201: Visible Lies -Crystal-

"Speak fast." I held the grenade ready to throw as he stood up.

"Let me collect myself." Patrick had an unsettling calm as he spoke. The anger from before was gone and replaced with confidence, as though he'd gotten control of the situation again. He didn't need any "collecting", he was stalling for time. He was going to lie.

"Vincent was a soul trapped inside that of a bear. Once the bear is destroyed his soul is no longer trapped there and can go find another, more suitable body."

The venom dripped off the lies as he spoke. He didn't even try to hide it. The anger that had been put aside so that I could possibly find a way to bring Vincent back filled me again.

"I can tell you a way to follow his soul from his remains to where he is now, but you need to put down that grenade first." I had to admit he was a good negotiator. If I didn't know that he was a filthy liar I might have done what he wanted.

"Fine." I tossed the grenade into the room he was standing.

Patrick's face went from calm confidence to fearful urgency in seconds. I had never felt a more gratifying moment in my short life. Patrick ran toward the door, but my heel between his eyes stopped him with a crunch of cracking bones. He fell to the ground and I ran. I'd gotten only a short distance away when the explosion shook the entire building. I ducked around a corner and covered my head as pieces of burning wall and shrapnel metal flew past. As the heat faded, the scent of burned flesh hit my nose.

I stood and made my way back down the hall to where I could see Patrick's burned, bleeding and unmoving body. I knelt and felt for his pulse.

There was none.

Something inside me cracked. I had killed someone. I had taken the life of another in a fit of anger and it scared me. This wasn't who I was. I didn't want this new part of me, I wanted it to go away. It had turned me into a murderer; a monster. I felt tears stream down my face as I stood and walked from the building.

I didn't want this.