will always stop.”

I tried to escape his hold, but he was too strong. His body forced my feet to stay on the edge, and my only choice was to push forward into him to save myself.

“Tick-tock,” he whispered, squeezing my finger on the trigger and listening to the click that sounded.

“Naughty, Pet. You lied.”

I lost my grip on the gun and fell backward onto the ground, barely catching myself before plummeting to what I was sure would be my death.

“Don’t you know, darling wife?” he said, gripping my hair and throwing me back toward the woods and into the mud. “You were always the final piece. The moment you were given to me, you chose him. Tick-tock, tick-tock. You chose to drop.”

I tried to scramble away from him, but he was on me, and my injuries from earlier were screaming at me. I scratched and bit him. I kicked with everything I had, landing on his sore ribcage. He was panting but gripped a handful of my hair and raised me above the ground.

“Tick-tock. Another drops…”

The weapon was raised in his other hand, and he smashed it into my head. I fell to the ground. My face was flat in the mud. I couldn’t move. I felt incredibly dizzy, so much so that my body was not listening to the commands to move.

I could hear words. Fuzzy and out of focus. The sound of the rain hitting the mud around my head was amplified. I tried to focus on the words. It was Pharaoh. He came. If only he weren’t too late.

I tried to remember more of that night. But everything was hazy. I must have been there when Ferdinand died. I remember hearing…gunshots.

Ferdinand was trying to tell Pharaoh something when he died.

What was it?

“Not me…not I…” He gurgled. “It is he. Soldier Two is who…did…this…to…you.”

“Soldier Two,” I said, cutting off the mindless chatter tumbling out of Ezello’s mouth. “Who is Soldier Two?”

“Soldier two?” Ezello scrunched her nose and eyes in confusion.

“Yes! Who is Soldier Two? Soldier Two killed Xenia.” I scrubbed my hand down on my face. “It’s what Ferdinand told Pharaoh right before he died. I heard it. I…”

Ezello put her hand on my arm to steady me.

“Soldier Two? Fallon, that’s the kind of talk from the reaper. Ferdinand was the second Reaper. He must have been working alongside his grandfather.”

I shook my head. “No. He was the third. He didn’t kill the people in the asylum. He couldn’t get inside it.”

Ezello looked haunted, bringing her hand to her face.

“The…the reaper captured me when I worked at the first asylum. I-uh…he was going to kill me, but something stopped him. I thought it was Goliath, but he didn’t get to me in time.

The reaper had stopped. It was like a moment where he fought his actions to kill me or spare me.

Goliath found me in the river that night…

but he didn’t see who had me,” Ezello finished with a sad sigh.

I thought about that for a moment. “Maybe that was the second soldier. He had to have been inside the asylum to have killed those people, and maybe he knew who you were.”

She was quiet, mulling over this troubling information.

“I…I’m not sure,” she said finally. “Goliath said the night Judas hurt him and Randall…he was fighting with himself. That can’t be…”

I heard echoes in my mind. My subconscious was trying to fill in the blanks, but I couldn’t.

“Judas. He was there that night. He was…fighting with Pharaoh.”

I struggled to remember the conversations occurring around me. Strong hands were wrapped around my throat. His brother had me in his hands. He was…trying to kill me. But there was something off. I could feel him struggling. His grip tightened and loosened over and over.

“He begged Pharaoh,” I said, recanting my memory. “He asked him to kill him…to end it. He said he couldn’t stop it.”

Ezello gasped, and tears began running down her face.

“He killed Xenia, Ezello.” The words were rushing out of me so fast now that it hurt to speak. “Judas told him he had killed Xenia. He was going to kill me too, but then something stopped him…Then there was a loud boom.”

Ezello gasped.

“Pharaoh shot him. He fell…off the cliff.”

Ezello continued to cry as I spoke, but then she was silent for a long time. She was just staring at the wall with her hand on her mouth in a silent gasp.

“You have to let Pharaoh free,” I said.

“He killed Judas to save me…and to save Judas….from himself.”