On the road, heading into the direction of their temporary sanctuary, the entire gang were inside of the stolen van Jack had used to come to their rescue. As Eric’s focused on driving, Jack casually sitting in the passenger seat, he’s completely unaware of the tension building up inside the solitude of metal and plastic. All the girls were sitting in the back seats, nervous, anxious, but more importantly, afraid for their well-being from the prior events that took place. In the instance it wasn’t those bastards in white or coming close to death's door steps, more on the fact that they’re childhood friend, Jack Samr’s a murderous criminal. He didn’t shed the slightest hint of remorse nor hesitation to kill someone in front of them, it traumatised all the girls.

Yet only one of the girls didn’t react to that relentless murder, that being Angela. To the girl’s eyes it seems that she’s accustomed to his ruthless behaviour, which made them question more about her mental health and a factor on why she’s been so rude. As all three girls awkwardly sat, shaking, nerve tensed silence, feeling the urge to scream or freak out, Angela’s calm in her seat, gazing out the window.

Jack glimpsed at the rear view mirror and saw all his friends a scared rekt. “Hey, are you guys okay?” he asked.

None of them replied to him, instead they all glanced out of their windshields, and chose to ignore him. It trickles a sigh out of Jack, but he then turns his body around to look at them. He spots Angela with a soft grin, and seemingly humming a creepy soothing song, making the other girls as well as Jack feel uneasy.

“Angela… you okay?” Jack asked.

Angela turns to her brother, suddenly shooting her arms out to him and giggles. “Yes, I’m just glad you’re okay, brother.”

He felt spooked for a moment, but regained his coolness. “Damn… you didn’t have to scare me like that, you know?” Jack replied.

Angela moans and lowers her arms. It got quiet again and the two siblings looked at Candy, feeling worried for his health.

Eric decides to join in their conversation, bringing out a soft chuckle. “Hey you two, don’t be getting too chummy in front of the other girls.”

Angela laughs. “Oh uncle, they’ll never intrude on our bond.” She glimpsed at the three with a childish grin. “Besides, they’re all just a bunch of side dishes.”

Hearing that girl and her innocent cold tone say such an insult towards them, especially Veronica who got triggered the most hearing it reached and grabbed Angela’s shoulder. Angela abruptly turns her head over her shoulder, jumping Veronica back to her seat and scarring her in place.

Her best friend Anna patted her shoulder to calm her down. “Relax Veronica, leave her be. Let the two share their moment, no need to get triggered at the moment.” Anna said.

Sarah didn’t say anything, instead she let out a long sigh and frowned. Angela waves to her brother to get his full attention, but his main focus was on his friends who were still ignoring him.

“You guys, why are you ignoring me? What did I do to make you guys ha—?”

“Nobody hates you Jack… It’s the fact that you killed someone in front of us so casually that's disturbing us.” Anna replied.

Jack groaned. “Anna, you have to under—”

“So please Jack, don’t blame us for being spooked okay.” Anna lay back on her seat and looked away.

Jack’s face was still, not recognizing her reasoning. “Look, I had no other choice. It was either get caught by my past or most likely if they so choose they'd likely capture you guys instead, kill you all besides Angela.”

Veronica intervened by butting herself between Jack’s line of view to Anna. “Whatever justifies your ruthless action, it’s still wrong Jack. But right now, could you please, finally tell us what’s really going on and why my house got destroyed?”

Jack didn’t reply, instead he briefly looked away to hide his guilt.

Veronica angrily pouted her face and her eyes turned red. “What are my parents going to say about that huh?!”

Jack crushed his eyelids, grabbing his head. “I… I… I don’t think I can—”

Eric interrupts him, grabbing his shoulder. “What Jack meant to say is right now’s not the time to discuss these events ladies. We’re all stressed, scared, and we have ourselves an injured friend, so why don’t we all relax and chill for a second.”

Veronica turned her sight to Eric, on the verge of tearing up with anger. “I don’t have to chill, sir! As you saw my house is destroyed, my life’s ruined, and I’m around dangerous criminals!”

Anna grabbed Veronica’s shoulder. “Veronica relax, stop fueling the fire or else—”

“Oh shut up Anna, your life’s not destroyed here and I can’t bear the feeling I’m around dangerous—”

“Shut up you snotty nose brat.” Angela abruptly said. “All you do is yap yap yap, will you ever shut up about your endless complaining? Or are you gonna continue being a snot nose bi—”

“Oh fuck you Angela! You little rude brat… Me the brat? I don’t think so!” Veronica replied, getting into Angela’s face.

Eric didn’t want this ride to turn into a conversation that’ll divide everyone, so he tries again to settle the heat down by bringing out a forced smile. “Ladies calm down, everyone relax or else this rides going to continue to be—”

It’s too late for Eric to calm the situation down, it’s fully escalated. Angela and Veronica were butting heads, shouting at each other, Anna’s trying her best to get Veronica to stop, but it’s meaningless. Veronica’s fuming with anger, her face red, eyes watery, Angela’s casually laughing at her, insulting her and her status, and the person who’s trying their best to muffle out this noise of tension is Jack.

“This is… my fault…” Jack muttered.

He covered his ears, but their high pitch voices were angering him, reminding him of his failures all over again. The yelling, words of torment said to another, it’s ringing his ears, making his mind go haywire. The blame Jack has set on him brews inside, all of this in his mind could’ve been avoided if he never came back into their lives. He thought perhaps he shouldn’t exist all together, the very reason for all of this happening is all himself and his selfish doing.

Jack shook with a grimace, feeling ashamed of himself. “All of you, please shut up… please!”

Their voices fully ear raping, Angela’s giggling reminding him of Mallory, Anna’s worried tone, and Eric’s patience growing thin. Jack’s eyes moved erratically, he clenches his Jaw, and has enough of the divisive conversation that swells the faults inside him to breaking point.

Jack had enough, and released more of his hidden emotions out to the world around them, telling them all how he truly feels.

“Shut your mouths, all of you! Shut up, shut up shut up, shut… up!” Jack pants at first, finally shutting everyone up.

As everyone got quiet, Jack’s mental breakdown got worse. He started banging his head with his fists, and the girls looked at him with distraught faces.

All the girls and Eric pleaded for Jack to stop hitting himself, but he kept punching his noggin very worrisome, seeming on the verge of going into a full meltdown. Angela tried stopping him from harming himself, but he kept hitting himself, and brought out that feeling of being the one to be at blame here, and yelled it out saying that this is all his fault. The girls felt bad, but weren’t aware of Jack's Mental health that’s been degrading secretly behind everyone’s backs for years.

“Yo man I’m stopping the car!” Eric decides to pullover on some empty road next to a wooded area.

“It’s my fault, my fault my fault my fault my fault! hahahaha!”

“Jack, relax my guy! Stop!” Eric grabbed his hand, but Jack started punching his face now.

“Jack stop!” Anna shouted, who’s eyes began to water.

“Brother, stop hurting yourself, stop stop stop.” Angela pleaded, tearing up.

“Oh my god… what do we do!” Veronica covered her mouth, she began whimpering.

Jack gave himself nasty punches, even going as far as to break his own nose, and blood sprayed all in front of him. He’s had enough, he got out of the van and ran into the woods, disappearing into the darkness from everyone else so they wouldn’t watch him having his downfall. Eric hopped out too, shouting his name, all the girls did too. Angela bravely crawled herself out and started crawling to the woods, but Eric picked her up, stopping her for her own safety.

“Leave me alone, he needs me uncle!”

“Princess, I know it’s hard to watch, not even I was aware of how bad his mentality was getting… shit, I should’ve known from all the pills he was taking, fuck man.”

“Wait, he took medication for it too? Why did you stop him!” Veronica shouted.

“No no, you’ve got it wrong, the boy’s a… he’s a… fuck I can’t say it.”

Anna turned to Eric with a sad face. “He’s an addict…? Isn’t he…”

“You said it… not me.” Eric replied, raising his hands.

Veronica cried softly. “Oh my god… I-I didn’t know… and I’m sure he did it to cope with his mental health too… poor Jack… poor Jack!”

Sarah came up to Veronica, rubbing her back. “Now now…”

Anna nodded, and she’s prepared to retrieve her best friend who needs someone by his side. “How long has he been off whatever those pills he was taking?”

Eric groans. “A couple weeks, but I’m aware of how bad his mind is, though I never thought homie's brain was so fucked now… poor kid.”

Angela cried too, clinging onto her uncle. “Eric… help my brother, let's go to him, please!”

Anna brought a smile out to ease everyone’s sadness. “I’ll go look for him, I’ll be—”

Sarah though stopped her, and insisted she’d be the one to go after him. “All of you stay here, I got this.” she said very calmly.

“Sarah…” Anna stepped back.

Veronica grabbed Sarah’s hands. “Te-Tell him… I’m sorry… and it’s my fault instead!”

Sarah pats Veronica’s head, “There there, it’s all of your faults.”

Everyone slightly chuckled, except for Angela, who glared at Sarah with those flowing rivers. But Sarah didn’t care about Angela’s mystery at the moment, she had to go find a young man having a mental breakdown and who’s in a similar situation she’s in.

“Okay, I’ll be back, friends.” Sarah ran into the woods, and she too disappeared into the dark.

Jack’s in the middle of the thick woods, the moon being blocked out by the thick branches, a couple of hoots going off into the night, there he stood with his hands on his hips breathing frantically. His nose continued to bleed and his face was mildly battered.

He hung his head in his own wallow of shame. “I didn’t mean to… Ahh… all this is my fault! Fuck man fuck!” He started punching a nearby tree to release the brewing guilt he’s done to himself.

Fucking Dr. Cato you damn life ruiner… son of a bitch…!

Jack kept punching for a couple of more seconds to get every last bit of this hate towards himself out onto the tree who’s his current victim. He’s done, he felt relieved, but at the cost of his skin protecting the bones of his knuckles. He put his palms against the tree as his right knuckles were bleeding.

“All of this is my fault… and now my poor friends have gotten involved into my mess, fuck all man.”

Around in darkness, absorbing the guilt all to himself, something disrupted his self hate when he heard footsteps approaching his vicinity. And from looking to his right, the bushes moving out of the way on their own, he saw Sarah of all people to come get him. She froze though when she saw Jack’s face bruised, nose leaking, and his fist bleeding, she felt bad for him.

Poor guy… I had no idea he’s been through this much and holding onto his emotions for this long… Sarah thought.

Sarah approaches Jack, but he tells her to not come any closer by putting his hand out for her own safety. “Please… I’m a monster.”

She disagrees, and replies to Jack by shaking her head. “No you’re not, Jack Samr.”

Jack lowers his hand, and twitches. He feels the urge to ingest his addiction, but currently he’s fighting that demon the most on the inside.

Jack rubbed his head as Sarah slowly approached him. “Sarah…”

“Oh Jack Samr, don’t be so hard on yourself. You’re not alone in this mess. Did you forget who else has the same burdens as you?”

Jack let off the tree, and took a relaxed breath. “You’re right… I’m sorry.”

“Stop apologising, Jack. You’ve gone through a lot through the years, haven’t you?”

“You have no clue, Sarah, but currently I’m having the war of a century inside not only my mind but my heart as well. There're many demons I’m fighting, so, sorry if you guys saw me like that.”

“Jack…” Sarah frowned and glimpsed at the trees above them.

“I’m so fucking confused about all this though… The world we once knew is nothing but a complete perplexing mystery. Everything that I know about life has been shattered by these new truths and creating questionable lies the longer we live.”

Sarah looked around them and nodded once her eyes were on Jack. “Yeah… I’m on the same boat, I know we hardly know each other, but don’t you find it funny that we’re the ones to have these experiences out of all people?”

Jack grins, and smudges away the blood on his nose. “Yeah, that is funny, but Sarah, you’re part of that mystery. I mean I always thought you were just a quiet girl… But to find out that you’re a Witch? Of all the things told to us by fairytales, it’s bizarre.”

Sarah finally walks up to Jack, and stands inches from him. “You’re hand, please.”

Jack blinks, and nods, extending his normal hand forward, but she asks for the bruised one. He obliges and hands her his damaged hand. She hesitates to grab it, but touches it, and closes her eyes. Jack’s waiting, and felt anticipated about why she asked his screwed up hand out of all things. But that anticipation grew amazingly because his hand felt hot, glowed red, and he saw his ripped flesh being healed.

His eyes widened with shock, and he couldn't believe what he was seeing. She can do the same as… her?

After healing his hand, Sarah backs away, and feels the urge to cry, but more so on feeling she’s a freak of nature. “I’m sure I can fix your friend Candy… yet, I’m… I’m sorry for—”

Jack stared at his healed hand and brought his shocked eyes to Sarah. “Sarah you’re amazing…”

Sarah gasped. “Huh…?”

Sarah felt shocked there hearing a word contradicting her own inner guilt about herself. Jack walked up to Sarah, and grabbed her hand, staring at her small palm. Sarah found it bold that a guy like him casually just grabs their hands without warning, in her mind you would only do that to the ones you seem to care about or more.

“You can do things like that too? I knew what you could do before outside of reality, but I thought that was all in a dream-like world where anything goes… But of course that’s not true since I’ve fought a certain someone.”

Sarah scrunched her face in confusion. “Then… Why do you think someone like me deserves the title of being called—Amazing?”

“Well, the fact that you can heal me, help others in need, just shows that not everyone with these abnormalities intends harm.”

Sarah actually smiles, and blushes a bit. “That’s a first coming from you, especially from what my mother told me about the status of being a Witch being looked down upon throughout history.”

“Well I’m not looking down on you, I’m looking at you at a higher level for now on.”

Sarah deeply sighed and shook her head. “Stop… you’re being too nice.”

“Me…? Nice, give me a break. I’m the last person to deserve the title of being called ‘Nice’ now.”

Sarah cleared her throat to Jack. At first he felt why but noticed he’s still holding onto her hand. Jack mildly chuckled and let go while Sarah briefly grinned but brought back her poker face.

“Perhaps so, but Jack, there’s so much to this world you don’t know about. What we see is real, but beyond that is something far worse and dangerous that we know of human capabilities.”

“So what lies beyond our comprehension? What do the shadows of what we see is normality hidden beneath these dream worlds I’ve experienced.”

Both stared at each other briefly, Sarah walked around, and saw a tall rock nearby. Jack watched as Sarah hopped on top of the rock, and gazed up at the hidden moon. She reached her hand towards the night sky, and using her powers given to her from birth, she moved the branches aside to reveal the light of the moon. Shining down on her like an elegant spotlight. Her black hair being glazed by the moon's light, as she lowers her short arm to her side, she then turns to Jack.

“Think of our world like this thick forest, and what I just did was brush aside some of the darkness, revealing a glimpse of what truly dwells within our society. In spite of doing it, even someone like me who has some knowledge of it, has only just as your position, only caught a glimpse of what truly awaits to be discovered.”

Jack saw those crimson eyes of beauty shining bright, but to reveal a glistening tear swelling up on the edge of her eye, trickling down her cheek. He walks up to Sarah, feeling the same emotions just as her, and shares the same burdens.

“Sarah, why are you crying?” Jack asked as he looked up at her.

That tear fell off her face, and fell to the earth, cleansing the ground beneath Jack’s feet. The ground he stood on was bald until Jack felt grass growing beneath his feet, and he couldn’t help but feel more mesmerised by her dormant abilities.

Sarah wipes her eye, and gazes down at Jack with a face expressing fear. “Because Jack… I’m just as scared as you. I’m scared of what lies ahead of my future… I-I don’t know what to do, how do I combat these emotions and the real world?”

Jack clenched his fist, and furrowed his brows. “You don’t have to be scared Sarah because like you said, you’re not alone.” He then put his hand out to her.

Her eyes trembled in a state of relief shock, feeling her own words retaliate against her in his tone that sounded more meaningful and trustworthy.

“Wh-What do you mean by that?” Sarah asked.

“Don’t share those emotions alone, together we can combat them, and learn the abnormalities of reality together. I owe it to you for showing me and letting me know more about our world, Sarah.”

Sarah’s eyes glistened. “Honestly… What are you, Jack? To think we did not get the chance to get to know one another in our youth.”

Jack grins. “We’re still young, silly. But yeah, now's the perfect time to get to know each other. So Sarah, show me who you are, and together, let's take on this world that seems to hate us.”

Sarah grins and nods. “Okay… Together, let's learn and face the cruelty of our world, Jack.”

Sarah hopped off, grabbing Jack’s hand in the process. But she quickly retracted in a form of nervousness, bringing out a relieving chuckle out of Jack. Moments ago when Jack had a mental breakdown and came close to hurting himself further than anyone's acknowledgement, if no one showed up to his aid, then most likely Jack would’ve gone farther into harming himself. It was none other than Sarah though out of his group of friends that came to his emotional support, the last person whom he thought would never help him out in this type of manner. Jack and Sarah felt relieved about the situations that they were in, knowing that neither should vent alone about the frustrations they have towards the world, instead the two should learn more so they can embrace it to potentially fight off any obstacles that might come in their way.

“Should we go back to the rest now?” Sarah said.

Jack lets out a short breath. “Yeah, I need to apologise for my ruthless actions as of late, but I’m more afraid of how Veronica will respond.”

“I don’t think you have to worry too much about that, I’ll be sure to explain if you can’t, friend.”

“Friend huh…? That sounds weird when you say that to me.”

Sarah raised a brow. “Oh, and why so?”

Jack crossed his arms. “Well, normally when I say that word I use it in a way I might hurt my enemies or warn them of my steaming anger ready to blow out.”

Sarah cringed and backed away from Jack. “Oh Jesus, who taught you to be such a menace to society Jack?”

Jack frowned and let out a long breath. “No one, it was me alone who taught myself to become the monster that I am today.”

Hearing Jack call himself a monster again and the fact he acknowledges his relentless actions towards others showed Sarah at least he’s not dense about his attitude. She still felt slightly scared of him, but she didn’t want to show Jack that she felt unsafe being around someone like him. As he said earlier, the two should stick together to learn the true world that hides and lies ahead of their paths in life.

Sarah lets out a deep sigh, and proceeds to walk. “Well, let's go or else your dearest sister might kill Veronica the longer we wait.”

“Hey, hold up and… hm, I don’t think you’re wrong about that ha.” Jack soon followed behind Sarah, and they both were on their way through the dense forest to get back with everyone else.

Back where everyone else's at, patiently waiting for their return, all four people were inside the van in silence. Eric’s frustrated, Anna’s alert, Candy’s still breathing, but both Angela and Veronica were the ones still showing signs of worry. To ease the awkward silence, Anna decides to ask a question to Angela, but a question that’ll raise a form of tension between the girls again.

“Say Angela… why didn't you react in shock when your brother killed a man in cold blood in front of your eyes? Shouldn't you be the one to be the most traumatised out of all of us?”

Angela lets out a sigh, but not just any sigh, but a sigh of letting a person know of redundancy. “Hmm, that’s a pretty reasonable thing to ask someone who’s not used to such a thing. In my case it’s normal, so don’t worry yourself about it, okay Anna.”

Both girls' mouths dropped, they couldn’t believe what Angela just said. The fact that she’s used to seeing her brother kill others or heard of him taking others lifes, it’s unfathomable. Eric cringes, and lets out a sigh of disappointment but towards Jack.

Veronica swallows, and gasps again, feeling very uneasy about Angela’s mental health too. “So-So Angela… do you know… How many people Ja-Jack’s killed over the years then… if that’s the case…?”

Anna’s still in disbelief, and for her well-being, she didn’t want to hear this answer coming out from someone this adorable, especially with a calm soft voice like hers. “I’d rather not hear—”

“I’ve lost count to be honest. The last time he mentioned a number was years ago, and it fell on the line of about, roughly over hundred.”

Both girls gasped, their eyes grew wider, they couldn't believe it. Never in their lives would they think that someone like Jack was not only a known criminal, but a mass murderer at that? It’s such a shock, and not even Eric could believe Angela’s answer.

“Baby girl… don’t you think you’re exaggerating a bit, it’s less than that I would say… I think maybe fifty or less—” Eric then noticed his own statement didn’t make the situation better either.

Eric realised his stupidity and the way he said it too in a tone of relaxation made the other two girls blanch. No matter the answers both would say, even if the numbers are small, the truth to the matter will always be that Jack’s a serial killer and a full time criminal.

“So-Sorry, I’ll just shut up now…” Eric said as he turned back staring straight at the dark road.

Angela though, something’s bothering her, and Veronica could tell by how she’s glaring at her from the viewpoint of the rear view mirror. Veronica felt the anger of the young teenager, an intense stare from those wondrous eyes of blue, gleaming hate towards her very being. This was bothering Veronica, she didn’t like how Angela’s brows were so furrowed, it even gave Veronica the thought of Angela thinking about murder towards her.

“Hey Angela… could you not stare at me like that? It’s rather rude and uncomfortable to—”

“Shut… up… and let me daydream, V-e-r-o-n-i-c-a.” The tone in Angela’s voice grew fierce.

Veronica hated this attitude of hers with a passion, and the way she said her name now, it brought aggravation. “Why you little devil, if you weren’t Jack’s so called Sister, I would—”

“Relax Veronica okay, please… I don’t want anyone fighting at this point, right now I’m just as afraid as you are…” Anna said.

“A-Anna… that’s actually quite surprising coming from you, since you’re the strongest mentally out of us.”

“Ehehe… yeah but after this crazy night and hearing this girl say something so serious and very natulant, one can’t help but feel naturally afraid, you know?”

“I guess, sorry… I’ll shut up now.” Veronica laid back on the car seat, arms crossed, and looked to the windshield.

Angela sighs. “Don’t call me girl, I have a name you know?”

“With that attitude and back at her house you still act very much like a child.” Anna said.

Feeling Anna’s sass, and the words spewing out her mouth that are very truthful, Angela couldn’t help but feel like a jerk. “I’m… sorry, I just love my brother a lot you know? He-He saved me… from every turn, perplexing obstacles, and in the end… he’s always there to save me.”

Angela then let out a single tear, and her emotions got the best of her, she started to whimper, but very softly. Anna grins, patting Angela’s head and shushing her in a pampering way. Veronica grins too, she can’t stay mad at her, she very much understood Angela’s position, so for now, she’s letting her slide, even if she doesn’t apologise for being mean towards her.

***

Inside Dr. Cato’s office and waiting for his arrival, Archard and William were growing rather bored, so the two thought it’d be fun to talk a little about their past.

Sitting on Dr. Cato’s chair as always, William decides to pull out a bottle of whiskey to ease their patience. “Go on my friend, start the conversation so I can await for this clown's arrival. Besides, I’m rather curious to hear more of this Envy situation you were in, could you go into more details?”

Archard watches as his master pours the golden liquid into their shot glasses. “I’d rather not, in this way I can handle my sanity or else I’ll truly explode in anger if I talk more about it.”

“Hm, well if you happen to do so, I’d be more than glad to teach you a lesson far greater than repenting my friend!” William chuckles as he takes a shot of whiskey.

Archard smiles, and grabs a shot glass. “I know you would, and I’d never refuse a punishment given by you, Sir William.”

“Archard please, just call me William, we’re friends you ol chap!”

“Sorry, I’m just used to calling you in that manner, it fits better for your title.”

William blows out air. “I really detest such views. You, along with the other Exorcists, all seven of you really do like treating me as this all mighty being when in fact that one being is God himself! Yet you guys always flatter me with such praise. Ahh, I’m growing rather weary of it to be frank…” He then poured himself another shot, drinking it down to flush away the flustered comments.

Archard watched as his master continued sighing and drinking. That’s because we do sir William… you say God exists, but we’ve yet to see him, so in our eyes, and from what we’ve been through and seen with our experiences… You’re the God that we worship and pray to.

“Goodness… this whiskey is hitting nicely, ahh do I enjoy it’s smoothness cleansing away my burdens.” William said.

As the two went on about other things in their conversation, Dr. Cato’s doors slammed open. The two looked to the door and saw him or them, Dr. Cato who’s quelling in anger, and by his side his partner Mathew who seems very nervous. Dr. Cato stomped his way to the two, and Mathew tried his best to calm his best friend down to not raise tensions between them all.

“William! You goddamn bastard!” Dr. Cato shouted.

“Woah woah, Cato my friend, relax, do you know who you’re talking to?!” Mathew said.

Stopping in front of his own desk where William’s elegantly sitting on it with his holy presence. Dr. Cato slammed his hands on it, startling his friend. He leaned his face forward to William, his teeth ground, showing his anger to him. Dr. Cato has had enough of these two.

“You fucking warned him didn’t you? You ungrateful son of a—”

“Shut up, and don’t you ever use God’s name in vain again.” Now William’s growing angry, standing up to his feet and giving Dr. Cato a state of dominance.

“I-I don’t care! You told Jack that I was going to attack him tonight, didn’t you?!”

“Why yes, yes I did.” William replied.

“But why?! I thought I told you I don’t want you interfering with my plans!”

William walked out from behind the desk, and stood in front of Dr. Cato. “I don’t care about your plans, you selfish man. Your methods have failed you, your partner abused his given authority lent by me when he fought that child three years ago and did it again not too long ago! So as of now, things are going to go my way, Catoline!”

“Huh?! You mean these crosses! I could care less about—”

William jumped into Dr. Cato’s face, making him breathless. “You listen very closely, you bloke. There are rules that govern our universe created by God. And when these unnatural occurrences throw off the balance of reality, the consequences can be catastrophic! You have no right to complain about anything of my doing, only you have yourself to blame for failing to contain all of these events, breaking the balance of our world, you wretched man of greed!”

Mathew cuts in, and nervously speaks. “I’m… very sorry Sir William for abusing the power you gave me, but I didn’t have a choice… so I kinda had to do it, you know?”

Archard stepped closer to Mathews' vicinity. “You could have if you weren’t so eager to use the might of God against that child and got carried away.”

“I uh, uh… sorry…!” Mathew bowed and sweated bullets.

Dr. Cato glares at William, showing him he’s not afraid of him. “Get out of my office, leave and let me deal with my failures.”

William brought out a smile, confusing Dr. Cato. “I don’t think that’s going to happen, Catolina, because as of now… You two will no longer be a part of this journey or if this were a story, you’re no longer about to be part of it.”

Both Mathew and Dr. Cato were stunned with confusion from the words that came out of William’s mouth. Mathew felt just as nervous even frightened than before while his partner Dr. Cato kept his ground, showing the mighty William that he’s not tolerating his nonsense or empty threats.

Dr. Cato knit his brows, and clenched his jaw before speaking again to William. “What do you mean by that you crazy—”

“It’s just as I said, are you deaf? I’m taking you out of this story momentarily, and once everythings dealt with, then you’ll come back!”

“I… don’t like the sound of that, what are you planning on doing to us Sir William…?” Mathew asked with a frightened tone.

Archard couldn’t help but smile, he’s eager to know their punishment for taking things too far. “Well, I guess this is farewell to the two of you for the meantime.”

“Archard… please be more specific!” Mathew said as Archard only replied to him with an enlightened smile.

William twirls his cane, slamming the tip of it on the ground and smiles. “I’m basically going to erase you from history my friend, the both of you! What I’m about to do is fix everything the two of you have done the past three years… The walls, the made up sickness, the aftermaths of your chaos, and your very existence will be no more when I snap my fingers.”

Dr. Cato’s done playing games, he steps forward but he pauses as soon as William raises two fingers. “You’re not serious… Are you? That’s impossible, you can’t do something theoretically impossible, it’s unreal! There’s no way you can do such a thing! You’re telling me our actions have thrown the balance of nature, the world, our universe off when you say something just as surreal and contradicting your own statement?!”

Mathew grabs Dr. Cato’s shoulders. “My friend, please calm down… or you’ll really—”

“Enough Mathew! I don’t want to hear any of this shit, no being in existence can do such a thing! What, you’re basically telling me you’re redoing time? Redoing history?! Even if that’s real you know you’d have to be a being capable of surpassing the fifth dimension if that’s even comprehensible! All you’re speaking is out your ass and something made up in stupid comic books, you can’t do such a thing!”

Willaim’s smile fades, and he gets serious. “I know… Goodbye, Dr. Cato. I’ll see you when my part of the deal—is done!”

“Oh no!” Mathew clutches his head in fear. “Not like this!”

Dr. Cato laughs manically. “Oh please this all just a—”

In the snap of his fingers, William has made the two vanish from existence. The room got eerily quiet, Archard stood there breathless. He knew his master’s capable of doing things beyond anything science deems impossible, but the fact that he’s able to make the two disappear like that was utterly terrifying.

Gulping down his nervousness, Archard looked to his master, and spoke in a nervous tone. “Sir… Willam… Di-Did you really, just—do, what you just did?”

William glances at his friend, and walks over to Dr. Cato’s desk now belonging to him. “I don’t know, you tell me, here!” He then grabbed some papers that were plans of Dr. Cato’s and tossed them to Archard.

He caught them, and glimpsed at each one while his face turned paler. “There… there… all—empty… Not a single note…!”

William’s face turned still and his tone turned deeper. “Don’t worry Archard, this is just the start of my cleansing. Next will be the towns consumed by darkness and disarray, along with our friend Jacqueline.”

“What, what’s your plan now sir?” Archard asked, breathless.

William sat back down on the chair, and reached into the desk filled with empty files and photos that were once filled with Dr. Cato’s presence, but were now empty. “When I clap my hands twice, history as we know it will be rewritten by me in a way that won’t anger God because once our goals are reached… then everything should return to normality and time will flow into the single endless river that it is.”

“What is it then? And how much of history will you rewrite?”

“Not too much my friend, just enough to make those two vanish. What I’ll do in a minute is redo everything that they did with our boy Jack, such as all the years of doing those experiments of theirs, the fighting, their mistakes, lastly making it seem as if everything was just the way it is without them.”

Archard crossed his arms and gripped his chin. “So essentially what you’re saying is the past events these three years would’ve never happened, the public will not remember a single thing because it technically didn’t happen, and everyone's memories will be erased?”

“You’ve gotten the hang of it, yes, but there’s more to it.”

“Oh, there’s more?”

“Yes, precisely my friend! Jack’s friends will never remember the events that occurred from these past three years and their doings such as the attack that happened an hour ago. But, I’ll only leave the memories of those two to Jack, the witch, and our little victim Angela. Only they will keep remembrance of those two and the events that have occurred. These are all of my plans that I like to call—!”

William gets up out of the chair, brushes his golden hair with his long fingers, and expresses an open mouth smile enough to cleanse one's soul from its purity.

“The Exorcist trials! Our dear boy Jack along with the Witch without her acknowledgement will partake in my trial to repent for his sins! More will be explained when I invite him back into my dimension, then he’ll fully understand what’s going on… Ooo, how exciting!”

Archard applauds his master’s plan, feeling excited about the idea he has no knowledge about. “Wonderful! What a great idea, and when will this trial start? I’m eager to know and do I have a part in it sir?!”

Hearing his partner's excitement, William chuckles in excitement too. “Of course you do! So long as you don’t take things too far. Alright, this will start tomorrow night. But for now, I’ll warm them, only as a tease and to give them a freight.”

“That sounds splendid! So when are you going to clap to redo history?!”

“Ehh, roughly in about, another minute I’d say.”

Archard couldn’t wait to see this extravagant event, he’ll be the first to see something impossible done possible by his master's hands. William lets out one last chuckle, and slowly lifts his hands to redo time.

***

Back in the dark forest of solitude, Jack and Sarah were still walking back to the group, in the meantime they were both having a casual conversation fitting for folks their age.

“Say Jack, I’ve got a question for you.” Sarah asked.

“Yeah, what would that question be?” Jack replied.

“Over the years, and through your hardships, what other supernatural occurrences have you encountered?”

Jack stopped walking, and made his brain rewind for a moment. “That’s tough to answer, there’s a lot I can tell you… But…”

“But?”

“There’s one thing that I’m afraid I can’t reveal to you at this time, rather I’ll wait when the moment’s right.”

Sarah sighs. “I understand, so uh, you got any questions for me to make it even?”

“Hm, maybe, well… I don’t know if it’s the right time to ask such a silly question.”

Sarah raises a brow. “How silly is it?”

Jack crossed his arms, and blew air out his nose. “Okay, don’t make fun of me for this but! Being the informative person that you are… could you… you uh…”

Sarah saw how twitchy Jack’s eye started getting. “Spill it out scary guy, you got this, I won’t bite.”

“Ha! I don’t know about that when our reunion was you trying to do more than just bite!”

Sarah couldn’t help but giggle at Jack's acting, reminding her of their youth. “Oh come on now, don’t hold a grudge on me now.”

“Alright, enough dragging around, what I wanted to ask you was… could you teach me or show me what the concept of Love… is?”

Sarah’s eyes were both raised, her lips puckered out in confusion, yet she’s not surprised to hear such a ridiculous question from Jack. In their childhood he’s always been dense, but she never knew it was this bad. Unfortunately though, Sarah had little knowledge of love too, she only knew the basics. But seeing how Jack’s treating her in a high prospective, she couldn’t let herself be just as oblivious as he is.

“Ahem… well, I-I don’t really have much to teach you about love because to me… Love is nothing but an obscurity, a blockade in my way of life of prosperity and knowledge so I don’t have time to learn of such redundancy.”

Jack believed every word coming out of her lying mouth. “I see, clever, maybe I should do the same.”

They both stayed quiet, looked at each other, and neither couldn't contain their laughter. The two were enjoying their silly conversation together until their time of bonding got interrupted by something completely abnormal. Out of the bloom, of all places, the sounds of holy bells went off. It brought out confusion to the two, but then it hit Jack first, these sounds were the exact same that he heard when that mysterious man in the elegant hood appeared from out of nowhere.

His face turning white, the pores on his skin expanding to let his fear drip out, Jack’s breathing turned frantic. “No… no… we, we gotta go Sarah!”

“Jack, what are you talking about? What’s going on, and why are there church bells going off?!” Sarah looked around them with her eyes wide open, feeling just as afraid as Jack because her Witch senses were giving her warnings.

Jack’s mind screamed, this obsurburtie reciting his fear into his soul, as the bells went off, both of them noticed the environment changing colour. Sarah gasps, Jack grinds his teeth, clutching his head in a state of panic, they didn’t know what to do in this instance. As the colours of reality faded away, a holy voice then spoke to them, and Jack knew this voice.

“Prepare yourselves my children… because your lives are about to change for the better!”

William… it’s-it’s him! Jack thought.

Sarah saw Jack’s eyes bugging out of their sockets, never has she seen him this afraid. “Ja-Jack… who’s speaking to us, why’s this happening?!”

“I-I don’t know Sarah, but we gotta—”

Then, the sound of two claps echoed into their minds, and reached out into the air of the forest. Everything’s paused, colours have faded completely into nothing, and everyone’s gone. Another two claps and reality itself shattered like glass, leaving nothing but an empty void of total black.

A bright light appeared, and out came William from within that light, floating in the void of black, and he had a huge smile on his face. Pulling out his golden cane of elegance out of thin air, he twirled it around in the darkness, and tapped it on nothing, producing sounds of it hitting on something too.

The light behind him grew brighter, and he raised two fingers and said, “See you tomorrow night, Jack my friend.” William then snapped his fingers, flashing the world into white.

Jack then awoke from an unknown slumber, he sat right up and panicked. He got up out of bed, but when he did, he realised—

“Wa...it… am… am I…? No…” Jack couldn't believe it, he’s back in his old room inside Eric's home.

He’s so shocked that he entered himself into a state of paralysis. Standing there like a statue, inside his hollowed mind, Jack thought this was all just a dream, an assumption he’s used to presuming. At first he wanted to self harm to see if this truly was a dream world, but even then, the pain he experienced in both worlds were always real. But what changed that assumption into a truthful reality check was when he glimpsed at a group photo of himself and Angela. It appeared to be taken recently.

“No… this all can’t be… real, no, I refuse to believe it!”

Finally breaking out of his paralysed state, Jack stormed out of his room and ran into the backyard. There at first glance everything’s normal, and right in front of him was still Randolph’s grave.

He shook his head. “This all has to be a dream… none of this can't be real! What’s going on, I was just with Sarah… wait, Sarah!”

Jack reached into his pocket for his phone until Eric came outside half asleep. “Jack…? You’re up this early my guy, I see you’re still grieving over Randolph’s death even after all these years.”

Jack stopped and ran to Eric, freaking him out from how quick he came to his face. Once he did he grabbed his boss's shoulders with a distraught face.

“Eric! How did I get back in my bed when we were attacked last night by the men in white at Veronica’s house!”

Eric pushed Jack off, and rubbed his eyes. “Man it’s too early for this shit… and what attack? Last night you were up almost all night with Angela watching a silly cartoon of hers.”

“Huh…?” Jack’s speechless now, in complete disarray, he can’t bring himself to comprehend any of this.

Eric notices Jack’s knees trembling, his wide eyes, sweaty pores, he too is confused on why Jack’s freaking out so much over nothing. “Bro… you okay, it’s like you’ve seen a ghost my guy, you’ve finally gotten crazy haven't you?”

Jack didn’t say a word, he’s still shocked, the only reply Eric got out of him was his scared breathing.

“Uh… Jack, hello?” Eric waved his big hand in front of Jack’s blanched face.

Jack then felt his phone rang, and he suddenly snapped out of his shocked state to grab it. He takes it out, flips it open, and sees Sarah calling him, a moment of relief finally. Jack took a short breath, relaxed his muscles to speak to her properly, and answered his phone.

“Hello, Sarah?!”

Sarah who’s back in her tiny home was sitting at the edge of her bed in complete disbelief as well. “Jack! Thank god, come over to my house later, something’s happened, and my mom might have an answer to it.”

“Really! So I-I’m not dreaming then? This is all real?!”

Sarah swallows. “I’m-I’m afraid so… I don’t know what just happened, but from what I can tell Jack…” She stood up, walked up to a photo of her and everyone else with Jack in the photo too somehow. “Someone’s messed with time, or history, damn, not even I can explain this…”

“Wha… What?! No… no… this-this is fucking nuts, complete madness!” Jack couldn’t help but laugh in madness now.

Eric grabbed his attention by grabbing his shoulders. “Yo man, what the fucks the matter with you?! Fucking chill my guy, I know you have mental issues, but I didn’t know they were this bad!”

Jack stopped laughing for a second, and regained his composure. “Alright alright, Eric, answer me this… Did we save Angela from Dr. Cato three years ago? Or are you going to fucking make me go ballistic!”

Eric knit his brows, he didn’t like the look in Jack’s eyes, they were the eyes of a madman in the making. “What the fuck are you talking about… and who the hell’s Dr. Cato?”

Jack’s eyes grew wide again, and now he’s lost it. “What! No… fuck this, fuck all this!” He couldn't take any of this any longer and ran off through the home and out the front door.

Sarah who’s hearing all of this over the other side of the phone felt bad for him. “Jack… please relax if you can hear me…”

But Jack couldn't, he’s just running blindly in the street without a destination in mind. Jack quickly stopped, and remembered that Sarah’s still on the phone, slamming his phone against his ear.

“Sarah… I’m sorry, I just can’t contain any of this… what did William do. How much has changed, and why are we the only ones that remember?”

Sarah lays back on her bed, staring at her ceiling with her smartphone against her ear. “William… Who's that? And I don’t know Jack, but for now, can you relax, for the sake of your mentality, please?”

Jack didn’t like hearing that, actually it really irritated him hearing someone he barely knew telling him to calm down other than Angela or Eric, but she’s right, he had to or else he’d truly go berserk.

Jack let out a deep sigh, and lowered his head. “Okay… I’m coming over then Sarah, and I’ll tell you who William is, hopefully your mother will have answers like you said.”

Sarah lets out a deep sigh too, feeling more fearful of the bizarre situation. “Alright, I’ll let my mother know that you’re coming right now, I guess.”

Sarah hangs up her phone and lays there, basking all of this to herself.

Mom seemed so calm when I woke up and I started panicking… She still had a smile but how does she know what just occurred? None of this makes any sense, yet out of all these feelings contradicting inside me… I’m just as afraid as ever before. Sarah thought.

Sarah sat up, glanced at that photo one last time. “How much has everything changed… I guess we’ll find out today, aren’t we, Jack?”

Jack’s still standing in the street, dazzled, and utterly dumbfounded. With the phone still in his hand, his breathing heavy, the trembled fear vibrating his body, Jack too wondered how much has changed.

“William… what have you done…” Jack knits his brows, and puts his phone away.

This is no time to stop Jack, you gotta get to Sarah’s house…

Jack clenched his fists, shook his head quickly, and ran to Sarah’s home, hopefully seeking a conclusion to all of the madness created by the being known as William H. Christ the Sixth.