Henry’s POV

I watched the shadowy energy expand, continuing to devour everything around us.

We were in the middle of the mountains, and the vegetation around us had died and continued to die at an astonishing speed.

Was my power so merciless because I had lost control over my emotions?

The destruction never stopped; the shadowy energy did not evaporate like usual after heeding my command—this time it continued to roam without ever having received a command in the first place.

I didn’t want to destroy the world, given that Kenny had come back to life, so I raised my upper body, raised my arms, and called the shadowy energy back.

The circle stopped expanding, and it rushed back to me, eagerly coming back to its source.

When my power merged back with my body, I could feel the spike in strength, dizzying me further than the fear, screaming, and crying already had.

"We’ll go now..." I said, looking down at the breathing body in front of me; I also had to give him some of my blood so he would recover faster.

My words had come out like those of a drunk, someone high, someone not all there.

Still on my knees, I bent down to scoop Kenny into my arms.

But when I did—in just an instant—his clothes acidified, and I smelled the scent of burning, charred flesh.

NO

I snapped my hands back from under the back of his knees and his back and threw myself back—away from him.

PLEASE NO!

I crawled back speedily, bringing distance between us.

Looking at my hands, I found a dark sheen covering them.

"No..." I whimpered and looked back at Kenny.

I couldn’t see his injuries from here.

But if I’d come closer...

Like the pool of paper planes—if I jumped down, they would get damaged.

If I stood up, they would crumble.

If I moved away, they would be stepped on.

EVERYTHING!

EVERYTHING I WOULD DO WOULD CAUSE HARM!

And then there was the fact that I could never move away from Kenny.

Desperate, I crawled forward again, unable to stay away.

Like an addict setting the powder in line, placing the needle against skin, or popping pills.

Just that, contrary to an addict, it wouldn’t be my own body suffering the damage in an attempt to feel alive or the search for artificial peace.

Before I could reach him, I stopped, desperately crawling back again.

"Aaaahh...AAAAAAHHHH!!!" I buried my face in my hands, not feeling any damage against my own skin.

The power inside me surged thicker, and when I looked down at my hands, I fell into a trance after seeing that the power had accumulated, now reaching to above my wrists, darker than before.

I sat still for a long while, unable to move forward, unable to move backward, frozen in place.

When I came to again, I was rocking my head to the side, as if I were listening to music or as if I were soothing myself.

My thoughts felt clear yet warped.

My emotions had toned down so much that I was feeling nearly nothing, liberating me from the pain.

But there seemed to be a voice in my head, whispering, ’Everything should just die.’

I stood up and stepped forward, letting the crystals grow over my hands, which had turned completely black.

-Then there will be nothing left to hurt, and...

I tested the makeshift gloves on Kenny’s clothes without touching his body.

Nothing was acidified.

–nothing left that could hurt me.

I turned him around and looked at the holes in his clothes under his knees and back, but his scarred flesh had luckily healed back in the meantime.

Scooping him into my arms, I started to carry him away, through the circle of destruction—and then through the mountains.

I often stopped involuntarily, losing track of what I wanted to do and staring into nothingness, and when I came to, the shadowy energy on my hands had grown a bit, and so had the crystalline gloves stopping me from hurting Kenny.

And so had the whisper.

-So tired of everything.

When I would come to, crystals would have grown over Kenny’s body, starting at his feet and up to his hips.

-Tired of the trees, tired of the grass.

Every time I woke up, I shook his body, and they would fall off.

-Tired of the green, tired of the blue.

There were no special thoughts, just as my hands had moved automatically before, so did my feet now.

-Tired of the colors.

On my way through the mountains, I walked past a few worn-out tents, and soon there was a group of scrawny people.

They had cold weapons, and when they saw me, they said something, but I wasn’t able to hear them.

They were swallowed by black smoke, making me ask myself if they had the same shadowy power as me.

But the thought was soon replaced by my nothingness.

-I wish they would all turn black and white...and red.

The whisper turned into a song: someone singing, someone speaking, something humming.

The rock and metal and techno songs I had played during parties and heard during my drug rushes had burrowed themselves into my subconscious and were played now, plus a few askew notes my sister sang as a child from her favorite movies.

Additionally, I heard Kenny’s voice talking about whatever—I was unable to make it out—and then there was the humming of my power mixed in.

It formed a strangely scarring and strangely soothing rhythm.

Forward, left, and right; up and down. I just jumped down slopes and mid-high cliffs, and soon I saw a big Ferris wheel in the distance.

Was it the circus?

I walked toward it automatically, thinking of finding tiny and little love.

When I entered the amusement park, passed by closed-up booths, and came to a halt in front of a carousel, I finally woke up a bit.

I checked Kenny’s pulse and breathing before looking back at the carousel and how it was engulfed in shadowy energy the next moment, disappearing from our sight.

Kenny needed a bed and needed to rest.

-A collar and chains.

Somewhere with a good view, high up.

-So that he couldn’t run away.

I looked up into the sky and found a skyscraper in the middle of the amusement park.

I walked toward it, with Kenny still in my arms, entered the hall, and took the stairs up to the highest floor.

I cautiously placed Kenny on the soft leather couch and watched his chest rise and fall for some time.

Then I started to acidify the big tables and high chairs to make a free space.

A few lower tables and chairs were already stacked on the side, so I left them there.

Then I locked myself in a small crystalline barrier to test whether I could breathe inside.

When I was able to breathe through it, I locked Kenny into the same kind of crystalline room.

I teleported into a big furniture store I knew and brought back a bed, mattress, nightstand, pillows, and a big blanket.

When I had the bed ready, I went to a men’s clothing store that hadn’t been plundered completely and got myself thick leather gloves.

Back at the restaurant, I scooped Kenny up and undressed him to his boxers before placing him on the bed.

Again, with the crystals shielding him, I thought of Dr. Cecile Lawrence and let the acid spread through my veins.

I reappeared inside a skyscraper; this one wasn’t in the wilderness or inside an amusement park but in a big city.

She lay in bed sleeping, looking far better than before, with no machines around her, and her complexion had recovered greatly from before the plane crash.

My lip curled; had Kenny healed her?

Making his heart stop to heal everyone?

Were they worth it?

Was she worth it?

I suppressed the killing intent bubbling up and slammed my gloved fist against the wall beside me to wake her up.

She sat up with a start and screamed upon seeing me.

It was dark, so she wasn’t able to see.

"The full name of your assistant," I said.

"WHO??... Henry?" She fumbled to the side, probably for light, but the door opened faster than she could find one.

Mrs. Howard stood there in a long nightgown, a big candle in her hand.

"YOU! WHERE WERE YOU??? DO YOU KNOW HOW LONG WE WAITED FOR YOU TWO AT THE TERMINAL?" She yelled at me and urgently let her eyes wander through the room.

"The full name," I repeated to Dr. Lawrence.

"You mean Bianca?" Dr. Lawrence eventually gathered her wits.

I hummed, and Mrs. Howard continued to yell.

"WHERE IS MY GRANDSON??"

I tilted my head, gave the old lady a look, and smiled.

"He has been taken captive."

"Your eyes..." Mrs. Howard should be able to see in the dark, but she raised the candle anyway, looking at me strangely.

"Name?" I turned back to Dr. Lawrence.

She mumbled a last name, while Mrs. Howard yelled at me when she finally registered what I had just told her.

"WHAT? WHO TOOK HIM CAPTIVE??"

The staff sergeant appeared behind her, and so did Ethan.

Good, they should all know.

"I did." I said, my smile deepening, before I disappeared from their sight.

–It was me.