Recap:

Your side started to hurt again.

Jeff swooped you off your feet in slow motion and began to run towards the light that was slowly fading away in the distance. It just kept getting further and further away as it teased his grasp.

You were sure that he was trying to tell you to hang in there or stay with him. However, you just couldn't help but let your mind wander in this paradox of a repose.

Your demons finally fancied your vision and swarmed your mind with unconsciousness.

-+-

The campfire roared like a thousand bees trying to escape their nest.

The wisps of the flames lit up with a dullness in your eyes as you played with the string on your shorts. Your shivering legs stayed as still as they could, but the wind was too mutilating.

Jeff threw another block of wood into the fire, allowing it to yell like the souls waiting for peace. He then dusted off his hands and sat down next to you. The dirt underneath your skin shifted with the colorless clouds that shuffled across the night sky.

"It's freezing," Jeff said as he pulled you towards him.

You nodded as you nuzzled your head into his chest. His heat immediately struck you with intensity.

"Are we going to make it through the night?" you asked.

His eyes looked in the distance at the trees that silently screamed on your behalf.

"Mhm," he mumbled. "I won't let anything happen to us."

A small breeze caught the end of your hair and brushed it around your face.

"Aren't you confused?" you asked. "Aren't you scared at all?"

Jeff glanced down at you and shook his head.

"No," he said.

"But you don't know anything," you replied. "You don't even know who I am or what happened in the past."

He went to speak, but you didn't let him.

"You don't even know why they're chasing us," you finished.

He sighed as the wind picked up a sheet of his sleeve. You heard the leaves on the trees rustle and shake as the roots in the ground rose like the undead.

"Close your eyes," Jeff muttered.

"What?" you questioned.

"Trust me," he sighed.

After a moment of reading his dim, blue pupils, you shut your eyes.

"Imagine a tree," he said. "A tree with a million branches and red leaves that cascade into the night."

You pictured pale bark on the trunk of a tree that held a million sins in every single one of its roots.

"Now picture the stars in the sky getting covered up by the clouds," Jeff said. "Imagine them ripping off all the leaves from the branches, tearing them apart by the seams."

You saw guilt being taken out of the tree, sin by sin.

"That tree is still a tree," Jeff mumbled. "Isn't it?"

You saw yourself standing underneath the night sky with no sins to be found. You longed for this. You longed for a life away from hell, free from your guilt.

You ripped your eyes open.

"I did it," you whispered.

Jeff's eyes wandered into yours as he grasped a confused persona. You sat up and peered into his thinking perception.

"I... I was the one that almost killed you," you said.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"There was this... this letter that was on the bullet hole and... I put the bullet in it-"

"Wait, when was this?" he questioned.

"In the cabin," you said. "During Russian Roulette... I regret it- I swear!"

He looked away, thinking.

"That's impossible, (y/n)," he muttered. "There's no way you could have known where the spinner would stop."

"But you don't know these people!" you cried. "These people know what happens!"

"Calm down-!"

"These people know the future! They know exactly what's going to happen to me!" you screamed. "They know we're going to die and be eaten alive by our sins!"

The bright, white moon smiled red.

"(y/n), you didn't do anything wrong!" Jeff said.

"But I had the intent of killing you!" you bickered.

Silent vines crept into your skull as he shut his mouth.

You reached towards him, trying to show that you still cared and that you didn't mean to hurt him, but he grabbed your wrist before it got near.

"You wanted to kill me?" he asked.

"I- I'm so sorry!" you cried. "I didn't mean it! I only-"

"Stop," he said.

You gave him pleading eyes that spoke way more than a thousand words. A puppy dog brow could be found in your expression that gave off either a depressed or suppressed vibe.

Jeff threw your arm to the side and stood up. After glaring down at you for a moment, he shook his head and turned around, thumping his feet on the ground with every step away from you.

"Jeff-!" you called out.

"Don't," he muttered. "Just don't say anything."

You let him walk off.

A tear or two escaped your worn-out lids and fell onto the blossomed, non-rosy cheeks that you held so dear.

You really messed up.

You wanted to kill someone.

You were selfish.

"Stop it!" you said to yourself. "I'm not like that! I'm not selfish!"

You sinned.

You're egocentric.

You're evil.

"No, I'm not!" you yelled.

You're just like them.

You screamed as loud as you possibly could, covering your ears and face with your palms.

"I'm not evil! I'm not a monster-!"

"(y/n)!"

You shot your hands away from your eyes and snapped your head to see Jeff standing next to a dull tree.

"What's wrong with you?" he asked.

"Everything!" you cried. "I do more bad than good! I shouldn't even be here anymore!"

No matter how he felt, he ran to you and wrapped his long, pure arms around you.

"That's not true," he said.

"It is," you whined.

"No," he declared. "You're not a monster, you didn't sin, and you're not selfish."

You were face to face with his innocent eyes.

"I don't like evil people, (y/n)," he mumbled. "I hate evil people."

He must despise you.

"I know you're not evil because..." he started. "Because I don't hate you at all. In fact..."

You leaned back as he closed in the space separating your faces.

"I love you, (y/n)," he whispered. "I truly do."

And with that, both of your fates were sealed.