Bursting through the front door of his farmhouse, James barely kicked it closed as he ran into the bedroom, and frantically began to pack all of his things.
Out of breath and afraid, he couldn’t help but fumble with everything, his mothers pendant around his neck pulsing with each spike of his heart rate.
“Stop it! Just stop!” he yelled as he pulled the pendant from under his shirt. “You’ve hurt enough people today! Stop it!”
But the pendant only grew more intense, beginning to grow warm in his hand. He dropped it back down to his chest with a hiss, the rock now resting on the outside of his shirt.
He growled and went to take it off, but something was stopping him; an aching feeling in his chest as he squeezed his eyes shut once again.
Images of his dying mother’s face shuttered in his mind like frames of film and he sighed, letting go of the string the pendant was attached to and leaving it to rest on his chest.