Hailey took a deep breath and nodded.

Alex smiled, then slapped a palm on Zack’s head.

“What are you going to do with him?” Hailey asked, puzzled.

“That’s it,” Alex said. Then, he thought about John Rockefeller. Zack’s ending would most likely be the same as him. He would become a vegetable, his consciousness hidden within a sea of consciousness until his death.

And that would be considered a punishment for his sins.

“That’s it? What does that mean?” Hailey asked.

“He’ll be like this forever,” Alex said.

Hailey’s beautiful eyes widened, and in the next second, she suddenly hugged Alex and kissed him. “This is a thank you! There’s no other meaning, and you don’t think about it too much. No one will know except for you and me.”

***

It was the middle of the night when Alex drove to Michigan.

Hailey’s voice and smile still lingered inexplicably in his mind.

He finally shook his head, putting away feelings and thoughts that shouldn’t have even existed in the first place, bury