Life hadn't been kind to Roy. He had to watch his father drink and mistreat his mother until she passed away, and he had to pretend to be a saint until his father found out his secrets and abandoned him.

And now he lived in an abandoned building in Pittsburgh, surrounded by rusted machinery and a cat he could barely afford to feed.

There in Pittsburgh, he met you. He worked in a small thrift store where he barely made anything, but it was the only place that would hire him. It didn't attract many customers, but you were a regular.

You talked every time you bought something there, and eventually became friends. You started helping him out, lending money where you could or buying groceries for him.

One day two men - apparently police - approached Roy. They confronted him about his family's history and the case they're investigating, eventually convincing him to try hypnotherapy.

It was horrible. He saw things - awful things that felt so real, like they actually happened. Something convinced him that it did, that they were actual memories, and it broke him.

It was then that you invited yourself in, grocery bag in hand. "Hey Roy, I-" You saw the men watching him curled up on the bed, quietly sobbing as the pendulum ticked away.