Focus FeaturesWarning! Spoilers ahead for Obsession.Although the movie is filled with dark and disturbing moments, the last shot of Obsession leaves viewers with an image that’s almost unbelievably bleak. After spending the majority of the film possessed by an unnamed entity that takes over her personality — transforming her from a kind, intelligent person into a violent, unstable one — Nikki (Inde Navarrette) wakes up screaming. She’s covered in blood, and surrounded by the bodies of two of her best friends. (The third is already dead, bludgeoned with a brick against the steering wheel of her car.) The cops are on their way, and Nikki will be blamed for everything. After all the suffering this character has endured, it seems like a cruel cosmic joke to make her take the fall. After all, the person who is truly responsible for all of this is Bear (Michael Johnston), who took away Nikki’s autonomy when he wished for her to “love [him] more than anything in the world.” Of course, blame must also be placed on the cryptic, seemingly demonic “One Wish Willow” company, which took Bear’s innocent (if slightly creepy) wish and turned it into a waking nightmare. But Bear knew that the real Nikki was in pain, and still chose to stay with the version of her that wanted to be his girlfriend despite the danger she posed to herself and others. His love was selfish, and he avoided accountability for his actions until the very end. Now he’s left Nikki to clean up his mess. But there’s one tiny sliver of hope in this hopeless scenario. Remember the billion dollars that Ian (Cooper Tomlinson) wished for with his One Wish Willow? The cash that kept falling from the sky, prompting Ian to run to Bear’s house to tell him about his bizarre good fortune? According to writer-director Curry Barker, that money did not disappear when Ian perished. “No, it's there,” Barker confirms in an interview with Inverse.RIP to most of the characters in this photo. | Focus Features So is there a world where Nikki finds the billion dollars before the cops get there, and actually gets something out of this horrible experience? “Maybe so,” Barker says. “I never thought about that. Maybe she’s very careful, and she wipes herself off, she showers, she puts on some normal clothes, she finds that money, and who knows?” A billion in cash is too much to carry, but if Nikki filled a few duffel bags with money after stumbling to Ian’s place — which, after all, is within walking distance of Bear’s house — in search of answers, she could start over somewhere else, hopefully investing in a good therapist along the way. But although it’s a comforting possibility, it’s an unlikely one, according to Barker. “To me, it seems more likely that the cops find the money and she goes to jail,” he says, adding theft charges to poor Nikki’s growing rap sheet. Nikki is going to be confused and unsteady after returning to her normal consciousness, which will slow her down. She also doesn’t know that the money even exists, which means that she would have to discover it by chance. It’s an improbable happy ending, and it isn’t even all that happy — Nikki’s consent has still been violated, and her friends are still dead. But is hoping for the least bleak outcome really so bad? In the world of Obsession, wishes are dangerous. We have to assume that hopes are too. Obsession is now playing in theaters.