So they arrived, tired and sweating, at the house of the yellow and pink glow. This was where the trial was supposed to be taking place right now. As they walked through the path, the glow that had been faint during the day was now all they walked on, made them think about some details that just had not come to mind before.

Ralph was there with them, but he was completely different from the Ralph that had convicted the boy years before. He was an alien, where the other one had not been. The other people did not really think, having fallen into this more or less by accident, each in their own way; but Jack thought and it became more and more clear to him, until finally when they walked through the door, he knew it all. And what he saw in the house confirmed all that he thought.

It was so obvious, he was killing himself for not realising it before. There could not be more than one Ralph at the same time. They had made a mistake by bringing this Ralph, because now there was no other Ralph here, and the judge had to be someone else. It could be anybody. It could be anybody and there was no way for them to predict or to interfere in what -

But it wasn't just anybody. It was Janet.

Was it all just an incredibly big coincidence? Or was it that Janet was, for some reason, the person that had always cared the most about the trial of this boy, and now that Ralph was out of the way, it was only natural for her to be the judge?

This is it now.

I think it will be all right.

Of course it will. He would not die.

I thought that His powers were big enough to stop any change, even that of His own survival.

I guess you were wrong.

I guess I was.

What do you think those two are doing there?

I don't know. Where are the rest of them?

They've been known to hide.

I know.

Or maybe there aren't that many anymore.

Are you saying they pretend to hide so that we will think they exist, when in reality they do not?

Something like that. There are some. There's one.

And the girl with her?

Possibly in the future, yes.

What is she doing?

What are you doing?

Rolling on the ground with pain.

Since when?

Since it hurts like hell!

Stop banging your head on the floor.

It hurts too much either way!

Sandy was speaking much too calmly for someone who was in so much pain. But she really was. The headache had started suddenly and left that feeling that it probably was already there before but she hadn't noticed it. Though she had a hard time believing that she wouldn't notice something like this.

And it wasn't her talking either. She heard the conversation she was having with her grandmother, but it was not her, she wasn't in any condition to create words, only screams.

Maybe it was someone else speaking and that's why it hurt so much, because the other person had come in her brain and it was too tight to keep both of them so it hurt. But the new one was feeling it too, or so he said to grandma. Could be lying.

She wondered whether she would die and the new one live, or they both die, or her life would go on with this terrible pain forever.

Janet did care a lot for the case of this boy. This boy who was accused of a murder he had had no choice but to commit. She acquitted him, feeling like the greatest hero in the world. The crowd seemed to agree with her, for they applauded.

As the guard approached the boy to take the handcuffs off him and set him free, Janet looked at him. And she saw on his face a look that she wasn't expecting to see.

He didn't look happy at all. He looked as though this wasn't the ending he had planned for it all. He looked like he had planned it all, when obviously such a sweet kid could not have planned a murder, he did it on the spur of the moment to protect his sister.

He looked like something had seriously gone wrong. And she wondered if she had made a mistake, but she surely did not know what mistake that could be.

Then the boy blinked for a long time. He lowered his head. Then he looked back up. Looked around. The guard set him free and he was happy.

Things looked normal again and Janet was relieved.

The headache stopped and Sandy wanted to stop making that scene. There was no need for it anymore. But she didn't control her body.

The body controlled itself. Or maybe her intruder controlled it, though now that there wasn't pain anymore she was not really sure that there was an intruder. But there had to be. Otherwise how could it be that she continued moving and talking when she wasn't doing any of these things?

Then it seemed the Other one had finally stopped feeling the pain. Sandy laid on her knees, hands on the floor and looking down, breathing heavily.

But Grandma did not notice it in time. She did not notice that the transition was now complete and there would be no more scandals. She was too annoyed by this scene to let it go on any longer. Grandma had taken her sword and lifted it, ready to strike. Sandy noticed it but the Other did not. Sandy tried to warn Him but she didn't have the means to.

Grandma's sword came quickly and chopped Sandy's head off.

Both were dead and Grandma watched.

The Old Men watched as well.

I did not see that coming.

Me neither.

I guess she won't be joining them in the future, then.

No, she won't. But it doesn't matter.

They succeeded.

Yes, they did.

Time did not die in that ridiculous boy murderer story.

Of course not. He is way too powerful.

They took a moment from their celebration and looked back down at Grandma and the body of Sandy split in two.

But I did not see that coming.

I wonder what else we didn't see coming?

Hmm.

And they both went back inside their shrine, to gather with the other Old Men and all celebrate together the fact that their god, Time, was not dead.

Grandma took Sandy's head back with her. The rest she left.