Ray squeezed his head between his hands, pressing his palms against his ears to drown them out.
"No... stop..."
"I'm real. I am real. I AM REAL!"
His chest heaved violently, panic clawing its way up his throat as his thoughts spiraled into a dark abyss.
His body curled in on itself as the weight of suffocation crushed him.
The rain kept pouring, soaking his clothes, his skin—but he didn't feel it.
Everything felt distant.
Like he was fading.
Like he was already disappearing.
Miss mystery.
He had to get back to her.
Even if the voices in his head told him he wasn't supposed to exist.
Even if everything was trying to erase him.
She was real.
And as long as she remembered him, he was real too.
With shaking limbs, Ray pushed himself up from the freezing pavement, his breath uneven, his entire body trembling.
He had to go back.
Back to his Miss Mystery.