You run through the pine woods, your breath cold and sharp, feeling like needles every time you inhale. The train is approaching from behind, its smoke and grease quickly filling the
air, the roar growing louder with every step, feeling it vibrate your body. You must stay focused on getting away. You can’t look back, not toward the body. You never meant to kill him, you just
wanted to escape. You continue repeating it out loud, still unable to believe it’s real. You only meant to make him stop yelling, stop drinking, stop gambling your life savings away. It started as
yelling, then turned into fighting, then the train, which now brought you silence. It feels like a punishment you always feared and wanted at the same time. The weight of what happened
presses on your chest, making each step harder and heavier. The crunch of pine needles under your foot seems deafening in the still night. You run away, hiding in the woods for nights on end,
covered in a blanket of pine needles to keep warm. You are not worried about anything, but each wrestle in the dark makes your heart jump, and eyes shoot open. You’re still unable to
comprehend what you have just done. You start to doze off on all of the stuff you wish you could do but will never be able to again. You’re on the run, not thinking that the consequences
apply to you because you think you did what’s so right, but so wrong at the same time.

When your hunger starts to feel like it’s killing you, you fold, finally making your way back into town, each street and alleyway feeling unrecognizable after harsh days out in the wild.
The town hasn’t changed over the days you were gone, but people look at you like you have. They start to whisper and realize you’re not with Jonny like usual. The feeling of judgment
seems to follow you as you walk in the shadows past familiar buildings. They start to wonder, and as you arrive back at your father’s house, he looks at you. He knows but doesn’t say.

Worried, confused, terrified, he asks, “What did you do?”

You try to lie, but your words speak for themself. Like a waterfall, you start to describe everything, not stopping until there is nothing left. Nothing more to say. You have told him
everything, the blood, the struggle, the arrogance. The feeling of this external person who isn’t you who killed, murdered, and buried Jonny. Right by the tracks, under the shadows of
the trees. Your hands shake as you recall every sound, every feeling, every moment leading to the death.

He doesn’t respond, at a loss for words. You ask for forgiveness, worried he will turn you in. Instead, he does not speak. He moves with careful calm, as if accounting for every
choice before choosing an option. He gets up, and as you watch him walk towards his room, you hear him scurrying through the drawers. A few moments later, he comes out with a stack
of cash, a coat, a hat, and glasses. These items are not for him; they are for you.“Put these on and leave. I’ll handle everything here,” he says, his voice oddly steady
but eyes weary and drowsy as if he has been up the past days, unable to sleep, wondering where you were.

You start walking, head down, everything running through your mind. You feel your heartbeat throughout your body, and it reminds you of the time when you were beaten so badly you could feel it in your head. Where does my life go from here? You start to sing, singing that same song that Jonny always hated, that same one you sang when you buried him. The
song now echoing throughout the streets.

You walk until you can’t walk anymore, helplessly collapsing, everything going dark. The cold night only gets colder, and the world feels mute, your ears ringing, you wake up to Jonny standing above your bed.