It has been exactly one week since I had purged myself of the entity as well as the hold it had on my soul. Since then, my life has regained some sort of normalcy. I no longer want revenge nor have I used my powers since leaving the field. Unfortunately, many people lost their homes and countless people lost their lives; however, only I knew who the cause was. That being said, I refused to come forward as it both meant exposing myself and the now dormant anger and negativity residing inside my person. Recently, I learned that the majority of the monsters have disappeared; however, people are rarely permitted to leave shelters as there is no telling if they may return. I am currently residing in one of these shelters as no one could confirm or deny me being a victim of the attacks.

​

The angel still visits me when I’m alone and attempts to persuade me to once again take on my destined responsibilities; however, we both know it cannot truly interfere and force me to do so. It does not seem too angry at my decision but still remains persistent in asking. Sometimes, it seems like I’m living inside a dream, nothing seems to be real anymore. The faces I see as I traverse the shelters are ones of pain and loss and I cannot help but cry for them. It was a painful environment to live in but it was better than nothing and it seemed like things were finally looking up for me. That was, until I was transferred to a new shelter due to an abundance of people in the shelter I was currently in. I was walking around the large shelter (which honestly looked like a fallout bunker or the safe in a bank) when I saw him, the man responsible for all of this, the man that I begrudgingly spared. He looked miserable and disheveled despite the fact that he had not seemingly lost anything when I arrived at his house. A shiver went down my spine and my body tensed up as I felt the negativity bubble to the surface one more. He looks up from the ground and notices me. His eyes which were consumed with despair locked onto mine and my heart begins to beat faster and faster. It feels like I’m having heart attack. I clench my chest and I can see that he recognizes me and the fear becomes ever present in his face. I distance myself from this man and that is enough to make my heart return to its normal rhythm.

​

"Why, why is he here?” I quickly whisper to myself now freaked out beyond belief.

 

“Fate has given you a second chance. Let's take it while we can, this man will pay. He will pay for all he has done.” A voice in the back of my mind claims. I could hear the negativity in its tone and I was afraid that the entity was back.

 

I place my hands over my ears attempting to shut out all the noise but I couldn't help but tremble. I make certain that I cannot see him anymore and I try breathing exercises to help calm me down but I am still anxious and on edge and cannot really stabilize my panicked breathes. Eventually, I am able to take steady, deep breathes and finally manage to regain my composure.

 

I close my eyes and, once I reopen them, I see that I am back inside my mind, in the same place that I was trapped and without control. I then see a small pool of darkness slowly approach me and I remained vigilant. soon the puddle began to boil and a dark silhouette rose from it. It soon rose upright and began to receive some color. It, it looked like me, but it wasn’t me. It couldn’t have been me. This impostor standing in front of me looked and felt cold and evil. I shivered in fear and blurted out, “This cannot be real. I thought I was done with all of this. Done with you.” Then, at that moment,

 

I realized what I was looking at. I realized that this was the part of me still cursed with the entity’s negativity, the same part of me that I was fighting with for control of my body.

 

“You can never escape the pain, escape the anger.” My negativity states in a mocking tone similar to that of the entity.

 

“Go away. I don’t need you anymore. My life was finally becoming normal.” I plead but it falls on deaf ears.

 

“You can never get rid of me. I am the evil that haunts every inch of your being, I am the your ever growing fear, I will never rest. Why fight something that you know you cannot beat. Make it easier on yourself and give in once more. Give into the pain, the anger, the malice.” My other half says in a cunning but evil voice which sounded like a distorted version of my own.

 

“I can’t. I won’t. The darkness almost devoured me and I cannot let that happen again. I have to try to be normal once more.” I counter with tears forming in my eyes.

 

At that, my other half laughs hysterically, “That’s rich, ‘normal’ you said, you'll never be normal again. Just look at yourself, you are fighting a literal manifestation of your darkest feelings, you are the furthest thing from normal, the furthest thing from human. You know that I am right, so quit being so stubborn and idiotic with your pointless hopes and let me take over.” The way it spoke was so hypnotic but I couldn’t let it control me.

 

“Never again.” I say with clenched fists and a cold stare and the thing in front of me becomes visibly uncomfortable.

 

Then, I am back in my body and see that everyone other than the guards are asleep. It must be nighttime now and I was now drained from what just transpired so I close my eyes once more and fall asleep.

 

I do not remember what I was dreaming about when I woke up, but honestly did not care as it was probably unpleasant. When I awoke, I saw the cops and soldiers that were protecting us carry large boxes inside the shelter. When they were all inside, they opened them and dumped many piles of clothing on the floor. We were each told to pick out a new outfit as the ones we were wearing were getting dirty and very smelly. When I reached the piles, I found a pair of navy green jeans which were in my size. I picked them out and then searched for a shirt to wear. I sifted through the piles but could not find a shirt that I liked until, I noticed a face staring back at me. I move a few shirts out of the way and see a shirt almost identical to the sweatshirt I wore when I first entered the woods. The Goat’s face definitely unnerved me but I still chose it for myself. Other than the fact that it was a little baggy and had short sleeves ending with fur, it felt great on me. When I was done picking everything out and was changed, I was handed a cloak of some sorts. I’m guessing that the jackets were already picked out and the guards wanted us to be warm when the shelter gets cold at night. I thanked the guard and returned to my corner.

 

I placed the dark grey, tattered cloak on myself and received an idea. If I were to wear this and cover my face, no one would know I was myself. If that is the case, maybe I should approach the man and actually talk to him. “Maybe if I knew his side of the story through carefully crafted questions, I would not be so anxious around him.” I thought to myself trying to convince my body to walk over to him.

 

As I got closer, my darker side spoke up “Kill him. Kill him while he has his guard down. He ruined our lives so he must die!!!!” I just ignored it and soon I was right in front of him.

 

In a fake raspy voice and trying to best cover my hatred and fear, I asked if I could sit next to him. He just shrugs and I sit down. I then notice that he looks broken. Like he just received the worst news ever and is now an empty husk of a human being.

 

“Is something wrong sir? You seem like your afraid of something. You know we are safe here, right?” I begin speaking to him as I hear my other half gag in disgust.

 

He, still looking at the ground replies, “It’s.. It’s nothing. I just thought I saw someone familiar, someone who I accidentally hurt.” He says as he begins to lift himself upright.

 

“What did you do?” I ask plainly even though I was trying my best to not punch this guy.

 

“I caused her a lot of pain without even knowing it and I’m afraid that she is looking for payback.” He says as he begins shivering.

 

“Well maybe you should apologize.” I say with the cloak masking a wide smile. I honestly wanted at that moment to reveal myself and see the terror on his face. But I knew that for my own sake, I should continue this conversation.

 

“Well I want to but. I don’t think she’ll forgive me.” He says and it was obviously not the real reason.

 

“Why wouldn’t she?” I ask him.

 

“You ask a lot of questions for some random stranger.” He responds as if he just realized what is going on and I slowly bring my hands to my hood but get cut off when he continues, “But I guess conversation is all we have now to pass the time. I can’t apologize because she scares me, I’m scared of what she’ll do to me if she sees me in this state.” I could tell that he was now speaking truthfully and I now formed a plan in my mind, bring him to his lowest through this conversation and then reveal myself.

 

“Who is this person, your ex?” I joke causing him to shiver in discomfort.

 

“What? No!” He remarks but I see him blush. “She’s basically a stranger.”

 

“So you ruined a complete strangers life and are hoping she doesn’t retaliate?” I ask as I know this question will make him squirm even more.

 

“No! It’s not like that at all.” He says.

 

“Then explain it to me. Your story makes no sense.” I remark.

 

“She is a stranger, but one of my poor decisions indirectly caused her pain. I didn't mean to hurt her but she does not know that.” He answers.

 

“So just explain yourself and your situation to her and hopefully she’ll understand.” I say.

 

“I just can’t. You haven’t seen her. You don’t know what she’s capable of.” He responds.

 

“Neither do you if she is just some stranger.” I reply.

 

“Look this is getting very uncomfortable can we just drop the subject?” He asks.

 

“NO!” I say aggressively. The entire conversation had been fairly quiet until this and now I was ready to show this man who he has been speaking to.

 

He looked shocked at me raising my voice and asks “Why? Why is this conversation so important to you?”

 

Now it was time to drop my disguise and show my face. I bring my hands to the hood of my cloak and answer in my own voice “Because your story concerns me to.”

 

Then, I pull back my hood and look directly at him. Our eyes lock and he stares in disbelief and horror. I could tell he wanted to scream but I was not going to let him. I brought my finger to my lips telling him to be silent. Then I whispered to him in a voice only loud enough for him to hear, “No sudden outbursts, if anyone comes up to us, I am just an old friend. Stay calm and you have nothing to worry about. And don’t run, I don’t want there to be any witnesses if I were forced to reveal my true form.” I say this all in a scarily calm and collected voice but I was surprised on how dark that last statement was combined with how calm I stated it. I was lying about revealing my true form but he didn’t know that. To him, I was a psycho who had nothing left to lose. I then continue, “Now I think we should continue our conversation. Don’t you?” I say to him and he just responds my nodding nervously as sweat begins to build up on his forehead.

 

I then continue the conversation by saying "I guess I’ll add on to the conversation with my story.” I then proceed to tell him the gist of my life starting from the woods and ending on when I got rid of the entity. His jaw was nearly on the floor. He was shocked and horrified more than he was when I revealed myself. But there was another emotion, sadness. He felt sad for me, found my story pitiful.

 

I forcefully change my eyes to gold and said through gritted teeth. “I am not here for pity. I am here to know why you ruined my life, intentionally or otherwise.”  

 

He is taken aback by this and flinches before saying “I am not tr..tr..trying to p..p..pity you. I was not expecting you to have ha..had such a struggle and tragic story. It pains me to know that I am the cause.” His studded proved his sincerity in my eyes but the voice was still screaming at me to end him.

 

“As I said, I don’t want you to feel sorry. I want you to answer my question. Why?” I continued, still through gritted teeth, my eyes fixated on this man’s every movement.

 

Eventually, he took a deep breath and put on a slightly relaxed confident face, but I knew he was just masking his fear. He then stood up and I told him bluntly, “Don’t get any ideas.”

 

He then stares at me, all the fear now gone from his eyes, and states “You made yourself crystal clear before but for your answer, we need to go somewhere not teaming with people. It is still early so we should head to the room assigned for counseling as it is currently empty.” He said this statement so precisely his words cold and calculated without an ounce of fear. I shrug, stand up, and follow him to the room as I was surprised at his new behavior, it was as if he was a totally different person. Maybe it was a coping mechanism brought on by shock or was just in the zone, I did not really care as long as he told me what I wanted to hear.

 

We enter the room and I lock the door. When I turn to face him, I say “Don’t try anything funny. You do anything to provoke me and I will end you. There will be no witnesses now so chose your words and actions carefully.” I once again state this in a cold fashion and was again bluffing as I doubted I had the stomach to actually kill a person.

 

“I understand.” He claims as the worry seeps back into his voice as if he is unsure of whether or not he should do what he was thinking. He then rolled up his left sleeve revealing a pencil tattoo on his forearm.

 

“Is this some kind of joke to you!? I don’t care about your stupid tattoo!!!” I yell at him in anger.

 

“I’m not done.” He then he took a long, deep breath and placed his hands on the right side of his face and began... peeling of his skin.

 

I gag in disgust and inflame my arms, warning him that I was not playing around. Then, I see something dark grey beneath the area of skin he has just pulled off. Then, he take off a wig and I can see his true face. I am shocked at what I am seeing, the left side of his face looked normal, but his right side, it was messed up. What I saw was a skeletal dark grey face with a large maroon reptilian-like eye, spiked dark green hair, serrated teeth, and scars. To say it was unsettling would be an understatement, this thing was terrifying.

 

I rubbed my eyes in disbelief and saw that thing’s reptilian-like eye looking right at me with its curved slit for a pupil. It then laughed, the thing on this man’s face laughed. The guy looked embarrassed that I saw this thing.

 

“What the hell is that thing?!” I ask frightened the more I look at that thing.

 

“The end.” It speaks in a cold warped voice resembling those of the angel and the entity and then it began laughing again. I was stunned.

 

“Oh shut up already.” The man says in annoyance, not to me but to that thing on his face. He then leans against the table and continues after taking a deep breath. “This thing is, how would you put it.. Hm.. It’s like a parasite. It is essentially a physical manifestation of my own powers that has attached itself to my face and feeds off of me when I use my powers too much.”

 

“How dare you call me a parasite, you are nothing but my vessel, I have been around for millennia, I can bring on destruction without even trying!” The thing states, angered by the man’s words. The man then covers that thing’s mouth and says “Enough with the superior talk, it gets very annoying.”

 

At this, I couldn’t help but laugh “WHAT ARE YOU LAUGHING AT!!” Both the man and that thing ask angrily to which I respond “Sorry, it’s just that your bickering is almost exactly how I interacted with the entity and am currently with my negative emotions.” Once I finish, I quickly revert back to serious and angry. "Now, I think I deserve some answers.” I say causing the man to shiver.

 

“Wow, she’s intense.” I hear that thing say to which the man just nods.

 

“Okay, so I brought you in this room and showed you this thing on my face because if I didn’t I highly doubt you would believe me. Like you, I was not born with powers nor had I got them by choice. This thing on my arm is supposedly a divine marker given to the holder of these powers.” I cut him off by saying okay in a tone that clearly signified that I didn’t care.

 

“As I was saying, I was given this mark after discovering an ancient book buried in my yard. At first I thought I was hallucinating the tattoo but as soon as I began drawing, I had realized that everything I drew and illustrated would become real.” He enthusiastically stated as if gleeful to finally tell this tale. I only raise an eyebrow as this sounded completely made up. He sighs and heads to the drawer at the side of the room and takes out a pen and paper and begins scribbling something. Suddenly, what looks like a miniature tornado appears to come out of the page followed by some sort of whirring noise and then, a mask looking like his face before it was peeled off appeared on the table. He places it on and says “You believe me now.” I cannot help but nod obviously dumbfounded at what I had just observed. I then see the tattoo glow and he coughs a bit in discomfort.

 

“Yeah, so the mark is also like a battery display, it shows how much energy I have because whenever I create something, my own energy is used to make it. Now I’ll spare you the boring details but from what I gather, your affliction came around the same time as my affliction.” He says while pointing to where the face was hidden. What happened was I wanted to use my powers for good so I devised a plan to cure all current, past, and future diseases on the planet. What I did was make the cure in a powder form, then I transformed myself into a mosquito as they are like living syringes, and then I cloned myself. Once the cloning was completed, I reverted back to human while my clones injected everyone on the planet with the powder.” He states as if retelling a childhood story.

 

“Okay, I did receive a mosquito bite before getting my powers but what does this have to do with my powers? Also, how is it that this was a week ago yet no one has reported the mass curing?” I ask beginning to get impatient.

 

“For the lack of reporting on my cures progress, I honestly don’t know as I am not a doctor. Perhaps it takes a while for people’s bodies to adapt to it.

 

I was getting there? As for your other question on the relevance to you, I was about to explain all that. So when all of my clones were done, I passed out. When I arose, I saw this thing (While pointing to his face) on my face along with the words “you were warned” carved in my mirror. Turns out that I had used up all of my energy and allowed this thing to manifest into a physical form and temporarily take over my body. It is what created all of those monsters responsible for the worldwide panic so I created a small army made up of an armored clone of me, and characters from my comic books and graphic novels.” He finalizes.

 

“Okay so that guy behind me before I left your house was one of your creations?” I ask.

 

“Yes.” He responds.

 

“So how exactly does this go into my powers?” I ask, now a little less tense after hearing his story. Suddenly, a flash of light envelopes the room and the angel appears before us.

 

“Wha..What the hell is that!?” The man yells and I then groan in annoyance saying, “I told you I am not interested in eliminating this man.”

 

“I never said this man.” The angel responds in an calm voice with an echo. “I said eliminate the source of the disruption of the natural balance.”

 

“Who, or what is that?!” The man once again asks.

 

“This is the angel.” I say with my hand to my head as the abundance of new information combined with the angel appearing was giving me a migraine. I then ask “If this man is not the source, who or what is?” Getting a little happy as I might actually get some revenge without killing a human.

 

The angel then glides to the man and the mask he was wearing melts away once again revealing the monstrous face. It’s eye looked angry and its serrated teeth were tightened shut. “This is the source. As I have told you, only one thing in all of creation could cause a disturbance great enough to temporarily release the walls separating the afterlife from the world of the living. This man couldn’t have known what would truly happen if his limits were passed. He was being influenced by his powers similar to how you were and like you, got overconfident. Using up his energy allowed this monstrosity to truly awaken after being sealed away as an ancient power. That awakening is what shifted the balance.” The angel states and I now have a great idea.

 

My hands ignite with blue flames and I approach this man slowly. I can see the angel smile in approval and the man terrified at the flaming woman approaching him with a creepy smile. He doesn’t have time to move before I finally am able to act. I place my flaming hands on the monstrous side of his face and only that part of his face screams in agony.

 

“Wait, why is that only hurting it rather then both of us?” He asks in confusion.

 

“It wasn’t long after practicing my powers that I learned that I can choose whether my flames affect organic material or inorganic. You said it was like a parasite and that it was a manifestation so it obviously was not truly organic. All we need to do is wait a little bit and this face will be nothing but a bad memory.”

 

The face was still shrieking and I was so glad that the room was soundproof as well as having no smoke alarms. The angel then spoke up, “That is not going to work, all you will truly accomplish is spreading your flames into this man’s system and killing him from the inside out. Hell flames only affect non organic matter for a certain period of time before destroying everything in its path.” The angel says this so nonchalantly as it takes a drag of its cigarette.

 

Both my eyes and this man’s eye go wide and I immediately extinguish my flames. I flick my wrists as my hands were now red and irritated by the flames.

 

“So how do I rid the world of this thing without killing this man?” I ask.

 

“Uh, my name is Darron.” The man states.

 

“That is for you two to find out.” The angel states before vanishing from the room.

 

“You sure that was an angel? I mean I thought they were helpful loving creatures of heaven.” Darron asks to which I say “You and me both.” I then pause and say “Look, I’m…I’m sorry for scaring you and almost..well..you know.”It was an awkward apology but he nods and says “No I’m sorry that this happened to you.” Darron counters and we just stand there.

 

“You know that this doesn’t make us pals though. I will unfortunately always harbor a dislike to you for your indirect involvement even if I want to forgive you. It is just my nature and I hope you can live with that.” I tell him. I knew it sounded awkward leaving my mouth especially after apologizing not thirty seconds prior but it was something I had to say.

 

“I understand.” He says as he extends his left hand and continues by saying “Begrudging acquaintances.” I look at him and the two of us laugh because of how corny that sounded but I shake his hand and say “Sure.”

 

He then takes out another piece of paper and redraws his mask as I unlock the door. Right before I left the room however, I turned to face him and said “You explained that those soldiers were based off of your stories right? If that’s the case, you should watch your back as someone could have easily seen your soldiers and connected them to your works.”

 

This statement hit him like a ton of bricks making it obvious that he hadn’t thought of that occurring. “Thanks for the tip…uh…Sorry, I didn’t catch your name.” He asked me with concern and embarrassment. Concern about the possibility of him being found out and embarrassment because he didn’t know my name.

 

I am almost out the door and respond by saying “Sarah.”

 

“Thank you Sarah.” He says genuinely and I honestly felt good about myself at that moment as opposed to how I was feeling before this confrontation.

 

I closed the door and walked back to my corner which I claimed for my own. In this shelter, everyone has their own spot meant just for them and that corner was mine. When I sat down, my other half, my negativity was once again audible as I was suddenly hurled back into my mind.

 

“WHY DIDN’T YOU KILL HIM?! HE WAS RIGHT THERE ASKING FOR IT AND YOU JUST DID NOTHING!! I CAN’T BELIEVE WE ARE ONE IN THE SAME, YOU ARE TOO WEAK!! I SHOULD BE THE ONE CALLING THE SHOTS!! NOT YOU ME!! HE SHOULD BE DEAD, HE SHOULD BE GONE, BUT YOU SPARED HIS LIFE AGAIN!! YOU’RE A FAILURE!!” My other half screamed at me. I honestly wanted to punch her, or myself, or whatever she was; however, I just breathed in and out and kept my composure.

 

“You are too loud.” I say in annoyance.

 

“HOW DARE YOU!!” My other half yells as it begins charging at me like a bull. I easily take a large side step causing her to miss me and end up falling on the ground.

 

“You’re also too angry, rude, and incompetent. Seriously, how am I the failure when you cannot see anything past hatred and rage. You have no logic to your decisions and would not last long even if I gave you control willingly.” I say emotionlessly to my other half as a sort of mockery.

 

She tries to get up and I don’t do anything to stop her and she once again attempts to tackle me, but again, I easily and swiftly avoid her. This cycle continues maybe four more times when I say to her as she’s trying to once again get up. “Let’s add stubbornness to that list.” I say to which she replies “Quit mocking me!!” in a saddened defeated tone.

 

“That one was not an insult, resilience and a hard headed nature can be good at times. You just have to adapt to the situations where it isn’t.” I say as if I were her therapist. She then collapses on the ground in defeat and I begrudgingly over her my hand to get up.

 

“Here.” I say offering my hand but she just swats it away. I just breathe a sigh of annoyance and walk away realizing that currently, she is nothing but a lost cause and that I can try reasoning with her later. When I could no longer see her, I sat down in the floor of my mind

and began to meditate. I was meditating both in reality and in my head hoping to achieve bliss.

 

There would be no happiness for me however. When my mind was blank, I was transported back into my room when my parents saw me. I was not enraged by this memory though, if anything, I was consumed by sadness as I heard my mom yell at me claiming I was no longer her daughter. Knots began to build up in my stomach and my brain began to ache as the tears once more began to flow out of my eyes. The tears caused my to wake up from my trance-like state and I just tried my hardest at that moment to pull myself together and to not make a scene. The last thing I wanted was for me to bring unwanted attention to myself.

 

A few more days came and went and luckily, I had no reason to release the grip I had on my negativity. I still see Darron walking around the shelter, less broken and disheveled now that our conflict/quarrel is now more or less over. I still feel uneasy around him but I just ignore it so I don’t feed my other half the emotions it wants. Once nighttime approached, the guards told us that after many recon missions, it has been determined that it is now safe for us to be permitted to come outside for longer periods of time. We would not be able to travel far away from the shelter for obvious reasons but it was definitely an improvement.

 

Shortly after we were given our nightly rations, I finally calmed myself down enough to listen to other people’s conversations. Some were actually quite funny.

 

“It’s obvious that this whole thing was a hoax caused by evil government testing sanctioned by the illuminati.” I heard one person say in a completely serious voice.

 

“What if it was aliens?” Another asked.

 

“It was probably a major shared drug trip caused by contaminated drinking water and when we step outside, everything will be normal.” Another said.

 

Honestly, I was holding in my laughter. I always hated conspiracy theorists, but actually seeing/hearing people create this far fetched tales was too rich for me not to laugh. I then heard more serious claims which were not at all funny.

 

“What if it was a way for population control? You know kill off a large percentage of the population to combat overpopulation.” I heard one woman say in fear.

 

“So we’re in agreement, when we are permitted to leave tomorrow, we make a break for it.” One man said.

 

“Yes, but we can’t just escape this prison without protection.” Another person added on

“Then let’s jump a guard while he’s not looking and take his gun.” One last person finalizes.

 

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, it was one thing to hear people point the finger at some made up culprit, but to hatch a plan to escape and disarm a guard trying to protect us just scared me.

 

I then made a startling realization. Don’t know a single person in this shelter other than Darron. For all I know, I could be surrounded by kidnappers, murderers, stalkers and the like. My thoughts then began to process faster and faster causing my paranoia and anxiety to worsen and I saw a brief glimpse of my other half smiling maliciously at me before vanishing. It felt like a paranoia induced panic attack was about to occur and I was having trouble breathing.

 

“Calm down, everything will be fine.” I hear a voice say to me. It wasn’t the entity’s voice, nor was it the voice of the angel, my other half, or Darron’s parasite, it was the voice which before told me that I can make my own decisions.

 

“I…I can’t.” I whisper back while panting.

 

“You have survived being possessed, you have survived a literal monster attack, you can survive this paranoia induced episode. Sure the idea of being surrounded by strangers who might wish you ill intent is unsettling, but you are much stronger than they are. Now, take a deep breathe and calm down.” The voice says and the anxiety just goes away.

 

“Thank you. Uh, I hate these feelings.” I mumble.

 

“You know I could simply create something to give you better control.” Darron speaks. He just showed up out of nowhere and I flinched.

 

“Were..Were you SPYING ON ME!?” I say disgusted.

 

“Sorry, I just got curious so I walked over and heard you talking to yourself.” He says apologetically.

 

“Just mind your own business.” I tell him.

 

“Ok.” He says as if trying to say it is my loss, before he sat down next to me. “Seriously though, I can help you if you want.” He continues.

 

“Look, I told you we’re not friends and I don’t need your help.”

 

“Okay.” He responds.

 

“Thank you for the offer but I want to deal with my problems on my own.” I tell him while I calm myself down.

 

“Alright.” He replies. “Don’t worry, those guys are all talk and there is no way they can disarm one of these soldiers.” He continues, attempting to put my mind at ease.

 

I don’t answer him as I was no in the mood to make conversation, especially with him. I rose up from my seated position and moved to a different corner. Once I got up, my other half resumed its rant on how I need to get rid of him. I just chose to ignore her.

 

"Things were a lot easier when I was at home struggling to conceal my powers as I had freedom to go where I wanted; however, here, I am trapped, confined, and I have no knowledge on my surroundings or the people I was with. I honestly wish time would revert back to before I made the mistake so I could not only have my family once more, but also so I could be surrounded by areas and people I knew or was familiar with. Living in these shelters were uncomfortable and I simply wanted to leave.” I mutter under my breath to myself.

 

“Then leave. No one is stopping you.” I hear a soft voice respond to me.

 

I look around expecting to see another person eavesdropping on me but I do not see anyone.

 

“Who was that?” I ask quietly.

 

“It’s me.” Answers the same soft voice, but this time, I could clearly make out a natural echo accompanying the voice and realized it was the angel.

 

“Oh, it’s you. Look, I just want to be left alone.” I say with a tad bit of defeat in my words.

 

“You’ll never truly be alone anymore.” The angel says and I struggle to not roll my eyes at that obvious cliche. “But if you desire separating yourself from these fellow humans, might I suggest simply leaving this area.” The angel continued as if it was surprised that it had to state this obvious piece of information.

 

“How?” I ask.

 

“Really, you were just thinking about the fact that you’ll be given the freedom to go outdoors soon. That is your opportunity.” The angel states a little annoyed that I had not thought of that.

 

I just sigh and toss my head back until it makes contact with the wall. I then just close my eyes and fall asleep.
 

Morning soon arrived and we were once again given our rations and once the clock hit 10:27, I noticed a couple of people gathering towards the shelters exit. "They must be the people trying to get some fresh air.” I said to myself simply trying to distract myself from the voices in my head.

 

Not long after more people gathered around the exit, the guards told us that we were permitted to go outside under a few conditions, “First, no one is permitted to travel further than three miles away from the shelter. Second, no one is permitted to be outside for longer than two hours. Third, absolutely no assault attempts. And fourth, Failure to comply with these simple rules will result in punishment, loss of rights, and the loss of all outdoor privileges. Don’t think you can secretly get away with breaking these rules as there are soldiers positioned and hidden throughout the area with tranquilizer guns so it would be in your best interest to comply. Do you understand?” One soldiers yells out so that we all can hear him. We all accept those terms and we are allowed outside.

 

After a few minutes, the heat from the outdoors began to get to me so I decided to wrap my cloak around my waist and find the perfect spot to make my escape. I was searching and searching; however, each potential spot of escape were either surrounded by other people or guards on patrol. I was beginning to lose faith in my ability to escape when I smelled cigarette smoke. I was not expecting that so I immediately turned to face it’s source when I saw the angel leaning on a the side of a dark alley. It was smiling in a smug way as if to say, that he had found my escape route before me. As if this were a scavenger hunt. I rolled my eyes and walked into the alleyway. I quickly search my surroundings and saw no one in sight. The angel then walked further into this dark alley and I begrudgingly followed. It soon became pitch black in that space but suddenly, the flesh of the angel started to glow like a white glow stick. As I walked further, I realized that there was no roof to this alleyway and it seemed to go on forever.

 

"What is this?” I ask not understanding what was going on.

 

The angel then turned around and its smile grew wider and it began laughing an evil and messed up laugh. My body tensed up as the walls around us began to warp and sway. I was getting dizzy and the angel began to melt. It was like a candle as time distances itself from when it was first lit. Chunks of the angel were gliding down as wax travels down the long smooth candle. It was absolutely disgusting and I wanted to vomit. The color began to drain away from the angel’s being and it’s flesh began to turn into a purplish hue as if it were bruised. Its hat morphed into long brown hair. Its masculine jaw became feminine and its body twisted and warped into… my body. I was looking in horror as the angel turned into my other half. I was so confused at that moment and my heart was beating faster and faster as my negative side began approaching me. Her steps were rhythmic and delayed and each step echoed as if she were stepping into puddles. The ripples of each step caused the ground to vibrate and I was thrown backwards. I couldn’t hear anything other than the steps and tried to wake myself up from this nightmare I unintentionally walked into.

 

“You scared?” My other half said in a thunderous voice in a mocking tone as if I were four years old.

 

I was frozen at that moment and she knew that.

 

“Good. Now then, let’s talk.” She says again mocking my as she began to lift me up from my collar and hurl me into another wall. Everything at that moment was in pain. I could barely move and she slowly approached me once more.

 

“You thought you could just leave? Thought that my hatred would remain silent? That you would be able to spare that man’s life?” It once again asked/told me in an ever growing angry and mocking voice.

 

It then hit me, I was trapped in my mind, I was in her territory. I then regained feeling in my body and tried to wake up. Between each punch I received, I would get a glimpse back into reality. It was as similar to constantly changing a channel back and forth between two television channels. I then saw the angel approaching me quickly before I returned back into my mind and my other half continued to wail on me.