I gathered myself quickly after Kellin left. Grayson was oddly silent next to me, and I couldn't help but watch as he watched me. Couldn't help but watch as he watched me lose everything and everyone. Myself, my family, my fiancé...all gone within the same hour. It's like my life has been one giant piece of rope that's stretched taught. One by one, the individual strings that make the rope has been severed.

They started getting cut when my uncle passed. I realize that now. And one by one, they kept breaking with every satisfaction I got from tearing someone apart. They were relentless with driving me insane and when I found myself rediscovering my uncle's teachings and through Reyna, they stopped breaking for a while. There was a sweet moment when my rope seemed like it would've been wholesome and sturdy enough for the rest of my life.

But karma exists, ladies and gentlemen. What goes around will indeed come around. And when it finally does, it bites you in the ass tenfold. If you broke a butterfly's wing, you'll get hit by a million freight trains before you die. If you called someone ugly, then everyone you've ever known will have a rock to throw at you until you finally break. 

 Now, the strings of my rope are breaking too fast for me to catch up and I feel like I am physically unravelling. But when something is unravelled, it reveals what's on the inside. After I'm done unravelling, I fear that there won't be anything hidden in all the snapped layers of my painful existence. I'll be empty, I'll be lonely, and I'll become nothing. 

yers of my painful existence. I'll be empty, I'll be lonely, and I'll become nothing. My rope is just a few strings from being completely broken now. It's only a matter of time until it completely splits in two. I don't know how long I can hold on to the string anymore.

Maren comes down from the stairs, the gash in her side tied up.

"Kellin's been gone a long time..." Grayson notes, growing antsy.

"Go find her if you want," I allow. "Maren and I will wait here for you." Though I try to conceal it, the anger I feel towards Maren comes out in my tone. She accused me of being a killer and, though she wasn't a good one, my own mother is dead. Maren is a fool for thinking it was me.

No, she was using the fact that you're a psychopath.

"Reyna got shot? What happened?"

Clearing my throat, I construe a half-truth. "Reyna found a gun when she went to find

Ozzy. Ghostface shows up, shoots her in the shoulder, and takes off with her running after him."

"Why didn't you go with her?" Maren asks accusations underlying in her tone.

"Because I thought I should stay with my dying mother," I bark. "But you know what? That was selfish of me. My bad."

"I'm sorry," Maren apologizes.

"You say that a lot," I point out.

We move to the couches, away from the corpse of my malicious mother who sought redemption. We were more alike than I originally thought.

"Grayson's been gone for a long time," she notes like Desk Guy did, eyes darting around the place.

"Mhmm," I absentmindedly confirm.

"This wasn't supposed to go like this," Maren sadly says. "We were supposed to stay together and not die. But now Ozzy is missing, Makai is missing, Reyna is missing... everyone is missing besides us."

"Ozzy isn't missing," I convey. "He's dead."

Maren gapes before meeting my eyes. "Wait...what?" she whispers. Her lip starts to quiver and she bites her thumbnail: a nervous habit. "Enzo, what?" 

"Ozzy died in the fire behind Adriano's," I explain, voice devoid of emotion. "I found him when I was looking for Reyna, who was looking for Ozzy. I'm sorry." 

Like a magnet, Maren attaches to my side, squeezing me so tight I might suffocate. Awkwardly, I pat her back. She stains my shirt with tears as she empties her feelings. I don't feel pleased or disgusted with her agony. I don't feel anything at all. I feel like a giant glob of eh.

I'm about to say something when a blunt object connects with my head enough to make me pass out. I let out a groan as I see gloved hands take Maren away. They drag her through the old blood of my mother and outside in the back, where the two disappear.