In Love's Name

In Love’s Name

         The sun shone its rays of light in perfect unison through the trees. The wind blew ever so gently through the leaves and branches to give the trees such a peaceful look on the orchid of crab apple trees. Their varying shades of purple caught the light and gave a shade of purple to the small clearing that Jason picked for such a special occasion. A small picnic blanket covered the center of the clearing. He sat there sharing a moment with the love of his life, Sarah.
          It was their one year anniversary. One could say one perfect year for them, because they felt for each other more so than most couples ever did. It was a year of happiness and unrelenting love for them, the first year they ever had emotionally happy. They sat in the orchid laughing and smiling, eating their lunch that they made for the other with the uttermost care.
         Looking at them from afar, you would not expect such a couple to make sense. But the closer you got, the more you saw the beauty in their relationship, and at times, the more you envied it. Jason was strongly built; short dark hair and brown eyes with had a face that even a man would call handsome. He had the perfect proportions of muscle, with enough to let him lift his own bodyweight and then some, without compromising for movement and flexibility. Sarah, like him, had brown hair, but had blue eyes and a soft, tender face that captivated all who saw her. Her body was slim and acrobatic, a mix of a model and a cheerleader.
         But they loved each other not for their physical appearance or the items in their possession. Their feelings grew from a friendship that occurred over years of being there for one another in times of need. They knew each other inside and out and kept no secrets. It was the kind of love where they could simply look at each other and find themselves smiling. It was, arguably, a perfect relationship.
         Hours flew by and they found themselves at the mercy of the dark. Watching the sun set between the trees and leaves as a mixture of colors covered the night sky signaled the end of their time together. They packed everything and headed for Jason’s car which was parked at the edge of the trees along the dirt path that passed through the orchid. They held hands until they had to part and kissed before they let go and had to leave each other’s side. They got in the car and as Jason started it, Sarah couldn’t help but look at him with complete adoration.
         “Baby, thank you so much for today,” she said with a childish smile. “It means so much to me.”
         Jason leaned over and kissed her lightly on the cheek. “Seeing you happy is all I can ask for.”
         Sarah was overcome with feeling and hugged him tightly. Jason held her gently in his arms and looked into her eyes, letting their foreheads touch. “I should thank you,” he said. “For being in my life.” He kissed her on the lips and she lingered for a moment, before reluctantly letting go. They sat there for a moment in admiration for each other, and then Jason drove her home.
          They drove in silence; too busy enjoying the feeling of being with each other to bother to speak. As they arrived at Sarah’s house Jason drove slowly in her driveway and put the car in park. He put his arm around her and pulled her close, seeing her fit snuggly against his side. They sat there; unaware of how much time went by. Finally, Jason kissed her in the forehead and said, “You better go now. I don’t want to upset your mom.”
          Sarah looked up at him, happy yet sad at the same time. “I don’t care.” She said. “I just want to be with you longer.”
          “Neither do I,” he said. “But I’d rather you not get into another fight. Let’s end today, of all days, peacefully.”
          “Okay. You’re right. I would like to end today with a smile,” She said. “Can we video chat when you get home?”
          “Of course,” He replied.
          “Yay!” She said with glee.
         They kissed once more, and then Sarah exited the car and walked to her door. She stopped, looked back at Jason and waved before disappearing inside. Jason pulled out of her driveway and drove the short distance home.
         As usual, Jason’s house was locked. His parents told him and themselves that they gave him a key, but they did not. He was use to this, and climbed in the front window. Funny, he thought, how I break into my own house.
         Silent as ever, he slipped downstairs to his basement room, and took out his set of keys to unlock his door. A method of separation, and the only way to be alone in peace, Jason put a deadbolt in his door. He sat on his computer in the dark, started his video camera, and immediately got an incoming call.
         Jason answered and saw Sarah lying on her bed in her pajamas. The look on her face, however, was not what he was expecting. She looked worried, nervous, and stressed.
          “What’s wrong?” He asked. She looked up at him, then away, then back at him. After a pause, she spoke.
         “He called me.”
         Immediately Jason became angry. For years before he and Sarah met, she was in an abusive, uncaring “relationship” if it could be called. Sarah’s ex-boyfriend Christian was a scumbag, selfish, abusive, and a coward. He used Sarah to his own ends and cared nothing of what she felt. Her own naiveté kept her with him, believing she was in love and believing him in everything he said.
         Then Sarah met Jason, and everything changed. She knew what love really was for once and for the first time was truly happy. She thought it was the end of Christian. But he thought different. To him, it was just another break until he needed her for something. So every few weeks Sarah received a phone call or a text from him trying to be sweet and call her back in. But no, her heart was set and she would not be fooled any longer. Each time he tried to contact her she became more impatient and frustrated. It seemed that he could not cope with the fact that he lost her. But this time was different.
          “He was angry,” Sarah said. “Very angry; He scared me, Jason. He kept saying how he owns me and no punk kid will take me away from him,” she paused. “Then he started to say horrible things.”
         “What did he say?” Jason demanded.
          “He said…” she started. “He said he would hurt me, beat me, and do things to me for trying to get away from him. And then he said…”she stopped.
         “What?” Jason said. He received no reply.
          “Sarah, what did he say!?”
         “He said, if you would try anything, he would kill you,” she said softly.
         Jason leaned back in his chair, aggravated and annoyed. A rush of anger filled him, and swelled inside for some time. But then he saw Sarah’s face, and how she looked so worried, and forced the anger once again back down, if not for himself, then for her.
          “Baby,” Jason said in a soft yet secure voice. “You know him. He’s too much of a coward to try anything. It’s just empty threats.” She looked unconvinced. “Sarah, look at me.” She looked up at him, and he could clearly see the worry in her eyes.
         “I would never let anything happen to you. No matter who comes to hurt you, no matter what they try to do, I will be there for you, and I will destroy them. No harm will ever come to the woman I love, no person will ever lay a finger on you, no amount of evil will prevent me from being there for you, or I will die taking them with me.”
          Jason saw that Sarah looked less worried, even happy now. She managed to smile at him and he blue eyes glowed once again.
          “See,” he said. “Nothing’s going to happen.”
         She smiled, and was about to say something until a loud series of bangs came from outside her room. Sarah’s face became worried again as she looked to her door. She got up slowly and started to her door.
          “Sarah…” Jason said, but she was already off camera. All he could do was listen. It was quiet for some time, and then he heard the door open, slowly. Again, silence for some time. Then, he heard the door suddenly swing open. What happened next went so fast he could barely make sense of it all.
          He heard Sarah let out a quick gasp and say “What are you doing here?” A voice then quickly and angrily yelled, “Shut up!”, and then Jason heard a struggle ensue. He heard Sarah scream and yell throughout, and then shriek in pain. Suddenly the camera shook and fell off the bed, facing the door. He saw Sarah being dragged out of her room by a man with what looked like blood dripping down her face. Then he caught a quick glimpse of something that made his blood turn cold. He only saw it for a second, but it was all he needed to see to make him freeze. He saw a handgun in the man’s hand. For an unknown amount of time Jason froze, even in his thoughts. Then, instantly, he moved faster than humanly possible. He threw his shoes on and ran out his door, to his car, started it, and sped off.
          A moment ago his mind was frozen, and now every part of it was active. He knew it was Christian. Every fiber of his being was thriving with rage. He could not believe what that coward has resorted too. That he had hurt Sarah. He made her bleed. The thought repeated itself over and over again in his head, but slowly, gradually, another thought replaced it with more power than any other.
         He will suffer.
         Jason took no note of the speed limit, turns, or other cars in the street. They were simply obstacles in the path of a freight train. He had no other concern in his mind than getting to her house and destroying the coward that harmed her. He turned on her street and sped to her house. Instead of stopping, he drove onto her lawn and got out without even shutting the car off or putting it in park. He grabbed the doorknob and ripped it wide open, almost breaking it off its’ hinges. He stepped into the house and saw what he walked into.
Christian was standing in the hallway between the living room and the kitchen, next to the door that led to Sarah’s room. He held Sarah by her neck, and Jason saw bruises form where he gripped her. Christian’s eyes went wide with shocked and he pointed the gun at him. To his left was Sarah’s mom, clearly in shock and holding onto her younger sister, who was crying her eyes out. Being only 4 years old, it frightened her dearly.
         Standing in the corner of the room was Sarah’s stepfather, who looked as helpless and useless as ever. He had a phone in his hand, and Christian must have been pointing the gun at him until Jason arrived. Jason looked at the phone and saw that he managed to dial 911, and was in call for forty-seven seconds.
         No, Jason thought. I will not let the cops get to him. He is mine.
“What the fuck are you doing here?!” Christian yelled angrily. Jason could sense a hint of panic in his voice, as if he hadn’t planned on Jason being there.
         Jason ignored the question. “Let go of her, and I will hurt you, and make you suffer until you die,” he roared. “If you don’t, I will hurt you, I will make you suffer, but I will not let you die. I will make you feel the pain you have caused others and you will beg for me to end your pitiful life, but I won’t!” His voice shook the room, almost as if some solid force was running rampant around it.
         Christian’s gun arm began to shake. He switched it from Jason and brought the gun behind Sarah’s neck. “You come any closer an I’ll shoot her!”
         Jason’s body started shaking violently, unable to hold the fury seething within. Sarah could barely make any noise, could barely breathe, because of Christian’s hold on her neck. Christian was overall smaller than Jason but could still be considered out of shape. Any man could beat Christian in a fight. This was probably why he abused Sarah so, to feel powerful in a world where he was weak.
“She’s mine!” Christian yelled with anger, desperation, and panic in his voice. “I own her! Not you, not no one deserves what is mine!”
         Jason’s mind was no longer processing whatever Christian was saying. Anger blinded him from reason, from compromise, from judgment. All he wanted to do was hurt Christian, and keep hurting him. “You’re a coward!” Jason roared. “A pathetic piece of shit that only cares about himself! You don’t deserve anything! You used her to your own ends, and now you are going to pay!”
         Christian was now visibly shaking down to his core, but he still managed point the gun to the back of Sarah’s neck. In his mind he acted rash, out of impulse, anger, and ego. Everything went beyond what he imagined, and he had no idea what to do. He had never held a gun before, and the initial anger he had ran dry by this time. He was frightened, terrified. Then Jason took a quick, sudden step forward that made him jump, and a sudden bang filled the room.
         Jason froze in midstep. All in one moment, the world froze. All of Jason’s anger was gone in that moment. His eyes were transfixed forward, unable to move, unable to comprehend what had just happened. In all of his rage he was blinded to how edgy Christian was. In all of his anger, he failed to see what would happen if he acted to rash. His sudden step forward made Christian twitch, setting off the gun. The gun that was pointed at the back of Sarah’s head.
Sarah was shot.
She died instantly.
For an eternity Jason stared at her as he realized the mistake he just made. He was so focused on Christian that he failed to think of the consequences of his actions. Life drained from his eyes and his skin turned white as he saw the same happen to Sarah. Every millisecond seemed like a year to Jason, a year full of anguish and sorrow that tormented him for his foolishness. Then the moment passed, which in reality barely registered in time, but to Jason it might as well have been ageless. Her knees began to buckle, and the moment it happened Jason was across the room and caught her as she fell. Christian stumbles back a few steps, in the same shock for what he just done.
         Jason held her lifeless body in his arms and tears began to swell in his eyes as he stared into hers. They were lifeless, but they still reflected the terror she was in the moment before she died. It was as if one thousand knives stabbed every portion of Jason’s body. He failed her at the ultimate level. Everything he promised her, the life they were going to have together, how they were always going to be together, how he would always protect her, were now lies. He fell into a deep pit of nothingness, because he no longer had any reason to live, or any will to live.
         But slowly, something stirred. Forced down again and again, a force that only grew when it was repressed climbed out of its prison that Jason had built for it a year ago. A level of anger, a primal rage, found its way into Jason, and seeing nothing else, took over. There was now truly nothing left that was once called Jason. Still staring into Sarah’s eyes, he let out a yell that rose in intensity and fury every second. It became something that sounded like it should be from an animal, and became all the more terrifying.
         The roar stopped and Jason’s breathing was heavy. He slowly glanced up at Christian, and ran at him. Christian panicked and fired three times at Jason. They all hit him in the chest, but it didn’t stop him. Jason lowered his shoulder and ran full force into him. Christian was launched back into the kitchen and crashed into the wall, nearly breaking it. Adrenaline surged into his body and forced him up once he regained his senses. Immediately to his left was the backdoor, so he quickly opened it and slammed it close. He then jumped over the ledge of the deck just as the door was destroyed as Jason charged through it.
         Christian ran along the side of the house and saw that Jason’s car was still in the yard and running. He heard the sound of feet hitting the ground behind him as Jason followed him. He ran around the door and jumped in, put the car in reverse and floored it just as Jason grabbed the still open door. The car flew backwards, but a large snapping sound came when Jason’s grip on the door overpowered the metal keeping it together, ripping the door off the car. Christian’s eyes went wide with fear as he witnessed what just happened.
         He was now on the street and sped forward, hoping to escape Jason’s inhuman rage. He made the first turn he could find, a street that led to an old factory that was due for demolition. Jason saw this and doubled back, attempting to cut him off by running through the block. Years of parkour allowed him to easily fault himself over obstacles without slowing down at all. With an inhuman speed he reached the other side of the block just as Christian was passing. Jason launched himself forward as the car passed and landed where the driver’s side door should be. He grabbed the wheel and yanked it left, forcing the car into a hard turn. Too hard for the car to take, and it tipped and began rolling. The force of the roll launched Jason 30 feet forward and he hit the pavement hard.
         Christian fell out of the car as the driver’s side door was facing the ground, so he suffered minimal injury. He lay dazed on his side as the car continued to tumble without him. He slowly pushed himself upright and saw Jason face down on the road not far from where he was. Suddenly, fear came back into his mind and he frantically looked around for some kind of escape. He looked towards the factory and saw a door that was left open and sprinted for it. As he reached the door, he stopped slightly and looked back to get a glimpse of his pursuer. Jason still lay immobile on the street, so Christian relaxed slightly. Then, slowly, he watched as Jason lifted himself up in the most sickening way. His eyes went wide and he ran into the dark factory.
         Jason slowly pushed himself up in the most unnatural way, almost as if strings picked him up like a puppet. Several of his ribs were broken and his elbow was bent at an odd angle, far past the 180 degree mark. A large gash accompanied the left side of his face, and blood poured from it. He looked at his elbow, and with several sickening cracks, pulled it back into place. His skin around the elbow turned black with internal bleeding, but he could not feel it. Jason quickly turned his head in the direction of the factory, almost knowing where Christian ran, like a mouse to its’ hole. He walked quickly to the door, and entered the factory.
         Christian was running blind, not knowing where he was. Turning left and right with no second thought, he realized he stepped into a maze. Many walls had huge holes in them further complicated the situation he was in. Eventually, he began to calm down, realizing that his frantic running could give away his position. He saw that he was in a hallway that led to a series of offices, some with locked doors, others with holes where doors should be. He made his way down the hallway and peeked into each open office. He found one that had a hole in it that lead to an office with a locked door and decided it was a good place to hide. Inside the office, he pushed a bookshelf to cover the hole in the wall, and then sat behind the desk and leaned against the wall.
         An unnatural silence accompanied him in his hiding place. His breathing remained rapid and heavy, receiving no help from his terrible lung capacity due to years of smoking, among other things. He tried listening for some sort of sound, but his breathing seemed so loud he thought the whole town could hear it. He sat in fear for what seemed like hours. Then, suddenly, he heard a loud cracking noise, and his eyes went wide as he saw what was about to happen.
Jason’s arm smashed through the wall before he even had time to react. He grabbed him by the hair and ripped him back through the wall, sending Christian sprawling across the floor. Jason went after him and launched a powerful kick to Christians’ head while it was still on the ground. His neck snapped back and nose shattered. Blood gushed out of his nostrils as pain overloaded his mind. Jason moved past him and grabbed his ankle, pulling him across the floor. They were now in a big warehouse type room which was mostly empty asides from a few pieces of old machinery.
Jason pulled Christian across the room in a sprint, almost as if Christian weighed nothing. Christian tried to grab hold of something, but only managed to bloody his fingers against the cold floor. Suddenly, in one fluid motion, Jason stopped and used the momentum to swing Christian airborne directly into a concrete pillar. Pain jolted his entire body as he collided, breaking several bones in the process. He hit the ground on his back, and immediately Jason was above him. Jason started to punch him with his right arm while he held Christian’s neck with his left. Blow after blow connected with Christians face with the power of a sledgehammer. After several punches Christian’s jaw broke, spewing blood and bone with each further hit.
         Christian’s brain acted frantically, releasing as much adrenaline as it could and shutting of all pain receptors in an effort to keep him alive, but it was simply not enough and saw that eventually Christian would die. The brain did hundreds of possibilities for escape in fractions of a second but saw that none could save him. Then, the brain noticed that Christian’s left hand was on top of an old, rusty screwdriver. In a millisecond, it jolted Christian’s mind awake and alert and impulse him what to do.
He grabbed the screwdriver and plunged it into the bottom of Jason’s neck. Jason stumbled and fell, more out of surprise than of pain. He then rolled out of the fall and steadied himself as he grabbed the screwdriver and ripped it out of his neck. As quick as he was to recover, it was enough time for Christian’s adrenaline-overloaded body to escape. Christian ran faster than he ever could and broke through a door at the other end of the room. He found himself in a hallway with one door at the very end of the hallway. He started running to it, but about halfway down he noticed a stairway on his left, and took it. He did not look back this time.
         Christian somehow managed to vault himself up the stairs to the second floor. He entered another large room that looked like they tried to rebuild it before the factory was labeled for demolition. Piles of wood, brick, and concrete littered the room that was already filled with have built walls and rooms. Christian didn’t slow, knowing that the bloody trail he left would give him no place to hide. He rushed through the room, looking for another way out. He made as much distance from the stairs as possible; hoping the piles of construction material could hide him somehow.
         As he frantically made his way through the room, he noticed a large tarp covering what seemed like a hole in the wall. He quickly ran towards it and ripped it down as he went though. He found himself in what looked like a T intersection, with a hallway that made a sharp turn on his left, a barricaded door on his right, and a path that lead to more stairs directly ahead of him. But the section he was in was once again old and decaying, and the floor and stairs in front of him was ridden with old boards and holes in the floor. He looked down the hallway to his left and saw Jason standing at the end of it, glaring at him with a looked that screamed of both cold emotion and rage.
         Christian nearly jumped out of his shoes in freight. As if Jason was waiting for him to jump, he sprinted with ridiculous speed. There was no way Christian could avoid him. Just as Jason was about to enter the room, he smacked into something and nearly fell back. Christian blinked and realized that a huge sheet of Plexiglas covered the entire left side of the room. He had no idea why it was there, but he used the opportunity to run down the beaten hallway to the stairs, somehow still being careful enough to avoid the holes in the floor. A last glance showed him that Jason looked unbothered by the Plexiglas and stared at the huge crack he just made.
         Christian climbed up the stairs on all fours and banked left as he reached the top. The third floor was clearly in the worst shape of the factory. Several rooms had its’ entire floor missing, while others were stuffed with old chairs and desks that must have belonged to the floorless rooms. He ran past these rooms and turned another corner, seeing a split in the path up ahead. He decided to continue straight and reached the intersection when he realized that straight was nothing but boarded up doors and windows. Trying to turn a hard left in his sprint was something he couldn’t handle, and he slammed into the corner.
         He held onto it to prevent himself from falling, and took a moment to catch his breath. He looked over his shoulder to his right, and saw a fist coming straight at him. Adrenaline pumped though him and he ducked just in time to see the fist destroy the corner that his head was just leaning against. He saw Jason was following with a kick, and dived forward into a roll, narrowly avoiding it as the kick connected with the wall, destroying that as well. He came out of the roll and ran down the hallway with what might be the last of his energy and found a ladder leading up to the attic.
Jason reached the ladder moments after Christian began climbing up. He ran of the ladder using only his feet and then jumped, catching Christian’s ankle just before he reached the top. Jason let his entire weight hang on Christian’s ankle, which was too much for Christian’s grip to hold, and they both fell a dozen or so feet to the floor.
         They hit the old floor at the same time and crashed right through it, falling twenty more feet to the floor of the room under them. Jason landed on his left side and broke each bone in his arm on impact. His head whiplashed into the floor and his skull cracked with a sickening sound. Christian landed flat on his back, shattering his shoulder blades like glass. His thighbone fractured as it landed on a pile of bricks.
In spite all of these injuries; Christian’s desperate will to survive kept him going. Seconds after landing, he picked himself up, not feeling the obvious pain that should render him unconscious. As he stood straight up and looked forward to see where to run, he saw nothing but Jason’s face already in front of him. Christian gasped, and for a moment they stood there, staring at each other. After a moment that felt like eternity, Jason unleashed everything that was left of him.
         Jason head butted Christian’s already broken nose to make him stagger back. Now with more room, he unleashed a torrent of punches, aimed at the bloodspots already on Christian’s chest, doing further damage to broken bones. He then launched a left hook, hitting Christian on the side of the head. He followed with a right uppercut to his stomach and felt the organ burst as he made contact. Christian doubled over but was met with Jason’s knee directly to his forehead, forcing him back up.
         It was at this moment that Jason struck with lighting speed and landed a punch in the dead center of Christian’s throat. His airways collapsed, and Christian fell back, unable to breathe. His hands went to his throat as if they could fix the damage, but nothing could be done. Whatever kept Christian alive completely failed at that moment. Unbearable amounts of pain hit him all at the same time from every injury he had. His lungs burned for air, his ribs and stomach were destroyed. The worst pain came from his broken femur and shattered shoulder blades.
Jason looked down in hate and rage as he watched him die. He saw the absolute fear and terror that filled Christian’s eyes. He squirmed on the ground as muscle spasms riddled his body as they no longer received oxygen. The amount of pain he was feeling was never felt by any other, and Jason felt he deserved it. Long, agonizing moments passed, and the live finally drained from Christian’s eyes. It was too soon for him to die of suffocation or blood loss. No, Christian died purely out of pain. His heart and mind could not take the amount of strain and failed simultaneously. It was, as Jason saw it, a fitting, deserving end.
         He stared at Christian’s body with for some time with satisfaction. Then, almost as if it was finished with its’ task, all the anger, the rage, just drained out of his body, and suddenly Jason was aware.
         Pain hit him from all sides of his body. His mind reeled back at the magnitude of what just happened. The force that made him inhuman also drove him into the ground. Dozens of broken bones, gashes, and internal injuries shut his body down. Jason felt himself slowly falling back, unable to control anything in his body. He hit the ground hard, and pain exploded from his skull. But then, all of a sudden, all of the pain was gone.
Jason opened his eyes to bright sunlight and pink trees over him. He saw that he was in the orchid that he and Sarah spent only a few hours ago. He saw wind blowing though the trees, kicking up leaves from the ground and making the grass sway, but he could feel nothing, move nothing. Then something blocked the sun’s rays from shining down on him, and he looked straight up at it. After his eyes adjusted, he found himself staring at Sarah’s warm, smiling face.
         Jason burst into tears. She was kneeling down with his head in her lap, lightly stroking the side of his face. The cuts and bruises on his body were no more. Sarah began wiping the tears from his face and said, “Please don’t cry. Everything’s okay now.”
         “How?” Jason forced out of himself. “How is everything okay? I… I let you down. I… I… what have I done?” Tears poured out of his face as he remembered the moment she died. How, in his mind, he was the direct reason for her death.
         “No,” she said softly. “It’s not your fault. You were just trying to protect me.”
         “But I wasn’t” He said with a sob. “I was too focused on… making him pay… on revenge. I didn’t even think of what would happen if….”
Sarah continued to look at him with a warm smile, soothing Jason’s tears. All the while, a slow, yet constant darkness began to infect the edges of the clearing. The leaves on the trees began to turn black, and the grass died as it was covered in darkness. The sky began to darken but the sun continued to shine directly on the clearing, its rays becoming smaller and smaller as the darkness surrounded them.
“Shhh….” Sarah said and put a finger over Jason’s mouth. She leaned over and kissed him on the forehead, and cleaned his eyes of tears. For some time they remained there in silence, with nothing but the sound of the wind to accompany them. The darkness now completely enveloped the trees, and began creeping its way onto the clearing.
         Jason looked up into Sarah’s deep, beautiful blue eyes. He found himself transfixed in them just as he had been the day of their first kiss. “I love you, Sarah,” he said as one last tear rolled down his cheek.
         “I love you too, Jason,” she replied. The darkness now surrounded them, and the sun’s rays only managed to cover them. But Sarah seemed to be illuminated on her own, unaffected by the darkness around them.
         “I promise to never fail you again, Sarah,” Jason said. “To always be there for you, always love you, and never leave you. I promise that we will be together again, forever”
         This time a tear came down Sarah’s face. “No,” she said. “We won’t.”
         Jason looked at her, unable to understand, when at that moment the darkness reached Jason’s body, and ripped him away from Sarah into the blackness. She remained in the clearing, untouched by the darkness, and wept.
         Jason’s body lay in the factory, bruised, bloodied and broken. All life was now drained from his eyes, his pact for revenged fulfilled, costing him the ultimate price. Not just his life, but forever barred from the one he loved. His last moments were filled with rage, hate, and anguish. And he did it all, in love’s name.