SOMETHING ROAMS THE NIGHT...

FORTY SEVEN

The phone fell from my hand. "No," I was saying, over and over again. "No."

I shifted my foggy eyes to Ezra. He was backing away from me, looking very dismayed. "What are you?" he croaked out.

How could I be the killer? How could I have done things I had no clue about? What was happening to me?

"Ezra," I started forward, but he moved back even quicker, stumbling over his own feet. "Please, listen to what I have to say."

"No, stay away," he cried. "You demon!"

I was so hurt I felt my eyes burn with angry tears. "I didn't do it," I said. "I didn't kill anybody."

"All those hallucinations about you seeing the reaper, those dreams..." Ezra trailed off. "There's nothing more you can tell me! Just stay the hell away from me!"

"Ezra, please," I tried again. 

How could I have not remembered a thing? How did I...

I told you, Haley...

I'm getting stronger...

You see, you didn't kill that poor lady...

I did.

I pressed my hands to my ears, trying to drown out Damon's voice. No. This wasn't happening. This couldn't be happening.

I did it, Haley...

You're a killer now, Haley...

A killer just like me...

"No!" I screamed, dropping to my knees on the floor. "No, please, no..." I held my head in my hands, squeezing my eyes shut.

"You killed her," Ezra pointed a trembling finger at me. "You were the one..."

"There's more proof," Ezra added. He was holding his phone, reading the text that made my heart stand still. "The fingerprints on the knife matched those of Haley Pearer. The footage also showed her entering Mrs. Nancy's house through her bedroom window around 2 a.m. this morning. The knife was stolen from her father for purposes of this murder."

"You killed an innocent woman," Ezra continued to accuse me. "You...you're a reaper, aren't you?"

"No," I denied. "I'm not a reaper. I'm not a monster. I'm not a killer."

"Why are you lying to me? Why can't you just tell me the truth? Why did you kill her?"

"I didn't, Ezra," I said firmly, getting up on my feet. "I didn't, and if you loved me, you'd trust me."

"I want to trust you," he said, steadying himself. "I really do, but with all these evidence..."

"I don't remember any of it. I don't remember anything at all."

Of course you don't...

You were possessed...

So of course you wouldn't remember a thing...

"Ezra, please. Please trust me. I didn't do it."

"If you didn't, who did?" Ezra was breathing hard. "It was you in the picture, your fingerprints..."

"Damon," I felt a sudden coldness in the air as I said his name. "He said he was going to make me a reaper."

"Damon is dead!" Ezra cried. "He is freaking dead, Haley!"

"He's not," I said, deadpanning. "He's alive, Ezra. And he's living inside me."

"What? What are you saying, Haley?"

"He's living inside me. And when he gets stronger, he'd take over my body," I explained. "He made me kill her. He said soon I'd become a reaper like him."

And just as the last word left my lips, something sharp buried itself into my arm. My head began to spin as I started to slip away.

Deeper, deeper into an ocean of darkness.