I watched in confusion as he lifted up his mask a little and swallowed the key. My only escape within his stomach. I couldn’t think so I stood up and walked over to him. My eyes were filled with rage as I grabbed him by the throat. He struggled to break free, hitting me, and gasping for air. Slamming him into the wall with all my force he went unconscious.

I was going to get that key by any means necessary. He denied me every other option when he swallowed the key. I reached down to my waist for anything that I might be able to use in order to cut open his stomach. My knife was still at my side so I pulled it from its sheath. Rolling him over onto his back I jabbed the knife deep into his torso. It didn’t matter that he was alive, he was just in my head. His eyes shot open as he gasped for air.

I held my left hand on his throat to stop him from moving much while I dragged the knife down. Then he stopped moving completely. I reached into his torso and felt around for the key but all I felt was the warm muscly feeling of his organs. So, I reached up towards his lungs where I finally found it. Pulling my arm out I saw, grasped within my fist was an old bronze key that looked like an old skeleton key.

Looking at the corpse of my cellmate I could see his cold eyes in shock beneath the mask. The dried blood on his forehead where the mask was broken and the stains of his tears on the mask. He was a part of me and I killed him for no reason. “I’m sorry, but I need to get out of here.” As I said this the body dissipated like water, leaving only the broken mask on the floor.

A sudden rush of feelings came over me. All of them made me want to scream and cry at the same time. Are these his feelings? They hurt. Everything hurts. Why does it hurt so much? I thought as my body crumpled to the ground. It was if I was experiencing every bit of torture I had over the past three weeks at once. I screamed in pain, unable to stop. Extending the key to the lock in the door was all I could do in an attempt to stop it.

The key trembled in my hand as I slid it into the keyhole. I staggered as I turned it before hearing the click of the locking mechanism. Then it stopped. The pain was gone but I knew what it felt like. I pushed the door open as I stood up when I felt a terrifying sensation coming from behind me. I turned to look at it to see that standing behind me was the Masked man. In his hand was the cleaver that he had used to cut me so many times before.

I screamed again in shock as I stumbled out the door I attempted to slam the door behind me but he had charged after me. The cleaver swung just above my head, stopping me from shutting the door. He jumped after me as I ran, swinging the blade radically. The speed in which he ran was far greater than my own. Especially in my panicked state. Now that I was out of the cell I realized that I was in the world of stars once again and Tim was sitting in the corner, in shock. “How did you get out without defeating your inner demons?” Tim asked as I ran towards him dodging the cleaver wielding maniac behind me.

“Facing my issues head on has never been my strong suit.” I replied diving at Tim. Without missing a beat Tim’s eyes turned a glowing red before stopping me and the Masked man from moving completely.

“You are an idiot. You were supposed to join forces with your cowardly self and defeat what you fear the most together. So how in the hell did this happen?”

“Well, the cowardly version of myself swallowed the key so I killed him and ripped it from his stomach. Then I guess he fused with me and that thing appeared as I opened the door.”

“You fucking killed yourself? And why the fuck did he swallow it?”

“I may have lost my temper.”

“Ya, no shit. Now I was trying to read a good book before this all happened so I am going to end this right now.”

“How?”

“Like this.” Tim said crushing the Masked man into a small ball about the size of a pill. “Now I guess you’ll have to face what you fear the most in reality which you will now be completely unprepared for.”

“Well my logical side was separated from too so.”

“Hey I only separated that from you so you figure out your emotions.”

“So what now?”

“How the hell should I know? You just killed yourself because you were pissed off and did your own little thing when I had everything planned out for you.”

“Terrible choice, really. I screw up everything that is planned.”

“I think I know how game masters feel now.”

“I get that I am terrified of the Masked man but why did you do all of that.”

“It was supposed to reveal that under that mask was yourself and you were supposed to have this huge philosophical moment about how you are your own problem and all that but I guess not.”

“Ha, I’m too dense for that.”

“You don’t say.” Tim said, rubbing the bridge of his nose.