Ryan's Final Realization
As Mike lays in his hospital bed Max and Gwen sit in the room waiting for him to wake; he finally does so after a few hours. The trio of friends can only hold on to their memories of their once beloved friend, uncle to Max, Ryan Hardy. They believe they have just heard the most miserable, unimaginable news possible and do not know how it could get any worse. Ryan Hardy is dead, or so they think.
The night prior, they watched their beloved friend, Ryan, once again go off the rails in an attempt to capture a serial killer. This killer was not only threatening families across the country, but was also putting Ryan's family, or what was left of it, in jeopardy as well. That night when Theo Noble and Ryan Hardy finally came face-to-face with each other Theo had kidnapped Gwen, Ryan's girlfriends, with every intent on doing whatever it took to have Ryan Hardy there and the opportunity to kill him once and for all. Ryan eventually shoots Theo, who somehow survives the gunshot, and the two go tumbling over a waterfall. Theo's status is unknown and we are led to believe Ryan has fell to his death, but little do we know that he has actually faked his own death…or so we think.
Ryan leaves the hospital saying his final goodbye to his friends, without them knowing he is even present in the same room let alone alive. With the assumption of him faking his own death Ryan sets out with the intent to finally capture Eliza and find out her connection to Strauss. Planning to capture and torture her and once he has the information he is looking for, kill her.
Where could he possibly even begin to start in his search for Eliza? He can't use any of his old FBI resources anymore, because he is presumed dead. He can't go around just asking people, because that's well, just absurd! Can he even stay in his own apartment anymore without the constant thought of Gwen, Max, or even Mike walking through the door at any moment? No. Who or what could he possibly turn to in such a time of need as this? Alcohol. Now a relapsed alcoholic, Ryan sees this as now his only option until he can squander any sort of lead that will take him on the path towards Eliza. Drowning himself in drink after drink, hoping to have any sort of epiphany, he finally passes out drunk around 2am in a local bar. Around 1pm Ryan awakes startled from what seems to be a nightmare but what was actually a revelation, but Ryan had not yet realized it, and in which, to no shock, Joe Carroll was a part of.
Ryan thought about this dream when he awoke the next morning confused on how he got to the bar in the first place. He attempted to recall what had played out to see if he could uncover the slightest clue to lead him to Eliza. All he could remember was walking in an unknown foggy place which seemed like the exact same spot the lighthouse once stood where Ryan thought he burned Joe Carroll alive. Confused on where he was exactly Ryan could recall Joe somehow appearing through the fog almost out of thin air as a ghost might have.
"What are you doing here?" Ryan questioned Carroll still trying to pinpoint where he really was.
"Oh Ryan, Ryan, Ryan, how silly of you to ask me, of all people, what I am doing here. Don't you understand Ryan? This is a dream, you are imagining me, I did not just appear here by chance, oh heavens no." Joe said with a nonchalant calm tone in his voice.
"No! There has to be a reason, you're dead, I'm done with you, I watched you die! Hell I'm dead now for whatever it's worth…. I don't know what's going on anymore." Ryan rebuttled, now even more confused than before as he thought why Joe would be here in the first place.
"Can't you tell Ryan? You're transformed, such as a flower would; you've blossomed into a beautiful flower now. You know Ryan, I always did see some of myself in you, I know what you're capable of Ryan. Great things, very great things indeed Ryan" Joe now had a smile on his face as he stood there watching Ryan in his attempt to make sense of this situation.
"What the hell are you talking about Joe? Shut up!" Ryan said, now clearly aggravated at every little thing.
"No need to get hostile now Ryan, like I said, you are the one who imagined me here aren't you going to ask why I am here?" Joe said clearly knowing his reason for being here in Ryan's dream.
"Sure...sure...why are you here then Joe?" Ryan now finally calming himself down.
"I thought you would never ask, my dear Ryan. Now, where to begin...where to begin." Joe was now pacing back and forth clearly trying to toy with Ryan knowing that it would begin to agitate him, as well most everything seemed to do nowadays. "Well as I'm sure that you are aware this is not reality, I am simply a figment of your imagination, as I'm sure that you're also aware considering you got me put on death row…"
"Joe this is not a great time to be joking, just tell me why the hell you are here." Ryan shot back rather quickly which was now evidence that Joe has clearly begun to get under Ryan's skin.
"Okay, okay, okay. I truly am sorry Ryan, I didn't mean to irritate you, I promise." Joe clearly replied while lying.
"Whatever, just tell me why you're here and why the hell I would need you, of all people, at a time like this anyway Joe."
"Well first off, ouch" Joe now motioned his hand over his chest where his heart would be indicating Ryan's words hurt him, "that really hurt, totally uncalled for."
"Joe…." Ryan had this look on his face as if Joe was on his last nerve for real this time.
"Okay, I'm only playing Ryan you know me. Lighten up a little bit wontcha? Jeez. Okay so I can obviously see that you are in a dark dark time of turmoil and need some guidance. Well who better to come to than your good buddy Joe Carroll? I think the best thing I can tell you Ryan is this: some things may not really be how they seem, looks can be rather very deceiving. Remember that and you will do just fine. Goodbye my dear Ryan, best of luck…oh and before I go don't forget, you and I are more alike than you realize." As Joe finished his statement he gave Ryan a menacing smirk and wink then proceeded to the lighthouse behind him. As Joe entered the lighthouse it burst into flames and as the door shut behind him it acted as a detonator blowing up the entire lighthouse. Ryan Hardy had finally killed Joe Carroll by himself.
It was at this point that Ryan awoke from his dream startled and confused on what just happened. Ryan jerked his head from the bar he had fallen asleep on and nearly fell off of the stool where he sat. Pondering what had just occurred and what the meaning behind Joe's words really meant, Ryan peered at the clock as it read 1:00pm he had fallen asleep for nearly 12 hours and all Ryan could muster up was why nobody had woken him sooner? Finally trying to pull himself together Ryan picked up his coat, put on his hat and exited the bar for what he said would be the last time, but judging from this binge drinking it clearly would not be his last. As the bartender continued to wipe down the bar and clean the glasses Ryan noticed he didn't even look over in Ryan's direction for even one second, it was as if he didn't even notice Ryan. After a few moments Ryan finally exited the bar and went on his way attempting to figure out what Joe's words really meant.
As he walked down the street trying not to be recognized by anybody Ryan turned the corner and to his surprise he saw Max and Gwen walking in his direction. Now, even more frantic, Ryan tried not to make a scene and turned the corner swiftly down a dark alley where he hid behind what seemed to be a dumpster and waited for his estranged girlfriend and niece to walk past. They crept closer to the alley and as they approached it a loud racket was made down in the alley that startled the two women: garbage day. As the garbage truck collected the garbage the dumpster rose in the air clearly exposing Ryan and his hiding spot. Max and Gwen peered down the alley to investigate the source of the noise, but then continued to walk down the street as if Ryan was not even there, almost as if he was a ghost.
Ryan, heart beating faster and faster every second, tried to make sense of this situation now and figure out how Max and Gwen could have possibly not seen him. He was sure they made eye contact with him and it was only a matter of time before they came looking for him. Realizing he couldn't be safe here in the city there was only one place secluded enough where he knew he could be safe: Strauss' cabin. Here Ryan could finally try and decipher what Joe was talking about in his dream and what it all meant.
Meticulously navigating through the woods on his way to the cabin Ryan dodged pedestrians, park rangers, and even police officers; doing everything in his powers not to be seen or identified carefully following a trail that seemed to be paved from continuous back and forth travel he finally reached the cabin unscathed and unseen. Or so he hoped.
As Ryan arrived at Strauss' cabin he opened the door to find a stain of blood, which belonged to Strauss himself, lying there untouched, but oddly enough there was no sign of a body. That was beside the point however in Ryan's mind. He proceeded to sit down at a table not even phased by the stench that come from the old deserted cabin that anyone could have plagued as death. Ryan sat there as he continued to think trying to come up with the slightest clue that may indicate what the message behind Joe's words really were.
Ryan replayed over and over what Joe had said to him in the dream, "…some things may not really be how they seem, looks can be rather very deceiving."
"What the hell can he mean by this? 'looks can be rather deceiving'? It's probably just some more Joe Carroll bullshit that he's trying to get in my head and toy with me." Ryan was now talking aloud to himself without realizing it, he was also now pacing around the room back and forth growing angrier by the second as he continued to think about Joe's final words to him. As he paced across the blood stained carpet of the log cabin Ryan now became so furious that as he approached the nearest window he punched it, because Joe Carroll was once again deep inside the mind and under the skin of Ryan Hardy. There was one problem however, the window didn't break. Ryan's hand went straight through the glass almost as if the glass window wasn't even there in the first place.
Now, Ryan was really confused, "what the…what the…what the hell just happened?" Ryan now peering between the completely intact window and his hand, "The window….it…it….it didn't break. How is that even possible? I punched right through it…didn't I?" Ryan now began to even question himself and his very own actions as if the series of events that just occurred were just a figment of his own imagination.
Ryan did in fact punch that window and he was not going insane, although Joe Carroll may specify otherwise. What Ryan had not yet realized was that while yes, the bar was real, his falling asleep at the bar was real, his dream with Joe was real, and even his encounter with Max and Gwen was real, to everybody else it was in fact not real. Every event that took place in the last 24 hours was in fact not real.
Ryan Hardy was indeed, dead.
The entire occurrence that happened less than 48 hours ago with Theo Noble on the bridge was in fact Ryan Hardy's last waking moments of life. While Ryan, now as an entity not a human, was in denial about his actual death in which he led himself to believe that he faked his very own death on a conquest for revenge on Eliza and Strauss, in actuality even if he wanted to there was nothing he could even do about it because nobody would even know he was there.
This is where all of the pieces of the puzzle began to fall into place for Ryan. Everything from leaving the hospital and seeing Mike, Max, and Gwen, all the way through his dream with Joe, and him punching through the window. Ryan recalled one more time what Joe had said, "some things may not really be how they seem, looks can be rather very deceiving….and don't forget you and I are more alike than you realize."
Ryan began to pace the room once more as it finally clicked in his head, when Joe said "some things may not really be how they seem" he was referring to the fact that what Ryan perceived as reality and a concrete setting was not even existent to the others around him. Thus, explaining why the bartender not only did not kick him out of the bar sooner, but he also did not notice Ryan when left the bar…because he no longer exists. The same went for Max and Gwen when he was down in the alley and he swore they made eye contact, as well as the garbage truck which now that Ryan thought about it, was oddly close to him and nearly ran him over.
Joe's last remark also finally began to set in with him, "…you and I are more alike than you realize." It was here Joe was trying to reference that just as he was already dead so was Ryan.
As he came to this final and depressing realization it was here where it all ended. Ryan Hardy finally accepted the fact he was no longer invincible, he was in fact dead.