Missy couldn't feel her legs anymore.
She didn't know how long she had been running—just that the blood on her arms had dried and cracked, and the cold pierced through her shoes like glass.
She had watched Anika die. She had heard Michael laugh through the trees. Hush-Mama's veil dragged behind her like smoke, and Led's snarl echoed from above, in the branches.
They came together, and they tore Anika apart.
Missy didn't look back.
Eventually, she found herself somewhere familiar: a clearing, scorched trees, a deep scar in the snow—and then, the wreckage. The truck.
Twisted metal, shattered glass, blood frozen black across the hood. The vehicle that had once carried them from that cursed shop. Kevin hadn't been in it, she remembered that now. He'd been on foot. Alone. He never got in.
But Natasha and Dina... They hadn't made it either. They died in the house. Not here.
The truck crash had happened before. Before the chase. Before the last hope fell apart.
Missy took a slow step toward the wreckage, eyes scanning for movement.
No one. She was truly alone.
A branch cracked. She spun. Someone stood near the tree line. Her heart jolted—but then she saw the figure's face. "…Kevin?"
He stepped into the pale light. Same height. Same walk. Same jawline. But his eyes. Those weren't Kevin's eyes. There was no soul behind them. Just reflection. Just... hollow glass.
"Kevin," she whimpered, smiling weakly, moving toward him. "I thought—I thought you got away. I thought maybe... You were still okay."
He didn't speak. She stepped closer. "It's me, Missy. Please... It's just me."
And then she stopped. Because his arms were wrong.
They ended in blackened bone, twisted with cables and hooks. Chains slithered around his frame, whispering with metal tongues. Something deeper moved beneath his skin, like coiled wire.
He was not Kevin.
But he looked like Kevin.
"...You're not him," she said quietly, voice cracking.
The thing tilted its head. She took a step back, heart racing.
"Where is he?" she whispered. "Where's the real Kevin?"
The creature twitched—almost like laughter—and lunged. Missy screamed, stumbled backward over the snow. A chain whipped toward her, slicing her side. She cried out, reached for a rock, and swung it uselessly. But then she stopped.
Because for just one second, the creature paused. Its face. That face. It trembled. And a voice—Kevin's voice, not a monster's—broke through: "...Missy?"
She froze. Eyes wide. He looked down at her, breathing heavy. The chains slowed.
"Kevin?" she whispered. "It's you?"
A flicker of something passed through his face. Pain. Guilt. Confusion. But then it was gone. The monster returned. He struck.
Her scream was cut short as the hook drove into her chest. She coughed blood, her hands shaking as she reached up and touched his face.
"…You promised…" she murmured.
And then she was still.
Sinner 1—once Kevin stood over her body. No expression. Just silence.
He knelt, carefully pried Lukas's ring from her necklace chain, and pocketed it. Then he turned and walked back into the forest.
Gallagher Street was quiet again. But the silence wasn't peace—it was the sound of something unfinished, something hidden. The council dispatched investigators, officers, and drones. They combed the woods, the ruins, the homes still half-melted by unnatural fire. But they found nothing.
Because Michael had moved everything.
Not to another forest. Not to the underworld. But to a place far more ordinary—an apartment, rented legally, paid in full. Hidden in plain sight. The landlord had signed the lease without reading it. The room was soundproof, windowless, and deeper than the building itself should allow.
That's where the shop lived now.
A flickering neon sign above the door buzzed with half-dead life. The old letters that once spelled NEW LIFE: Restoration & Repair had been pried off.
Now it read: Mich's Antique Shop.
Inside, glass cases lined the walls like coffins standing upright. The lighting was dim. The air was too still. And Michael Harrington, clean-shaven, quiet, moved between displays with the careful pride of a curator.
He ran his fingers across a locked box.
A single gold earring—Natasha's.
A green scarf, torn at the hem—Dina's.
Cracked glasses still stained with blood—Enzo's.
A framed photo of Lukas as a child, unsmiling, unsigned.
Every item had a history. Every item had a voice. The glass whispered when no one looked. The shelves pulsed when touched. He wasn't hoarding them. He was selling them. To the rich. To the curious. To the blind. And deep in the back of the shop, behind a curtain that breathed when it shouldn't, the shadows twisted and parted. Out stepped Sinner 1.
Kevin. Or what was left of him.
No longer a boy. No longer friends. No longer human. His eyes were empty now. But he remembered.
Behind him, others began to take shape—entities pulled from the dreams and nightmares of other people. The Woman in Black from Mille Vivo. The Ice Cream Man from Rod Serling. Creatures that shouldn't exist, but had been given shape. Given hunger. Markie still stood there and never moved.
They bowed to Michael. He had made them. Shaped them. Broken them into obedience. He was no longer just a father. No longer just a killer. He was a dealer of nightmares. The Creator of Revenge and Grief. He finally got his sweet vengeance. It wasn't enough. For him. He still wants to play with more people. More people.
Michael was still hungry. He already planned for another business he'll make after the success of his new business. An eatery or a grocery store, perhaps. He was getting creative. He knew he was indestructible now.
The victims were never found. The house was burned. The forest swallowed the screams. The truck was never reported. And the council, despite all its reach, all its effort, came up empty.
Because evil doesn't always hide in the dark. Sometimes it sets up shop and waits.
The end of Volume 7: YOLO: Ishama
Characters:
Missy Kirk
Kevin Mason
Dina Montana
Natasha Howard
Anika Richards
Councilwoman Elara Voss
Commander Richard Bishop
Councilman Marcus Holtz
Dr. Lenora Ansel
Officer Daniel Reddick
Officer Ezra Thorne
Dr. Lennox Callanan
Dr. Freyer Ames
Inspector Kael Domingo
Councilor Niles Milburn
Tobias Glenn
Entities:
Michael Harrington
Scribble
Hush-Mama