"I was never asleep," he sneered. "Why else would I leave a convenient pocket knife on the counter? Watching my prey think they’ve escaped, only to slaughter them at the last second… now that is satisfying."

"You're fucking sick," Melody spat.

"I don’t care!" he shouted. "I do whatever the hell I want! No one can stop me! You sure as hell aren't gonna tell me what to do! This is your fault for coming here. Now you’ll pay the price!"

He raised his gun and fired again.

Another bullet tore into my shoulder. My body weakened further, my vision darkening at the edges.

Damn it. Why do I always end up like this?

"What?" He cursed under his breath. "Damn it. Out of ammo."

Melody knelt beside me, trying to pull me up.

"Fuck this!" he snarled. "I’ll finish you off here and now."

He tossed his gun aside and picked up his baseball bat, approaching slowly, savoring every step.

I couldn’t move. The bullets had drained any willpower I had left.

"Melody," I gasped, "run."

"But—"

"Please!"

She hesitated, torn between staying and fleeing.

The man was inches away now. He raised the bat—

And then—

BANG.

A single gunshot.

His body jerked. His eyes widened in shock.

A perfect shot—right through his skull.

His lifeless body crumpled to the floor.

I barely had time to process what had happened. Melody lowered her gun, slipping it back into her pocket.

"Serves that bastard right," she muttered.

She immediately turned her attention to me, pressing a patch onto my wounded shoulder.

"Thanks," I said weakly.

"Don’t mention it. This should stop the bleeding, but you’re gonna be injured for a while."

"It doesn’t matter," I sighed. "We need to keep moving."

But I felt lightheaded. Distraught. This whole journey had been nothing but obstacle after obstacle.

We had narrowly escaped again—but at what cost?

Would we even make it to the end? Or were we just delaying the inevitable?

I exhaled sharply. "Look," I admitted, "I’ve been acting irrationally. I don’t even know what’s going on in my own head anymore. We’ve come so far, yet we still struggle. Is that some kind of cruel irony?"

Melody frowned. "I get that you’re under pressure, but that doesn’t mean you can just do whatever you want. Giving up on yourself isn’t going to make things better."

Something about hearing that—especially from her—felt reassuring.

She was right.

That bastard probably wanted us to break down—to lose trust in each other, to suffer in doubt.

"Yeah," I admitted. "You’re right."

I still didn’t know if we would survive this. But I needed answers.

Maybe then, we’d finally have some clarity.

But as Melody opened her mouth to respond, a chilling voice echoed in my head.

"It is time to meet your fate… the one you’ve been trying to hide for so long.

I’ll be waiting for you.

It won’t be long now.”

We didn't waste any time. We packed all our stuff and drove to our final destination. It was the last place where the mastermind was hiding. Once we confronted and defeated him somehow, the world would be at peace again. At least, I hoped we would get some clarity. I wasn’t interested in being this beacon of hope—I just wanted everything to return to how it was before.

"Can't believe this is our last stop. It sure was a journey, wasn't it?"

"Yeah…" Melody looked quite depressed, more so than usual.

"Pull over!"

I stepped on the brakes near a bridge on the highway. We got out of the car, and I turned to her.

"Is something wrong?"

"Remember when you first met me and asked why I was wearing the costume? I haven’t always been truthful with you. I wanted to tell you from the moment we met, but given the circumstances, I knew what would happen."

This seemed sudden. I was getting wary of what she meant. I had been suspicious for a while but never thought she would openly admit it. She pulled down the zipper on her costume, revealing herself to be that long-haired creature.

My mind went blank. What I just saw completely tore me apart. I should've expected an outcome like this, but even then, I would've been shocked. Regardless, I didn’t want to believe it. I told myself it wasn’t real, that this was just some kind of sick joke.

It felt so frustrating. I thought I had finally found someone I could trust, someone I could share a connection with. I couldn't even look at "her" straight in the eyes. That wasn’t my friend. That wasn’t someone I wanted to travel with, someone I could rely on. That was a monster hiding in sheep’s clothing.

"You lied to me. You deceived me. I thought we were equals. I thought we were friends."

Despair and sadness were lodged in the back of my brain, desperate to be let out. But all I could feel was anger.

"I wanted to hide the truth for so long. I now realize that the truth has to come out at some point. This is my true self. I was hiding from the rest of society… and from you."

I was dumbfounded. This felt like betrayal from the very beginning—a complete stab in the back. Was I really that stupid? Was it my fault for trusting her?

"Why the hell shouldn’t I just kill you here and now? You’ve already shown you're a monster. What’s to say you won’t deceive more people and kill tons of others? You already admitted that you’ve killed before. I don’t know if they were done in vain or if they were like that guy you killed, but at the very least, I’m probably one of many people you’ve lied to. Why did you have to do this?!"

I couldn’t cry. I couldn’t feel anything except for the rage boiling inside me.

"There wasn’t a choice. That’s what he demanded. My mercy was to be used as a catalyst by him—to lure you straight to him. I’m sorry. I never wanted to hurt you or turn my back on you, but like I said, there was no other way."

At this point, any emotion besides anger was out the window. Not only had I been deceived by my so-called "friend," but both she and I had been pawns all along.

"So all this damn time, we were nothing but puppets in a sick game? I can’t believe this shit… I…"

Forming coherent sentences was difficult. I wanted to keep expressing my rage, but instead, a tear fell.

"I didn’t want any of this to happen," I said softly, sniffling. "Damn it… I want that bastard dead and buried for causing everything."

"You have to go where you need to go. If you’re determined about this, then you need to go."

"I never was! I was never determined about this! I kept lying to myself just to push forward. But now… I don’t think I can continue searching for my so-called answers. I want him dead, but at this point, it’s not going to happen."

"This is your mission. I went along to help with what I could. But I can no longer assist you on this journey. You must find the right path and set everything right. I am no longer needed in this world. I’m sorry about everything."

"I can’t truly hate you," I admitted, my voice barely above a whisper. "Despite what you are… despite everything… but I can’t look at you the same way anymore. I know you were used, but after everything you’ve said, I can’t trust you. I can’t see you ever again."

"I understand."

I could never shake this feeling. There is no worse tragedy than realizing the person you trusted the most… was never who you thought they were.

I forced myself to look directly at her and asked an honest question.

"Tell me… what was your life before? Did you even have one? I still want to see you as a person rather than someone I should dispose of."

"A life I once had, I do remember… but I’d hardly call it a life worth living again. My family was a mess from the very beginning. My only support was my mother. I had no friends or other relatives to rely on. My mother was the only person who meant anything to me. My father, on the other hand… I openly despised him.

"He was nothing but an appalling, gluttonous pig. He constantly went out to bars, drinking and smoking in the house when my mother begged him not to. I still remember all the fighting, the yelling, the glass bottles thrown in the kitchen. The abuse my mother suffered was unbearable—both physically and mentally.

"Eventually, she couldn’t take it anymore. I remember her telling me she was going to the grocery store to get a few things. That was the last I ever saw of her. She took her own life that day to escape the abuse. I found her suicide note near her bedside, explaining how much she loved me and how I needed to take care of myself.

"That was when everything changed. My entire self became filled with malice. I knew my father kept a loaded handgun in one of his compartments. He was sitting alone in the living room watching TV. I didn’t even give him time to react before I put a bullet through his skull.

"After he died, I dragged his body to a ditch and called 911, lying that I had found him there. Since both my parents were gone, I was relocated to my aunt’s house. She was the only person left who would take care of me.

"But my aunt fell ill a few months later, leaving me completely alone. Ever since I killed my father, I have felt the desire to kill more. I didn’t feel anything. I only killed those who stood in my way.

"When I met you for the first time, for once… I felt something. I didn’t feel like a monster. I felt like I could be a person again. But I suppose now, you know everything. The choice afterward is yours."

I wasn’t sure how to feel. She had laid everything out in front of me, her entire past in just a few minutes. There was no deception, no hidden motives. What she told me was genuine. But that didn’t excuse what she did to me.

"I don’t have the strength to kill you. Just… please leave. I can’t see you again."

Melody—or whatever she truly was—looked up at me one last time with finality in her expression.

"Then I suppose this is the end for us. Whatever happens to you now is up to you."

Without another word, she turned and disappeared into the forest, vanishing into the unknown.

I was left completely alone.

There was something I wanted to say before she left, but by that point, it was too late.

My only goal now… was to find the mastermind.