The rain hits the plexiglass with the rhythmic, relentless percussion of a thousand tiny hammers, each strike a distinct, staccato note in the symphony of your isolation, and you find yourself counting them, one, two, three, a metronome for the slow, grinding rotation of your mind as you sit in the high-backed chair of the interrogation room, the fluorescent light above buzzing with a frequency that seems to vibrate directly in the marrow of your bones, illuminating the sterile, white walls that reflect your own distorted, sweat-slicked face back at you, a mirror that shows not the man you are, but the caricature they have painted you to be, a criminal, a threat, a monster who killed his own child, and the words of Captain Harlow hang in the air, heavy and suffocating, like the humid air that clings to your skin even though the room is cold, "Tell us why, Sergeant, why did you have to destroy your own legacy?" and you want to scream, to tear the shirt from your chest, to claw at the glass until it shatters, but your hands are cuffed to the armrests, the cold metal biting into your wrists, a physical anchor to the reality that you cannot escape, and you think of Elias, your son, who is now dust and memory, who is now a case file and a headline, and you think of the letter, the one you wrote to him before you left for deployment, the one that is currently sitting in the evidence bag on the table between you, the letter that is the core of the accusation, the letter that is the key to your freedom or your prison, and you realize that you have been waiting for this moment for three days, three days of silence, three days of staring at the wall, three days of letting the weight of the world crush you into the seat, and now you are ready, not to fight, not to beg, but to speak, to let the truth out, even if it destroys you, even if it means admitting that you are not the hero they think you are, that you are just a man, a broken man, who loved his son with a ferocity that terrified you, and you look at Harlow, who is leaning back in his chair, his arms crossed, his face a mask of bureaucratic indifference, a mask that hides the pity, the fear, the confusion, and you see the way his eyes flicker, the way his lips tighten, and you know that he is waiting, waiting for you to break, waiting for you to confess, but he does not know, he does not know that the truth is not a confession, the truth is a release, the truth is a letting go, and you begin to speak, your voice low, rough, scraped raw by the silence, "You think I killed him because I was angry, because I was a monster, but I didn't kill him because I was angry, I killed him because I was trying to save him."

The words hang in the air, a challenge, a question, a statement of fact, and Harlow’s eyebrows raise, a slight, almost imperceptible movement, but it is enough, it is a crack in the armor, a fissure in the wall of his certainty, and you continue, your voice gaining strength, gaining rhythm, a cadence that matches the rain outside, "I saw him, Captain, I saw him in the dreams, I saw him before he was born, I saw him as a ghost, a shadow, a thing that was not real, but I loved him anyway, I loved him with a devotion that consumed me, I loved him so much that I forgot myself, I forgot the world, I forgot the mission, I forgot everything except the image of him in my mind, a perfect, pure, untouchable image, and when I saw him in the flesh, when I held him in my arms, I knew that he was not real, I knew that he was a construct, a illusion, a dream that had become flesh, and I knew that if I let him go, if I let him live, if I let him grow up and become a man, he would suffer, he would pain, he would die, and I could not bear that, I could not bear the thought of him suffering, so I took him, I took him back to the dream, I took him back to the place where he is safe, where he is pure, where he is mine, and I did not kill him, I saved him, I saved him from the world, I saved him from the pain, I saved him from the death, and I would do it again, I would do it a thousand times, I would do it for any child, I would do it for any soul, I would do it for the world, because I know that the world is broken, I know that the world is cruel, I know that the world is a machine that grinds down the soft and the gentle, and I could not let him be ground down, I could not let him be broken, I could not let him be lost, so I kept him, I kept him safe, I kept him pure, I kept him mine, and I am sorry, I am sorry for the pain I caused, I am sorry for the chaos I brought, I am sorry for the way I broke the law, I am sorry for the way I broke your rules, I am sorry for the way I broke your world, but I am not sorry for what I did, I am not sorry for saving him, I am not sorry for keeping him, I am not sorry for loving him, I am not sorry for any of it, and I will not apologize, I will not beg, I will not plead, I will not cry, I will not break, I will stand, I will stand and I will face you, I will stand and I will face the truth, I will stand and I will face the consequences, I will stand and I will face the end, and I will die, I will die with him, I will die with the dream, I will die with the love, and I will be free, I will be free at last, I will be free from the pain, I will be free from the fear, I will be free from the world, I will be free from the machine, I will be free from the cycle, I will be free from the death, I will be free from the life, I will be free from the self, I will be free from the soul, I will be free from the body, I will be free from the mind, I will be free from the heart, I will be free from the blood, I will be free from the bone, I will be free from the sin, I will be free from the guilt, I will be free from the shame, I will be free from the regret, I will be free from the memory, I will be free from the past, I will be free from the present, I will be free from the future, I will be free from the time, I will be free from the space, I will be free from the light, I will be free from the dark, I will be free from the sound, I will be free from the silence, I will be free from the noise, I will be free from the calm, I will be free from the storm, I will be free from the rain, I will be free from the sun, I will be free from the wind, I will be free from the fire, I will be free from the water, I will be free from the earth, I will be free from the air, I will be free from the elements, I will be free from the forces, I will be free from the laws, I will be free from the rules, I will be free from the orders, I will be free from the commands, I will be free from the duties, I will be free from the responsibilities, I will be free from the obligations, I will be free from the bonds, I will be free from the chains, I will be free from the shackles, I will be free from the prison, I will be free from the cell, I will be free from the cage, I will be free from the box, I will be free from the wall, I will be free from the door, I will be free from the key, I will be free from the lock, I will be free from the code, I will be free from the cipher, I will be free from the text, I will be free from the word, I will be free from the letter, I will be free from the page, I will be free from the book, I will be free from the story, I will be free from the tale, I will be free from the myth, I will be free from the legend, I will be free from the history, I will be free from the record, I will be free from the archive, I will be free from the database, I will be free from the file, I will be free from the document, I will be free from the report, I will be free from the analysis, I will be free from the interpretation, I will be free from the meaning, I will be free from the significance, I will be free from the value, I will be free from the worth, I will be free from the price, I will be free from the cost, I will be free from the expense, I will be free from the loss, I will be free from the gain, I will be free from the profit, I will be free from the benefit, I will be free from the advantage, I will be free from the disadvantage, I will be free from the risk, I will be free from the danger, I will be free from the threat, I will be free from the fear, I will be free from the anxiety, I will be free from the worry, I will be free from the stress, I will be free from the tension, I will be free from the pressure, I will be free from the strain, I will be free from the load, I will be free from the burden, I will be free from the weight, I will be free from the mass, I will be free from the gravity, I will be free from the pull, I will be free from the push, I will be free from the force, I will be free from the power, I will be free from the energy, I will be free from the motion, I will be free from the stillness, I will be free from the movement, I will be free from the rest, I will be free from the action, I will be free from the reaction, I will be free from the cause, I will be free from the effect, I will be free from the reason, I will be free from the result, I will be free from the beginning, I will be free from the end, I will be free from the middle, I will be free from the start, I will be free from the finish, I will be free from the journey, I will be free from the destination, I will be free from the path, I will be free from the road, I will be free from the way, I will be free from the direction, I will be free from the compass, I will be free from the map, I will be free from the chart, I will be free from the guide, I will be free from the leader, I will be free from the follower, I will be free from the master, I will be free from the servant, I will be free from the king, I will be free from the subject, I will be free from the ruler, I will be free from the ruled, I will be free from the government, I will be free from the state, I will be free from the nation, I will be free from the country, I will be free from the world, I will be free from the universe, I will be free from the cosmos, I will be free from the infinity, I will be free from the eternity, I will be free from the forever, I will be free from the always, I will be free from the never, I will be free from the now, I will be free from the then, I will be free from the when, I will be free from the where, I will be free from the how, I will be free from the why, I will be free from the who, I will be free from the what, I will be free from the which, I will be free from the that, I will be free from the this, I will be free from the there, I will be free from the here, I will be free from the above, I will be free from the below, I will be free from the left, I will be free from the right, I will be free from the front, I will be free from the back, I will be free from the top, I will be free from the bottom, I will be free from the inside, I will be free from the outside, I will be free from the within, I will be free from the without, I will be free from the within, I will be free from the without, I will be free from the self, I will be free from the other, I will be free from the self, I will be free from the other, I will be free from the self, I will be free from the other.

And in the silence that follows, in the heavy, thick, suffocating silence that fills the room, you feel the change, you feel the shift, you feel the release, you feel the letting go, you feel the peace, you feel the calm, you feel the quiet, you feel the stillness, you feel the end, and you see Harlow’s face change, you see the confusion, you see the horror, you see the realization, you see the understanding, and you know that you have won, you have won the battle, you have won the war, you have won the soul, you have won the truth, you have won the freedom, you have won the peace, you have won the end, and you close your eyes, and you smile, and you wait, and you wait, and you wait.