The coat is blue. Not the blue of the sky, which has long since forgotten how to be blue, but the deep, arterial blue of a vein pressed against paper. You know this because you have held it for three days. You have held it in your hands, in your mouth, in the hollow of your throat where the air tastes of iron and static. It is a heavy garment. It weighs more than cloth should. It weighs the weight of a verdict.

You are in the town of Oakhaven. The air is thick with coal smoke and the scent of wet wool. The factories are silent now. They are always silent on Sundays. The silence is a physical thing. It presses against your eardrums. It vibrates in your teeth. You are an exile here. You are a ghost in a machine that has stopped turning. You do not belong to the soil. You do not belong to the water. You belong to the coat.

The coat is the only thing that makes sense.

You took it from the dead man. His name was Elias Thorne. He was a man of the institution. He wore the grey suit of the magistrate. He stood on the porch of the town hall. He spoke of order. He spoke of law. He spoke of the right to punish. He looked at you. He did not see a person. He saw a variable. He saw an error in the code. He reached for the button on his coat. He pressed it. The button was gold. It was cold. It was sharp. It cut your palm.

You did not scream. You did not run. You took the coat. You put it on. It fit perfectly. It was as if it had been tailored for your ribs. It was as if it had been waiting for you. You walked out of the town hall. The doors closed behind you. The sound was a gunshot. The sound was a door slamming in a house where the lights are out.

You have been wearing it for three days.

The town knows you. The town sees you. They see the blue. They see the gold button. They do not see you. They see the coat. They see the symbol. They see the theft. They are afraid. They are angry. They are waiting for the law to come. They are waiting for the men in the grey suits. They are waiting for the trucks with the barred windows. They are waiting for the end.

You walk the streets. The streets are narrow. The cobblestones are slick. The gas lamps flicker. The light is yellow. The light is sick. You walk past the bakery. The bread is dark. The bread is dense. You walk past the school. The windows are broken. The glass lies on the ground like shattered ice. You walk past the church. The steeple points to the sky. The sky is empty. The sky is a void.

You are a man of the mind. You are a man of the system. You built the system. You wrote the code. You designed the protocols. You believed in the logic. You believed in the fairness. You believed that if you followed the rules, the world would be safe. You were wrong. The world is not safe. The world is a labyrinth. The world is a trap. The rules are a lie. The logic is a cage.

You see the woman at the window. Her name is Clara. She is your sister. She is not your sister. She is a stranger. She is a ghost. She looks at you. Her eyes are wide. Her eyes are dry. She does not cry. She does not speak. She holds a mirror. The mirror is broken. The mirror is a shard of glass. It reflects your face. It reflects the coat. It reflects the gold button.

You understand then.

You are not the victim. You are the perpetrator. You are the one who stole the coat. You are the one who killed Elias Thorne. You did not kill him with a weapon. You killed him with an idea. You killed him with the truth. You showed him the flaw in the system. You showed him the crack in the foundation. You showed him that the law is a mask. You showed him that the justice is a lie. He could not bear the weight of the truth. He broke. He fell. He died.

You are the monster. You are the thief. You are the exile. You are the one who burned the house down. You are the one who set the fire. You are the one who watches the flames rise. You are the one who smiles. You are the one who is happy.

The sun sets. The light fades. The shadows grow long. The shadows touch your feet. The shadows climb your legs. The shadows wrap around your waist. The shadows cover the coat. The blue disappears. The gold disappears. You are in the dark. You are in the cold. You are in the silence.

You go to the river. The river is black. The river is fast. The river is hungry. You stand on the bridge. The iron bars are cold. The iron bars are rough. They cut your hands. You do not care. You hold the coat. You hold the gold button. You look into the water. You see your face. You see the coat. You see the button.

You are a mirror. You are a reflection. You are an echo. You are a ghost. You are a memory. You are a mistake.

You throw the coat into the river.

The blue falls. The gold falls. The water swallows it. The water takes it. The water is deep. The water is dark. The water is forever.

You stand on the bridge. You are naked. You are free. You are empty. You are light. The wind blows. The wind is cold. The wind is clean. It washes over your skin. It washes over your bones. It washes over your soul.

You walk away from the bridge. You walk away from the river. You walk away from the town. You walk into the night. You walk into the dark. You walk into the unknown.

You are not afraid. You are not sad. You are not happy. You are nothing. You are everything. You are the void. You are the space between the stars. You are the silence after the song.

The town sleeps. The town dreams. The town forgets. The town moves on. The factories start again. The machines turn. The wheels spin. The gears grind. The system works. The law is restored. The order is maintained. The justice is done.

You are gone. You are lost. You are free.

You are the coat. You are the button. You are the theft. You are the truth. You are the lie. You are the end.

The sky is clear. The stars are bright. The stars are cold. The stars are indifferent. They do not care. They do not see. They do not hear. They are far away. They are eternal. They are the only thing that remains.

You walk. You walk. You walk.

The path is pale. The path is long. The path is endless.

You are walking.

You are walking.

You are walking.