The Thing That Should Not Be

Prologue - What I've Done

In the lonely remnants of a chapel on the rocky shores of a beach in Virginia, a man sat in a dilapidated confession booth. No priest was on the other side. He was utterly alone. Waves crashed mercilessly against the shore as a thick blanket of storm clouds began to form in the sky, the threat of rain imminent. The man was speaking, but only to himself and God. Whether he was being heard or not was another matter entirely.

"I'm Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo Junior of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, and today, I killed my best friend," he whispered, bowing his head and clasping his hands together. "It was the only thing I could do. It was either I let him kill all of us... or he had to die. I reacted like I was trained to. I weighed the options and... and I chose the most favorable one." He managed a shaky breath. "I don't know if this is something that can be forgiven. I know I won't forgive myself. If I had done what I was supposed to do, if I'd just protected them, he would still be alive, and Gibbs wouldn't be chained in the middle of a pentagram right now."

He withdrew the syringe from his pocket. "I won't sugarcoat it. I've done a lot of terrible things. I... I ask for forgiveness for all of the lives that I've ended, for all of the lives I wasn't able to save. But most of all, I pray for forgiveness for what I did today, and what I'm about to do." He plunged the tip of the needle into the central vein of his right arm, wincing in pain. "If You're up there, and You care... please don't make me kill another person I love today."