In a fit of rage, the butcher violently yanked the chair to which his victim was bound and flung her towards the menacing metal of the meat grinder; the impact shattered the chair and set her free. She attempted to fight through the pain and drag herself toward the only exit, her trembling limbs still weighed down by clinking chains.

Suddenly, the whizzing whip of the butcher cut through the air, momentarily blinding her driven confusion with deep-seated survival instincts. She pulled her stiff legs along, doing her utmost to evade the butcher, who now clutched at his exposed intestines, preventing them from spilling out of his torn stomach as he chased after her.

The metal door seemed shut to Sadie from a distance, but its cold sterile surface beckoned her to run towards it, offering a slim chance at survival if it turned out to be unlocked.

However, the overwhelming terror disoriented her sight and threatened to immobilize her completely, amplified by the shrilling mocking laughter of the butcher reverberating through the vast facility. With each faltering step on the square tiled floor, Sadie risked slipping in the trail of blood she left behind as she struggled to discern its source - whether it was her own escaping life force or blood from the butcher's previous victims.

Feeling lethargic yet hearing the steel heels of the madman clanging on the tiles behind her, Sadie knew she needed to act quickly to escape his imminent grasp. She summoned every ounce of mental fortitude to try and use her ability to manipulate time itself, attempting to disrupt the flow and buy herself a fraction of a second.

She hadn't enough power, reality blurred and wavered, her vision glitching as time momentarily slowed to a crawl before rapidly rewinding fast in failure, but the rustling of the chains already alerted her of what was to come.

She ducked blindly, narrowly averting a decapitating whip strike that still managed to strip her cheek of flesh, White-hot pain exploded in the side of her head. She stumbled, terror pounding in her ears, tasting copper on her tongue. Through a disoriented haze, she saw the grinning butcher adjusting his grip on the whip, sinews standing out on his bushy forearms.

Sadie felt herself on the brink of fainting, but she knew that she would be skinned alive if she gave in to weakness. She raised her head and looked straight.

"The door, if my fingers could just reach it, a chance might still be within grasp, only a few more steps," she thought in haste before extending both arms as she lunged herself at the handle - but it was locked. From the corner of her eye, she watched desperately the butcher growing near as she struggled to pry it open.

It was already too late - His thick fingers, stubbled and blood-stained, snatched at the folds of her clothes as he slowly reached to ensnare her in his grasp.

With lightning swiftness born of desperation, she pivoted, claws extended, breaking the locks chains before raking her blades down the thick flesh of the butcher's neck. Bright drops of fresh blood wafted through the air. She felt the sickening splash of warm blood on her skin.

Toppling backward through the open doorway in the aftermath of her attack, Sadie landed hard upon the wet pavement outside, ejected as if she were a case of bad meat. But the shock of the fall energized her. A renewed agitation flooded her limbs, prompting her to scramble up and sprint across the rain-slick street amidst bright lights and a blaring chorus of car horns.

Her legs flew over the asphalt, sending flecks of water spraying into the air. The Doberman she had once fed was alarmed by her urgency and started barking incessantly from across the street, but she paid him no heed.

To go home and shut the door behind her. Such were the calculations that danced frenziedly through Sadie's mind as she ran for her life beneath the dark raging skies.

But once she entered her building, a sudden wave of hesitation struck her. "What if they know where I live? What if they've seen me enter before? And my stupid door doesn't even have a lock!" Panic surged. Her eyes darted to Miss Josephine's now vacant house, and recalling a spare key beneath the flower pot, she kicked it aside and swiftly used the old woman's keys to unlock the door.

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Inside, she kept all lights off, finding refuge in the kitchen. Sitting with her back against the fridge and her knees tucked tightly against her chest, the adrenaline's numbing effects waned, replaced by pulsating pain throughout her body. "What have I done?" Sadie exclaimed, hands on her face, tears streaming down her cheeks.

Repressed remorse had begun to settle upon her conscience with crushing weight as she cowered in the corner. The brush with her death had awakened something fearful within as she had realized she was not ready to die. And yet, here she was, hiding in the home of the old woman she had murdered so callously a day before.

A pang of morbid guilt plagued her conscience as she considered her actions. "What destinies await those who walk the line between victim and villain without care for consequences? What separates me from Miss Josephine? Nothing! That's why I cannot even face my death with courage."

The emptiness inside her was laid bare, revealing that she had no clear concepts of right and wrong. She had already overreacted as Miss Josephine did, and she almost ended up as a bitter corpse as well.

Sadie removed her mask, a sense of unworthiness lingering as she blew her nose into it. Suddenly, barking just outside the house seized her focus.

Standing at attention, she stealthily approached the window to investigate. Her shaking fingers parted the window sill, and she witnessed the butcher slashing wildly with his cleaver while the Doberman tore at his hanging intestines as if they were prized sausages.

"The bastard's still alive!" Sadie whispered to herself, hiding with her back and arms pressed against the wall.

She heard footsteps in the hallway of the building, followed by the turning of a knob. A figure stepped into the darkness in front of her, and Sadie stood frozen. The lights flickered on, revealing a young, handsome man who stumbled backward in surprise upon seeing her.

"What are you doing in the house?" he asked in shock, but Sadie was too afraid to answer. The man approached her, noticing her cheek wound and nervous expression.

"Don't be afraid, girl. Are you hurt?"

"Wh... who are you?" she asked.

"I am the son of the woman who used to live here, Josephine if you know her." he answered, pointing her attention to a photo hanging on the wall. Sadie could see he was indeed the son of Miss Josephine as she saw they were hugging in the photo. The rare expression of happiness on the old woman's face in the photo messed with Sadie's mind.

"Are you okay? Who did this to you?" The young man asked as he gently passed his fingers over her wounded face.

"I am so sorry," she said as she hugged him tightly. The man was caught off guard but said nothing.

Soon, a raucous noise from across the hall interrupted their interaction; it came from Sadie's house.

"He has come for me," Sadie said sullenly.

"You'll be safe with me, don't you worry," he reassured her.

"Stay here," the man commanded her as he grabbed a baseball bat from the table and rushed to face the intruder.

"No, wait!" Sadie pleaded, trying to hold onto him, but she couldn't stop him.

"Don't you know? I was the state champion in baseball," he said with a confident smirk. He threw, then effortlessly caught the bat before resting it on his shoulder. Despite her hesitation, Sadie ended up accompanying him to her apartment.

The door was wide open, and heavy breathing and loud footsteps echoed from her room. And there they saw him, the butcher standing in the middle of the dark room, as a nightmare that has come to life.

"Get out of this girl's house right this moment if you don't want to get your head bashed." The young man threatened, but the butcher only stared at Sadie who was hiding beside him.

"Aren't you hearing me, you want to get your brains splattered across the carpet?" The man yelled again, this time the monstrosity started coming closer to them, and the young man swung his weapon with full force, but with a raising of his elbow, the butcher blocked the attack, breaking the bat. He then planted his sharp cleaver straight into the man's chest with disturbing ease.

A gut-wrenching scream escaped Sadie's lips and she clutched her face in sheer terror as her companion collapsed to his knees, blood gurgling from his mouth.

She turned and ran away, and before the butcher could start chasing after her, the young man used the remainder of his strength to reach for the broken bat piece and shove it piercing right into the butcher's kneepit to grant Sadie time to escape.

The storm intensified, whipping around Sadie like a furious tempest as she ran, resembling a woman possessed as her tears intermingled with the relentless rain. With nowhere to go and no safe haven in sight, she found herself guided by an unseen force toward the graveyard of Saint Basilia.

The ominous creaking of the sanctuary gate separated her from reality. As it swung open, a strange calm washed over her. Seeking peace among the tombstones, Sadie entered a realm where dead men could not disturb her.

The sound of gentle raindrops on gravestones as the storm simmered down created an eerie comfort in Sadie's spirit as she sought the grave of her adoptive mother.

When she reached Zahya's tombstone, she saw a burial pit recently dug out near her monument, so she threw herself inside of it and rested her head upon the muddied bottom, wanting nothing more than to sleep for all eternity.