Flares | Johanna Mason

VII. Like It Or Not

Ethan?

He was back in that forest, the same one where he had died over and over. The one covered in his blood and the blood of others. Ethan's head snapped around, looking for where his attackers would come from this time. He lasted longer each night but he could never stop his death, no matter how fast he ran or how hard he fought, he still ended up on the floor of the forest with his blood dyeing the emerald grass crimson.

However, Ethan sensed that something was different this time. There was no noise. No leaves crunching under his attackers feet. No whispers being carried in the wind and no metal scraping on the ground to taunt him about his impending death.

There was just silence.

"Hello brother dear."

Ethan's blood turned cold as the familiar voice rang in his ear. Alesia always turned up at the end, when he was seconds away from death's door. So why was she here now?

"You're wondering why I'm here?" Ethan opened his mouth to retort but Alesia cut him off. "I know everything Ethan because this is all in your head. Your mind created me. Your mind brings me here to watch as it makes you squirm and suffer because you can't live with what you did. This is why I'm here now, not at the end of your life. I saved you Ethan, I've saved you time and again when you've been bleeding out on the grass. I drive away the Reaper's victims. They are the manifestations of your guilt and fear, you can't run from them. Not anymore. You need to face them if you want to move forward."

The boy laughed but there was no humour behind it. This wasn't the boy that was chased through this forest night after night by onyx shadows, being hunted. The Reaper never was the prey, that was Ethan Wynters, the pathetic little boy that he was. The Reaper hunted and he always got his prey in the end. And right now, his prey was standing right in front of him.

The Reaper tilted his head slightly, "Ethan might not be able to but I definitely can. This is what I am Alesia. Just like you, Ethan's mind created me. You said that you're the manifestation of his guilt, well I'm made up of his darkest parts. His anger, his arrogance. He wouldn't be alive if it wasn't for me. You wouldn't be standing here if it wasn't for me."

"Nice to finally meet you Reaper." Alesia only nodded with a small smirk before her eyes turned deadly serious. "Do you think I want to be here? Watching as Ethan gets butchered night after night by the ghosts of the people you killed. We live and die by that boy. I'm here to try and help him get past his grief, something he needs to do if he wants to get better and start to like himself."

"Why would I want him to get better? I need him to keep giving me control, that is how I survive." The Reaper stepped closer so that he and Alesia were nearly nose to nose. "And that leads me to you. His guilt and fear turns him to anger, that is where I take control and I don't need you to try and fuck it up by spouting your high road bullshit during your late night therapy sessions with him while he sleeps. I do the things that Ethan thinks of doing but hasn't got the stomach to follow through on."

Alesia took a few steps backward, her eyes analytical. "So what happened on the roof in the Capitol then? He was full of guilt then but he didn't give in to you. He stood on the edge of thay roof, ready and willing to take his own life because he couldn't and didn't know how to deal with his guilt." Her tone then went as cold as ice, making sure that the Reaper got every word that she said, "The only reason that we're having this conversation is because Johanna Mason got there in time and pulled him down. Not because of me or you."

The Reaper snorted loudly at the mention of Johanna. He hated her. She was trying to make Ethan better, to make sure that the boy always has someone in his corner, someone who could understand him. The Reaper needed Ethan to be angry and the best way for that to happen was for the boy to be seperated from Johanna.