"Anna, I–" I choke on tears.

Anna lies in a hospital bed, hair fanned out. The heart monitor tells me that she's alive, but I know she's not going to last much longer. "I love you."

I grab her hand and press it to my lips.

The heart monitor stops.

"Nurse! Doctor! I need a doctor in here!"

I run out into the hallway... and into hell.

The hallway was obviously part of a hospital at one point, probably at least fifty years ago. The floor tiles are browning and cracked and the ceiling has fallen through in some places, exposing pipes and bare framework. An abandoned wheelchair sits at the end of the dim hallway, and somehow some of the lights are still on, flickering on and off precariously.

I rush back into Anna's room. The bed is empty. The sheets are tousled and dirty, the machinery outdated and rusty. A vase on a table by the bed sports dead roses, wilted and frail, as if a single gust of wind would blow them to dust.

"Anna...?" I murmur, now thoroughly confused. I'm startled out of my disbelief by some loud bang from the outside hallway.

"Huh?" I duck my head out the door way and look up and down. There's no one here, no possible way that anything living could have made that noise. I shrug and leave Anna's room. Maybe I can find some answers if I search around a little bit. I mean, I'm sure there has to be some kind of rational explanation to everything that's going on here.

Or at least I hope so.

After wandering the halls for the better part of an hour, I've found nothing useful, only empty rooms, decrepit hallways, and boarded windows. There aren't even any bugs or mice! I mean, if you're going for the abandoned hospital look, you have to have at least some centipedes and spiders. But this place is just absolutely devoid of life. It's like some kind of broken memory of a hospital, not even a real place.

I take a seat on a shredded waiting room bench that was once lined with some kind of cotton cushion, but is now so destroyed that I could barely tell it was a bench when I went to sit down. I need to weigh my options. So far, I've seen no exits, not even any signs for exits, which is alarming. I suppose I could try to blast one of the windows open, but I don't know how successful that will be considering I don't even know what floor of this building I'm on.

Maybe I could... no, that wouldn't work. Or what if? Dammit. There's no obvious way out of this mess, not at all.

"Why is this so difficult?" I wonder aloud, hanging my head between my hands.

Someone laughs.

"Who's there?" I shout, standing up so quickly I knock my bench over. My heart is racing a million miles a minute, and I'm surprised my voice didn't crack in fear.

"Come find me!" The voice sing-songs from one of the hallways that leads out of the waiting room. It takes all the courage I can muster, but somehow I convince myself to stumble over broken tiles and chunks of the ceiling after the voice. They could be my only chance of escaping this hell-hole.

"Hey! Where'd you go?" I call, and this time my voice does waver. I am thoroughly freaked out. The hallway is lined with industrial looking steel doors that look more suited to a prison than a hospital. Maybe whoever is baiting me hid in one of those rooms? Something about this entire situation screams danger and trap, but if I ever want to leave, I have to find that person. I nudge the nearest door open. Nothing but a broken cot without a mattress.

I move on to the next door. And the next. And the next; it's all the same. All empty. Maybe the voice was just a desperate attempt to calm myself, some kind of figment of my imagination.

"You're getting warmer," my tormentor calls from down the hall. This time I practically jump out of my clothes. The voice isn't clearly masculine or feminine, it's like some kind of entity of its own.

"Hey! Come out here right now! If you're messing with me," I threaten, my face burning in a mixture of embarrassment and frustration. I run down the hall, skipping over a collapsed gurney, until I reach a fork in the road.

"You're going to have to do better than that."

I whip around. I could have sworn I heard it behind me this time. I run a hand through my spiked-up bangs to try and calm myself down.

"Where the hell are you?" I scream, spinning around to get my bearings. It feels like the shadows are pressing in, which I know is not a good sign.

"I think it's a little too bright in here, don't you?" The voice asks. As if responding to this, what little illumination lit the hospital in the first place goes out, leaving me in absolute darkness.

"Ok, you had your fun. Come on, this isn't funny anymore!" I cry, panicking now that I have no idea where to go.

"We lay my love and I..."

"Stop that!"

"Beneath the weeping willow..." The singing continues despite my protests.

"I said stop it!"

"But now alone I lie..."

"I'll blast you, I swear I will."

"O willow I die! O willow I..."

"I'm warning you one last time."

"DIE,"

The singer screams the last word in my ear, and I let out a whimpy scream. Then I let out a blast of energy. The room is lit in golden-white light, but I can't see any trace of my assailant. I fire again, but I still can't see anyone. It's like he or she just vanished into thin air.

"Y-you shot me," a different voice whimpers in the darkness. I know this voice. Anna.

"Anna, baby, where are you?" I scream. As if on cue, the dim lights flicker back on, and laying right before me is Anna. She clutches a huge gash in her belly, blood seeping through the white fabric of her shirt. "Oh God, oh God," I murmur. "Anna I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."

"H-hurts," is all the wounded girl can manage.

I lay her head in my lap and sweep stray hairs out of her face. Her mouth works, as if she's trying to tell me something, but the sounds won't come out.

"Sh, sh baby. It's going to be alright Kasper." Kasper, not Anna, nods a little, her grey eyes fluttering. I lay a kiss on her forehead and she exhales. But she doesn't inhale again. Her chest is still, her face frozen in a look of peace.

"Oh—oh God! Kasper, oh please God, Kasper!" I cry, looking up at the ceiling for some kind of divine intervention. I look back at my dead girlfriend. She's still clutching her stomach, but now the blood has pooled on the ground under her—not the broken-tile floor of the old hospital, but the pristine white floor of the F.E.A.R. headquarters.

This is real.

"Such a shame. You two were so cute together," the voice from the hospital mocks. I glance up. Kyle is leaning in the doorframe of a room a few feet away. He wears his tactical suit, but his clothes and hair undulate as if there's no gravity around them. His eyes glow a sickly pale color. His voice is weird, like it's not just him talking. Like he's talking at the same time as someone else.

"You bastard!" I scream, gently laying Kasper down and standing up.

"I'm the bastard? Im not the one who blasted Kasper with energy then drained her of the last seconds of her life. That was all you, buddy."

"Wha-" I glance down at my hands. The same hands that I held Kasper with. I killed her.

"I wouldn't be too hard on yourself. It's not like you haven't killed your girlfriend before. Remember Anna?" Kyle presses, a wicked grin spreading across his face.

"What is wrong with you? You aren't yourself Kyle."

"Wow, Kaishi said the exact same thing! No, I'm not myself," Kyle giggles. And when he giggles, something strange happens. It's like his body flickers and becomes transparent, and there's someone inside him. I focus on the second image, the person within Kyle, and I can see it. I can see a girl.

Kyle completely fades away and all I see is the girl. She wears a bloodstained white sundress. Her red hair falls into her face in crazy knots, and the pale flesh of her cheeks has been cut by something very sharp in numerous places. She would be pretty if she didn't look so, well, dead.

"Who are you and what are you doing inside of Kyle's body?" I ask, scowling at the girl.

"Right now I'm supposed to be Amy. She was Kyle's best bud before she died in a car accident. It was the perfect form to use to get under Kyle's skin. Not that any of that interests you. Long story short, I'm the devil."

"What do you want?" I ask, my voice breaking on the last word.

"Death. Insanity. Kyle's soul. You get the gist."

"Why? Why him out of everyone you could have possessed?" I shout, getting ready to blast the demon if it makes any sudden movements.

"He has such a pure soul, and such a powerful ability. Imagine what kind of damage I could do by controlling your fears? How unimaginably terrible that would be? How beautiful," the demon cracks an insane grin that gives me shivers.

"What happens if your host dies?" I glance around for any power source. I think I'm out of luck, but then I spot it; an outlet by the door nearest to me. I inch towards the door while the demon mulls over my question. Finally, I reach the outlet.

"Come now, do you think that will destroy me?" I can feel the energy crackling painfully through my body. If I absorb too much more, I think I'll explode or die. "I'm a demon, I could easily just revive the body. And you wouldn't want that, I guarantee it."

"Let's find out!" I scream as the energy zaps around my body, painfully charring my innards and organs. Before I can cause too much more self harm, I launch my arms in front of me and fire a blast of energy so powerful an agonizing that I'm blown backward onto the floor, paralyzed with absolute pain.

The demonic girl screams an inhuman scream, like a thousand damned voices crying out in rage and hurt. The beam of energy disintegrates her body, ripping the very seams of her existence to shreds. And then she's gone. And I'm dying, I know I am. I know I deserve it. I've killed four of the people I've loved most in this world, Kasper, Anna, Glenn, and now Kyle. And I deserve to die.

"They're over here!" I hear someone shout as my vision fades to darkness.

Just let me die...

"Kasper!" I wake up gasping.

"She is fine, sit down. Some guys from the Department are coming with medics. You'll be fine, just lie still."

It takes all of my strength, but I manage to open my eyes. Comrade hovers over me, her eyes red and puffy.

"You will be fine," I hear her say before I nod back off into unconsciousness.

"He has suffered minimal internal bleeding, some kidney failure, and a slight bruising to his upper thigh, but he should be out of here in no time."

"And Kyle?"

"He's been unconscious since you found him?"

"Yes Doc. Is that bad?"

"Only if his symptoms worsen or if he doesn't wake up. Our preliminary scans showed that his cognitive functions should all still be in order, but only time can tell.

"Thank you."

"I'll leave you to them. If anything happens, call one of the nurses or myself, and we'll be right in. Okay?"

"Yes sir. Thanks again."

I groggily sit up, feeling a sharp pain in my abdomen. Kaishi sits at the end of my bed.

"How long have I been out?" I ask, clutching my side to alleviate the pain.

"About a day. They put you under some pretty heavy stuff; painkillers."

I dread to ask the next question, and my throat almost feels too tight to ask it, but eventually I choke it out. "Kasper?"

Kaishi shakes his head and I let out a little choking gasp I must have been holding in. The tears well up in my eyes and I let them flow freely. There's an empty hole in my chest, a deep rooted weightlessness that threatens to swallow me whole.

"The others?" I force myself to ask. I wipe tears with the back of my hand. "Are they alive?"

"Barely. The things Kyle did to us in there–"

"That wasn't Kyle. You can't blame him for this." I scold, ignoring the throbbing pain in my temples.

"I know. I know it wasn't. I don't think everyone else even knew it was him."

I fiddle with the hem of my blanket, searching for words. Kasper is dead.

I killed her.

KYLE

They told me it wasn't my fault. They told me that they'd cope with the pain I caused. They told me they knew it wasn't my fault.

Then why do I feel like it's all my fault?

I'm the one who caused them to see their worst fears, the one who scarred them and tortured them. I guess they rationalize that I was possessed, that it wasn't really me. I remember exactly what I did to each and every one of them. How can I forgive myself?

I haven't seen Dante since I was interred into the infirmary in the Department. Emma told me he's in the infirmary too, but she doesn't sound convincing. To make matters worse, I can see the fear in her eyes every time she looks at me.

The door to my room swings open. I sit up as Kaishi enters the room with one of the doctors.

"How are you feeling today, Kyle?" The doctor asks, pulling out a clipboard. Kaishi leans against the wall wordlessly. He gives me a nod in greeting.

The doctor jots something on his clipboard. "I'm just here to perform a quick check-up, and if everything goes well, we can get you out of here."

I lay back and answer the doctor's questions, let him examine my vitals, my head. Apparently I'm clear, but the doctor gives me a warning to take it easy on the tv, video games, and reading. When the doctor leaves, Kaishi grabs a stack of folded clothes from his backpack, which he then tosses on the bed.

"Do you want me to turn around, or..." He trails off, cocking an eyebrow in amusement.

"I mean, what you see might scar you," I joke, before remembering that I actually have scarred people. I grimace and look away.

"You can't keep blaming yourself. You were fricken possessed."

"I should have been stronger. I let her into my body. I thought I could save Comrade, save you all..."

"Any of us would have made the same choice, especially after finding out that Myra was psychopathic bitch all along. Pardon my French."

I sigh. I know I could have been stronger. If I had just waited out a little longer...

"Is Kasper...?"

Kaishi shakes his head. I feel sadness tugging at the back of my throat like I've swallowed a stone.

"Her funeral's this Tuesday. Dante lost control while he was under, and... Well..."

I nod. "I— I think I knew it. In my gut, I mean. But I kept trying to tell myself that I was wrong, that she was fine. I guess that's what we all tell ourselves when we lose someone we love." I wipe at a tear as it trickles down my face.

"Come on, let's get you dressed. The others are gonna want to see you."

XxXxX

Requiescat in Pace, Kasper! You were well love, and you will be missed! Thanks to anim8or for such a lovely and brilliant character, and I hope I did her justice!

In other news, NEXT CHAPTER IS THE FINAL CHAPTER! It's been a journey guys, but I hope it's been an enjoyable one! In celebration, tell me your guys favorite part of this story in the reviews. Thank you for reading, and God Bless!