by Matt Cogar
She vanished around a corner. I tried running after her but just could not find her. I searched endlessly. The hallways seemed to warp, growing and contorting. They seemed to get longer and longer. I began to jog, and run, and practically sprint, just to find her.
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I finally came to a door. I slowly opened it. I entered, and found myself in a shower room. All the showers had been running. I found Caroline, in the center of the room, laid out on the ground. Shackled. The Slayer approached her. She squirmed, trying to free herself, but to no avail. She looked over to me, her eyes, glossy with tears, pleading for help.
“Jack!” She cried out.
I ran over to her, and knelt beside her.
“STOP!” I screamed at the Slayer. “Just leave her the hell
alone!”
The Slayer raised its axe, and murdered Caroline. “NO!” I yelled. I bowed my head.
“Jack...” said Caroline.
“Caroline...I'm so sorry. I've failed you.”
“Jack. Listen...listen to me,” Caroline said, “don't beat yourself up over what you did. The fact that you did it out of mercy...that you couldn't bear to see the one you loved so dearly in your heart suffer so much, makes you that much better...it makes you human, Jack.”
And then she died. I will never forget those words. Those words will stay with me to the day I die.
CHAPTER 29
R E V E L A T I O N
I carried Caroline's body. It was the place where I had released my wife's dead body. The lake. The same lake we made love near for the first time, the same lake where I buried her at sea.
I tossed Caroline over the ledge, as her body fell into the depths below, sinking. I tossed a rose onto her body.
Like Catherine, I thought, as I turned around. I collapsed to me knees, before the slayer.
“I know why you exist. Why you haunt me. Why you torment me,” I spoke, confessing, “I could never forgive myself. I could never accept my sins. But it's all over now. I know the truth.”
And then I rose. “I accept what I have done.” I told it. Suddenly, the chains broke. He was freed. I am freed I thought, as the hood of the Slayer fell back.
I gazed into the face of my tormentor, and it was, and always had been...me.
It dropped it's axe, and turned around. It became a bright red light, as it vanished. Forever extinguished.
CHAPTER 30
R E U N I O N
I found myself once again in the hospital hallway. The door that was blocked became unblocked as the padlocked dropped, the folding gate sliding across, permitting entry.
I entered a shadowy void. A light in the center. Standing in the light, was her. “Catherine!” I yelled, running over to her. I hugged her, and she smiled as she hugged me back.
We were reunited once again.
And then it was all over. I awoke, in my car. On the cliff I fell from. “Catherine!” I shouted. A tear rolled down my cheek, as reality began to set in.
I saw a letter, sitting on the dashboard. I opened it, and began to read the hand-written message:
Jack,
I know you did it out of mercy. You could never accept what happened. The truth is, I'm glad you did it. I was in so much pain. I want you to forgive yourself, because if you don't, if you die, then I will die. But as long as you live on, then I shall live on, forever. I will always love you, Jack. For eternity.
Catherine
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It was those words that ended it. Those words, that healed me. I looked up at the heavenly sky above, like a painting, I thought. Never again would I punish myself. Never again would I look at that moment as a tragedy. I am freed.
