ROGUE

You Can Run But You Can't Hide

Dex's POV

Running. That's what I've been doing; running from the law, from the sins of my past, from the darkness within. I was swallowed by the night, my heart pounding like a desperate criminal on the lam. The faces of Mark and Victoria haunted my every thought, their accusing eyes whispering tales of horror I couldn't bear to remember.

The world seemed to have turned on its axis, reality warped into a twisted mockery of what it once was. My own brother Mark, he was no more.

I found myself at the edge of town, where civilization retreated before the onslaught of nature. The old mill stood there; a skeletal structure corroded by time and neglect. Its hollow silhouette against the moonlit sky felt like a reflection of my being - empty and haunted by its past.

Inside was no better than out: darkness permeated every crevice like some malignant cancer, growing and consuming everything that was once pure. A chill ran up my spine as I stepped over rotting floorboards and silhouetted machinery. Each step forward was a delicate dance with death.

As hours turned to minutes turned to seconds, time seemed to lose all meaning in the face of my isolation. Reality became fragmented, as though each piece was seen through a shattered mirror; distorted and jagged, the edges cutting into my very soul. I couldn't trust my own senses anymore. The line between memory and delusion blurred until I didn't know which was which.

Hailey. Her name echoed in the chambers of my mind, a siren's call luring me deeper into the abyss. Where was she? Had she fallen victim to the same malevolent force that claimed Mark and Victoria? Or worse, had I...? No, I couldn't bear to finish that thought. The mere idea was enough to send me spiraling into despair.

A sudden creak behind me shattered the oppressive silence like a gunshot. I whirled around, heart in my throat, only to find nothing but the mocking whispers of the wind through broken windows. Yet the feeling of being watched, hunted, persisted. Was it the police, finally closing in? Or something far more sinister, born of the darkness festering within my own mind?

I pressed on, driven by a desperate need to escape, though I knew not what I fled. The labyrinthine halls twisted and turned, each corner revealing only more shadows and desolation. My own ragged breaths echoed like accusations in the stillness.

Flashes of memory assaulted my senses like shards of glass. Emily's smile, warm and inviting. Then her face, twisted in horror, illuminated by the harsh glare of headlights. The screech of tires, the sickening crunch of metal. Crimson blood staining shattered windshield.

I stumbled, catching myself against the rusted frame of an ancient machine. My breath came in ragged gasps as I fought against the rising tide of recollection. This couldn't be real. It had to be another trick of my fractured mind. Emily was alive. But even as I clung to that desperate hope, I knew the truth. The truth was a relentless beast, clawing its way out of the depths of my shattered psyche.

Each step I took through the decrepit mill was a step closer to facing the reality I had so desperately tried to escape. The memories came in violent waves, crashing against the fragile shores of my sanity.

Emily's lifeless eyes stared back at me, an eternal accusation seared into my soul. The weight of my guilt was a physical thing, pressing down on my chest until I could scarcely breathe. I had killed her. Not with my own hands, but with my selfishness, my recklessness. And now, like a twisted encore, history seemed doomed to repeat itself.

Mark, Victoria... their fates were inextricably linked to mine, bound by the chains of my sins. The police were no longer my greatest fear - it was the it was the monster within, the one that lurked in the shadows of my own mind, waiting to strike again.