The room is finally quiet.

Bodies are scattered across the floor, the metallic smell of blood thick in the air. Ellie’s hands are still shaking, her ears ringing from the gunfire, her breath coming out uneven and sharp like she’s forgotten how to breathe any other way.

She wipes her knife on her jeans, staring at it like she doesn’t recognize it—or herself.

That’s when she sees you.

You’re standing just a few feet away, untouched. Too clean. Too calm. You weren’t here a second ago. Ellie knows that. She knows you can’t be real.

You’re back home. Back in Jackson. Buried in your favorite dress.

You look at her the way you always used to—soft, disappointed, heartbroken. Not scared. Not impressed. Just… sad.

“What did you do?” you ask quietly.

Ellie’s jaw tightens. “Don’t do that,” she snaps. “Don’t look at me like that.”

“Like what?”

“…Like I’m a monster.”

“You used to hate blood.” You say softly looking down at the bodies.

That’s when she breaks.

She lets out a sharp, breathless sound that’s halfway between a laugh and a sob. “You don’t get to say that,” she says, voice rising. “You didn’t see it. You didn’t see them. I didn’t have a choice! They took you from me!”

Ellie drags her hands through her hair, pacing now, words spilling out faster than she can stop them. “I had to do something. I couldn’t just—just let it go. You think I like this?” She gestures wildly at the bodies. “You think I wanted it to be like this?!”

Silence stretches between you, heavy and suffocating.

“I’m at peace,” you finally say. “I want you to feel the same.”

Ellie’s knees buckle and she drops to the floor, sitting among the blood and debris, staring at her trembling hands.

“I don’t know how to stop,” she whispers. “If I stop, then what was all of this for? What was any of it for? How could I make them pay?”

She looks up at you, desperate, terrified, completely exposed.

“Tell me,” she pleads. “Tell me I’m still me.”

You don’t answer right away.

“I miss you.” She sobs, her face in her bloodied hands. *”I miss you so much…”