SCENE TWENTY-TWO:

Shikauhno stirs from sleep and opens her eyes to see someone standing over her. Her eyes widen in fear and before she can react she is already pinned to the bed by this male interloper.

Shikauhno kicks and tries to scream but the intruder overpowers her and covers her mouth.

The person is wearing black skinny jeans with a chain hanging from the pocket, black boots, a beanie, a long sleeved hooded jacket. There is a blue and black guitar case strapped to his back.

His entire body sits on top of her and he holds both of her arms down while staring her straight in the eye.

He eventually tires Shikauhno out and she stops fighting back. Her chest heaves up and down as she tries to catch her breath.

"You know me..." the intruder calmly explains. Unsure of what to say Shikauhno stares at the man inquisitively yet with fear in her eyes.

He releases her right arm and pulls down the hood of his jacket. He also removes his beanie.

It happens to be the man who rescued her from "Ryo Yamano."

He stares at Shikauhno reassuringly, waiting for a response. Instead, she swipes at his face with her free hand and a line of blood appears across his right cheek.

He pins her down again and brings his face over hers. Shikauhno has a razor in her right hand. Though her arms are pinned she still clenches the razor.

The razor has blood on it and she slowly releases the razor from her grip.

Since his head hangs over hers his freshly cut cheek bleeds and falls onto Shikauhno's face.

"Who are you?"

"I helped you." The man states in a matter-of-fact manner.

Shikauhno comes to the realization of who he is. "You killed a man, you killed Ryo Yamano." Shikauhno corrects him.

"He was after you and he was going to kill you first." Another drop of blood falls from his face.

Shikauhno shakes her head, "No, you had no right. Why? Why did you help me? I was ready to...to..."

"Give up?" He finishes her sentence.

"You don't understand." Shikauhno weakly answers turning away.

"If you wanted to throw away your life that day, then why did you run?"

Shikauhno doesn't answer his question.

"Tell me, what are the dynamics of your faith Shikauhno?"

Shocked, Shikauhno looks him in the eye, "How do you know who I am?"

Instead of answering her question he persistently voices, "Faith is assurance; believing in your heart and knowing for yourself undoubtedly. Within faith lies conviction. So tell me, what are the dynamics of your faith?"

She answers, "What is there to have faith in?" She scoffs, "People, God?" Shikauhno looks away and another drop of his blood falls onto her cheek.

"If you believe in something believe in it wholeheartedly and if you don't believe, be adamant in your disbelief. You think faith is useless yet you display it every second of your life. Even now. How can one not believe in something yet practice it every waking moment of their life? Do you think about every breath you take or every time you close your eyes?"

"Of course not, who would?"

"Each breath you take is a demonstration of unconscious faith."

Shikauhno blinks as another drop falls onto her face as the man continues, "Just now when you shut your eyes did you think the world around you would change in that brief moment?"

"That's not the same thing."

"Shikauhno, there are things people are capable of understanding yet they choose not to. Even when the truth they deny is staring them dead in the eye." He speaks candidly.

"What do you want from me?"

He doesn't answer her and she demands, "Just tell me."

He quietly replies, "The truth comes at a cost."

"Then I'm willing to take the risk!" She shouts with her eyes closed.

"If I told you..." He gets off of her and sits on the edge of the bed then finishes his sentence, "I would be forced to end your life as you know it."

Shikauhno slowly sits up and her eyes widen, "What?"

"So then, do you really want to know?" He stands up slowly and the guitar case strapped onto his back begins to magically rip apart and tatter into pieces. It reveals a strange sword that resembles a guitar and the man reaches for it.

Shikauhno stares in amazement. "What....the..." She recalls the same man standing before her after he slaughtered "Ryo Yamano" and the weapon he was holding on to.

He swings the strange weapon at her. Shikauhno instinctively rolls out of the way and falls onto the floor.

He ends up cutting up one of her covers. Shikauhno quickly grabs the razor that landed on the floor earlier and she makes her way to the front door. She manages to unlock it and as she opens it he comes at her. She manages to dodge and she runs the opposite way into the bathroom.

She locks the door behind her. Shikauhno looks under the sink's cabinet in search of anything she could use as a makeshift weapon. Under her sink is one sponge, and a few bottles of cleaning supplies.

She abandons that idea and moves her shower curtains out of the way. She gets into the tub to open the bathroom window. As she is opening the window she thinks, 'If I run he'll probably catch me. What should I do?'

She glances back. Shikauhno grabs one of the cleaning sprays and presses her back against the wall where the bathroom door will swing open at.

The camera reverts back to the man outside of the bathroom door.

He kicks open her door.

He observantly walks into the bathroom and sees that the window is open.

He lets down his guard and walks to the window. As the man steps his foot into the bathtub Shikauhno steps out of the tub from behind the shower curtain to escape. With one foot into the bathtub the man looks out the window to figure out where Shikauhno would've went.

As he is looking out the window, Shikauhno carefully steps out the bathtub when she slips on the articles of clothing on the floor.

Cautiously she looks up to see if the intruder heard it. To her horror he is staring right at her.

Panicked, Shikauhno presses the spray bottle but only air comes out.

She quickly regains her footing, tosses the bottle aside, and she makes it out of the bathroom. She runs to the front door.

SCENE TWENTY-THREE: OUTSIDE

Shikauhno is now outside.

She continues to run, before she can get far something trips her, incidentally she drops the razor in her hand. She face plants onto the ground catching herself with her hands, she turns over to see a red chain wrapped around her left ankle. She looks up to find that the chain is attached to and extending from the weapon in the intruder's hand. He is standing in her doorway about thirty feet away from her.

The chain begins pulling her. 

Shikauhno tries to grab onto anything sturdy enough to resist the pull of the chain. She successfully wraps her hands around a streetlight.

She holds on with all of her strength. Due to the tension, she is slightly lifted off of the ground and she drops back onto the concrete. This continuously happens. (IT IS RECOMMENDED THAT YOU PLAY THE SONG ATTACHED TO THE EPISODE NOW)

SCENE TWENTY-FOUR 

Shikauhno recalls prior events in her life: Shikauhno's real mother breaks a sweet cake in half; she hands Shikauhno one half, young Shikauhno happily takes it and smiles brightly. Her memories quickly turn dark and continue on.

Michelle, her foster mom is pulling her by the hair, she violently swings her into a room, she then opens up a Bible and shoves Shikauhno's -whom is crying- face in it, Michelle's mouth moves angrily but the memory is muted.

In the next memory, Shikauhno is in her room-she is obviously a few years younger than she is now-there is a smashed plate in the corner of the room, crying, Shikauhno peaks at it. She wipes her tears and crawls to the broken glass. She picks up a piece and tosses it in a nearby wastebasket. She picks up another piece and it pricks her index finger. Instead of wincing she simply curiously stares at it. Shikauhno then precedes to move up the sleeve of her sweater to reveal a bare wrist without any scars. She hesitantly brings the broken piece closer and closer to her arm. She makes a small cut on her wrist horizontally. Mesmerized, Shikauhno watches the blood flow from her wrist.

SCENE TWENTY-FIVE: OUTSIDE

Shikauhno thinks, 'Why...why am I even fighting? I'm so exhausted. I can't take this anymore. I should just let it all go.' With that, Shikauhno lets go. Instead of being pulled away as she expected, she remains where she is. The chain moves as if it had a life of its own and releases her.

It retracts to whence it came from and the man slowly walks to her.

Shikauhno opens her eyes and realizes that the chain is no longer around her ankles.

The man approaches her and exclaims, "Here's your chance to run."

Shikauhno stands up slowly, "How far I run or how fast...it doesn't matter. Why is it this way?"

"You're right, running will get you nowhere. It's simply a temporary means of escape; an attempt to put your problems on delay."

She continues to speak,"Well then, I'm facing my problems head on, so what are you waiting for? If you want to kill me, don't hesitate. Just do it already and get it over with. Stop toying with me. I'm sick of it; I'm tired of living this life!" She shouts morbidly.

The man looks at Shikauhno intently and declares, "You're tired of living yet you've never been alive. Can you tell me what is there to give up when you don't have anything to sacrifice?"

She remains silent and he continues, "Shikauhno, please, don't allow death to be your victory. But let life be your fire to fight. Don't be afraid." With those last words, he drives the blade of his weapon into her abdomen and Shikauhno's eyes widen in fear and shock. She looks down at the blade sticking halfway in her and touches it.

Blood gets onto her hand and she stares at it in unbelief.

She recalls the same memory of when she first cut herself. The blood flows and runs down the side of her wrist. She compares now to then, the present and the past coincide as the screen splits in two.

As she stares at the blood on her hand she begins trembling, "I'm not...afraid..." she chokes out.

The man yanks the sword from her body and she collapses onto the floor.

He stands over her and looks at her, "Then don't lose."

SCENE TWENTY-SIX:

The man stands before Shikauhno's dead body. As he holds his weapon low, black separate pieces of fabric begin to emanate from thin air around it and come together to form a guitar case once again.

The camera shows Shikauhno's body laying there lifelessly blood pouring from her mouth. Life has abandoned her eyes.

The weapon is no longer in his hand and a black and blue guitar case is slung over one of his shoulders.

A strong, female voice from behind beckons, "Naninatso." (Nah-nee-not-so)

He turns around.

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