three paintings burned

[thehangedrose]

[If you ever went back in time and told Garry that one day, he would be partly responsible for someone's death, he would probably feel disgusted that you could say such a thing about him.]

[But after the events that happened in the gallery, that's now a brutal truth. He was responsible for a death. Not a death of an actual person, but still, a death nevertheless.]

[He had tried to forget about it, trying to convince himself that what he had did was necessary- after all, hadn't Mary wanted to kill him and Ib, or, at the very least, hurt them to the point where they could never escape? It was self-defense, that's all. But the image of her burning up like a piece of paper can never quite leave his mind. And then that book they found in her room...."How to Make Friends"...she was just a kid, a painting child who didn't know how the human world went around things.]

[She was just lonely....but then the image of that palette knife in her hand, aimed at his chest and quite ready to taste blood, returns to his mind.]

[He feels utterly conflicted about the whole thing. Which is why he finally clears his throat and asks a question that has been sitting in his head for quite a while:]

...

If you had to destroy someone because they tried to kill you and the people you care about, would...would that make you a bad person?

Comments

[imalwaysright]

If they know what they're doing, or if they're being controlled.

[thehangedrose]

Oh. Well, in this case, the person in question definitely wasn't being controlled...

If she was, then it would've gone much differently, I bet.

[imalwaysright]

Then it's better to stop them fast.

[thehangedrose]

Yeah...

You know what I feel bad about, though? That I didn't notice it earlier. She seemed alright when we first met...and then everything went downhill after that...

[imalwaysright]

Sometimes you can't tell until they start going crazy.

[thehangedrose]

How would one tell that they were crazy in the first place, though...? Surely one could avoid such a fate...

[imalwaysright]

You can usually tell when they start talking about murder.

Or start committing it. Either or.

[thehangedrose]

...

That's kind of a good tip, but...I only really confirmed it after she almost tried to kill me.

That's a little too late to find out, in my opinion. Because imagine if that situation hadn't gone well for me...

[imalwaysright]

I'm not a psychologist, okay? I do what I can with what I've got.

And yeah, I've been way too close to dying recently.