The brown haired girl stood in the middle of the room, horrified at what she saw.

The entire area was covered in blood, a lot of blood, and it all belonged to one individual, the very same individual that she had known, worked with, and tolerated for quite a while now, and the very same individual stood crouching in the corner right now.

Chase held his head in pain as his entire body vibrating violently, humming with power. He was wearing his black speed suit, though it was in complete tatters, and his eyes were glowing red.
She stood there, as the door behind her closed and locked,

“Chase?” She asked nervously

He looked up at her

Instantly in response, his body seemed to glitch, the air crackled with the sound of a sonic boom, causing the blond girl to wince in pain

“ARGH!” Chase yelled from the other side “Riley! What are you doing here?! You need to leave now!"

“Chase it’s OK, just stop moving.” She said calmingly trying her best to keep the nervousness out of her voice

He gripped his head tighter, causing more blood to stream out, “No, nothing’s OK! It wants me to-“

Suddenly Chase burst out in psychotic laughter, as he gripped his head harder, his entire body blurred in and out as he vibrated uncontrollably, and stumbled around the room, glitching in flashes of pain before he raised his hand again and put five deep gashes across his face

“AAAGGH!! He screamed as he stumbled forward onto the floor, splattering more blood
 

“It wants me to forget! I WON’T FORGET!!! I REFUSE TO HEAL!!!” He yelled pushing himself off the floor as his face returned to normal
 

“Chase, why is everything covered in blood?” Riley asked now much more visibly scared than before

Chase looked at her as if he had suddenly remembered that she was in the room, and with a crazy look that Riley had never seen in his eyes. Slowly he drew his claws and put them to his

own throat

“It just won’t let me die.” He chuckled menacingly scarily calmly “JUST LET ME-ACK!”

He was suddenly cut off as he slit his throat and collapsed onto the floor in a pool of blood

“Chase!” She yelled running up to him and flipping him onto his back, but the wounds weren’t there, 

“Chase?” She asked

Suddenly his eyes opened, and he grabbed her neck, pinning her to the wall,

His eyes seemed to be flickering from a glowing red to his natural greenish blue, and it was terrifying. 

“It was me, Riley! I did it! It did it, I DID IT! THERE’S NO DIFFERENCE!!” He yelled

Then out of nowhere he dropped her and stumbled back clutching his head “NO! STOP IT! STOP IT! STOP IT!!! NOT EVERYTHING!!! IT’S WRONG!! ISN’T RIGHT!!! NOT EVERYTHING!!!!”

Another sonic boom! He stepped back, 

“CHASE!!!” she commanded getting his attention, instantly in response, he stopped in his tracks and stared at her

For a couple of seconds, no one said a word, there was complete silence like time had just decided to stand still

Then, she walked up to him and looked directly into his flickering eyes, tears starting to fill her own, and then she hugged him, 

“I’m so sorry,”

Chase stopped, his eyes now fading back to their natural green

“I am so, so sorry,”

His eyes returned to normal, and his claws retracted

“It’s not fair, it’s never fair, but it wasn’t your fault. You have to know that. Whatever happened, however it went down,” She pulled away and looked directly at him “it wasn’t your fault”

“But that’s just the thing, it was!” Chase shook “It was my fault, I’m the one… I wanted to-… it was there-“

“NO!” She enforced, “I don’t care what happened, I don’t care how it happened, I know that it wasn’t your fault”

“But you saw the news, the report!” Chase reasoned, yet Riley only shook her head 

“Chase” Riley started, tears now running down her face “you are a lot of things, most of which I am not a fan of, but if there is anything that I know about you… it is that you are not a killer, especially not her killer… Never her killer”

Chase said nothing, remembering the events that had happened, what had caused his mother’s death, the laughter, the horrible crackling laughter... His laughter. 

And… he nodded.

“But it wants me to forget, it wants to delete it all, everything!” He pleaded “I can’t let that happen!”

“Then don’t” She stated, “Whatever this is, whatever is happening, you can beat it, I know you can.”

Chase stepped back again, his face showing terror, horror… and fear… it showed pure fear, something that she had never seen on him. But still, he looked at Riley and nodded once more. Then, once again, gripped his head and returned to the battle inside,

“I won’t forget, and you can’t erase it all! To feel is human! And to be human is good! I choose to feel! I choose pain!!” He yelled

BOOM!!! Another sonic boom, as Chase started vibrating again

Suddenly he looked up, right at Riley 
 

“GET OUT OF MY HEAD!!!” He screamed, and before Riley could even react, he lunged toward her, claws out, bleeding eyes, straight for her chest, the only thing that saved her was the fact that he didn’t use his speed, giving her just enough time to duck out of the way, and he kept straight on going to a couple of feet past where she was standing,

He swiped at the air, then again, then again!

“YOUR FAULT! IT’S ALL YOU! YOU’RE COLD! YOU’RE CALCULATED! AND YOU DON’T EVEN CARE THAT SHE’S GONE!! SO THAT’S IT, I CHOOSE THE PAIN!! NOW GET OUT!!!”

Chase threw one more giant slash at the air, causing the loudest blast yet, blood flew everywhere, and in that second, Riley could have sworn that she heard something shriek. Then Chase collapsed onto the floor unconscious, with blood coming from his ears and eyes.

Slowly Riley got up from the ground, some of her blond hair dyed red and cautiously made her way over to Chase.

Once more she quickly turned him on his back, this time checking his pulse, he had none. Heart pounding she lifted one of his eyelids, green.

“Riley.” He whispered opening his eyes, “I did it, it’s gone”

She smiled, relieved

“From now on, this is me.” He smiled, as his body seemed to fill with life, once more Riley felt him start to vibrate, but this time, it was subtle, it was calm. “From now on, I choose to feel, I promise…

“I choose to feel”