At first, Richard Cole looked normal right in front of us, then his head started to bleed. Then, his face contorted as he whispered, “help me”. I jolted awake, and I saw Azriel and Merikh asleep on their bed. Collin’s sitting across me, “you alright?” he asked.
“Uh, yeah, I just – I thought I –“
“Saw Richard Cole? Yeah, we all did. You had a headache afterward and just sat there. I was gonna take you to the bed but you didn’t want to. I called Bart about it already. He’s out there now with his army of angels.”
I did feel my head a bit heavy even after I woke up. I just nodded and went over to the mini bar, grabbed a bottle of water, and took a swig.               
I went back to my chair and watched Collin read through his journal. I wanted to talk to him but I don’t know how. Things are just getting more awkward now since that dragon lair incident. “Collin,” I started.
“Hmmm?” he looked up.
“Are you working with the angels or are they working for you?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, Bart comes when you call him. And what’s this confidential thing you two have going on?”
“Mia,” he closes his journal, “I don’t know what to tell you, really. I –“
“This is me, Collin. You know you can tell me anything.”
“I know. But okay, if you really want to know, I’ll tell you.”
“Okay, then, go on.”               
“When my father died, a lawyer has contacted me about his will. He left everything to me. He placed everything under my name. I don’t know what Merikh told you before that you actually know that I am getting these phone calls or that I have been calling some people from time to time,” he paused and took a deep breath, “among the things my dad had left me are his people and his “dirty laundry”. I’ve been communicating with them and, uhm, I wanted to clean up his mess. Meeting Bart was just fate. I didn’t know my father threw him at those monsters that I helped him to kill. So yeah, he owes me so much. He’s one of those beings who actually helped me to find you. I don’t know if you noticed but he did recognize you immediately.”               
We both chuckled, “but yeah, I know I owe you a lot of explanation. The reason why I lied about this place is that I wanted to know if I can do this without you.”
“Woah, hey, why would you think that?” I was puzzled. I don’t know why Collin would think he’ll be hunting on his own. “Who told you I was going anywhere?”
“I mean, you and Merikh. One of these days you two would want to have your own thing. Azriel probably might want to go back to Heaven after this. So I am gonna use whatever my dad left me for good.”
“But are these souls really on a loop?”
“Yes. That part I didn’t lie.”
“If all of them are really dead, then why is Richard Cole an exception?”
“That’s what we’re going to find out.”
He left me with just that before he told me to get some proper sleep before tomorrow comes and we need to do a lot of research and investigation. 
The next day after I woke, I slowly sat up and found Azriel sleeping on the floor, Merikh’s in the middle of their bed, and Collin was sleeping on the chair, arms on the table and head above it. The three of them looked so peaceful until the door busted open, we all jumped wide awake. Azriel sat up, Merikh fell off the bed, and Collin slowly sat straight while rubbing his eyes. “Rise and shine, mi amigos!” Bartholomew yelled. He placed a paper bag on the table and a boxed cady of coffee. I went to the bathroom, clutching my bra to my chest, and as I closed the door I heard them outside, talking.               
“She’s pretty,” I heard Bart say.
“Back off, you’re married,” Merikh said.
“None of you three idiots, I don’t know, asking her to marry yet?”
“Merikh kissed her,” Azriel said as he yawned.
“Really?! Wow. I didn’t know you had it in you,” Bart laughed, “but seriously, I really thought Collin already had it. I mean, he had me and some other monsters look for her.”
Merikh laughed, “he’s too slow when it came to romance.”
Then I heard a thud and an “ow!”. I opened the bathroom door to see Merikh laying on the floor, a pillow on his face. The four of them just laughed, and I rolled my eyes as I walk towards the coffee on the table. 
Collin led the way to the town’s plaza. A lot of people there were on picnics, children were playing, and some of them were friendly enough to say hi to us. He went inside a shop when a group of women was standing under a tree on the sidewalk. “Have you heard?” one of the women said, “Richard Cole committed suicide again!”
“When?!” the woman in a pink floral top said.
“Last night! He was brought to the hospital after he drank a bottle of bleach. But he was dead when they arrived.”
“But he jumped from a building yesterday afternoon, right?” the one in a plain green shirt asked.
“Exactly! But Mildred found him in his home. Unconscious!”               
I couldn’t help myself, so I walked over to them. “Excuse me,” I said. The three of them looked at me, “hello, dear,” pink floral top replied.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to eavesdrop but did you just say Richard Cole killed himself last night?”
“Oh yes! He did.”
“But how is that possible? I mean, he died from jumping off the building yesterday afternoon.”
“That’s what we said!” green shirt added.
“But you mentioned ‘again’? What, uh, what do you mean by that?”
The other woman, wearing a striped dress, looked around before saying anything. “Well, we have a bit of a theory. We think that this man is cursed! He dies but after a few minutes, sometimes even hours, he comes back to life!”
“Scratch free!”               
“Can you, uhm, point me to the direction of where he lives?” I politely asked without being all creepy.
“Are you some kind of reporter?”
“Uhm,” I paused, “yes. Yes, we are. We’re writing a book about unexplained occurrences, and I believe this is a great story to share as well.”
“Oh, that’s nice! Make sure to include us on your report!”
“I will. So, where does he live?”
The three women crossed the street just in time when Collin got out of the shop. He looked at the three women, who waved at me, then back to me. “So, you made some friends?” he said, chuckling a bit. “Oh yes, and we got some place to be.”
“Huh?”
“She heard them talking about Richard Cole. Seems to me, he’s not a dead person.”
“And he’s not part of the loop,” Bart suddenly said.               
I told them about where he lives and we drove there to pay him a little visit. When we arrived at the house at the end of the street, it has a lot of beautiful flowers surrounding its porch and by the fence. I unlocked the fence door, and we walked inside. When we reached the front door, I rang the doorbell twice. Richard Cole looks from behind the curtains before opening the door. He looked so young, about early 30s. “Yes? Can I help you?” he asked.
“Yes, uhm, we’re looking for Richard Cole?”
“That would be me. Who are you?”
“We, uhm,” I have never done this before. I never pretended to be someone I am not. I was getting sweaty and nervous when suddenly Collin stepped up from behind me, reaching out a hand to him. “Hi, sir. I’m Dr. Philips, I’m a psychologist, and these are my associates,” he shook Richard Cole’s hand, “is there any possibility for us to talk to you regarding your situation?"
“What situation?” he asked.
“Well, uhm, your neighbor, I forgot her name but she’s yay high, curly brown hair, glasses? You know her?”
“Ah, yeah. That’ll be Mrs. Ruby Welling. She lives across the street. She’s like a mother to me.”
“Perfect. Do you mind if we go inside and have a little chat?”
“Aren’t psychologists the one who brings crazy people to the looney bin? I’m not crazy!”
“I know you’re not crazy, sir. We just want to talk and hear your side of the story. Don’t worry, whatever we talk about will remain between you, me, and my associates. Doctor-Patient confidentiality.”
It took him for a moment to agree and let us in. He led us to the living room for us to sit down while he went to the kitchen to make us some tea. “Collin,” Azriel whispered, “what are you doing?”
“Relax, brother,” Bart placed his hand on his brother’s shoulder, “he got this.”
Richard Cole came back with some tea and sat down on the single couch beside Collin. “So,” Collin started, “when did you realize you cannot die?”
Mr. Cole was a bit hesitant to answer. “Sir, it’s okay. I’m not like other doctors. I’m not going to judge you, I promise.”
He nodded, “well, I really can’t remember when it started but when I was younger, maybe early 20s, I got into a fatal car accident. I was brought to the hospital and during surgery, I lost a lot of blood. I died on the table. Then a few hours later, the doctor who finished sewing me shut, saw me come back to life. She ran away from the OR and the stitches that she made slowly healed themselves.”               
I looked at Merikh, he was standing by the arch doorway, eyebrows furrowed. Azriel was looking out the window, and Bart was pacing, listening intently. Then I looked back at Mr. Cole, “and yesterday, you jumped off the building, correct?” I immediately asked, Collin just looked at me then back to him.
“Ye-yes, that’s right.”
“We’re you brought to the hospital too?” Collin added.
“Yes, they did bring me to the hospital. Everyone in this town knew that I always come back to life every time I try to kill myself. They brought me to the hospital just so the doctors could put back all the broken pieces of my bones together. Then they left me to heal myself in an isolated area. I was in so much pain when my bones started healing. But no one came to check on me. Everyone thinks I’m a freak.”
“We completely understand,” Collin empathetically said, “one last question, Mr. Cole. Who found you last night after you drank the bleach?”
“I think it was Mildred Gallagher. She lives two houses down, the one with a red Toyota Corolla. You won’t miss it.”
“Alright. Is it okay if we ask her a few questions, too?”
“Yeah, sure. No problem.”
“Alright. Thank you, sir, for your time,” he shook his hand, “but, sir, do me a favor?”
“Uh, sure, anything.”
“Keep yourself alive, okay? We’ll help you figure this out.”
“Uhm, tha-thank you,” he gave Collin a weak smile.
When we got out of the house, Collin just walk straight to the truck and went inside. The four of us followed, I was about to say something when he suddenly asked, “is anyone of you familiar with Prometheus?”
“The clay alien cartoon?” Azriel asked innocently.
“No. Not that Prometheus. I’m talking about the one in Greek Mythology.”
“Uhm, yeah,” I answered, “he defied the gods by stealing fire from them and giving it to humanity. Then he was cursed by Zeus to relive death over and over.”               
Collin clicked his tongue, “exactly. Just like him, Richard Cole is reliving his death over and over.”
“Does that mean he’s related to that god or?”
“Maybe. Better yet, that's Prometheus himself.”