The ending is a simulation in Sister Paxton’s head:
“Sister Paxton is dying on the ground, praying, Sister Barnes has been useless since Mr. Reed slit her throat, and the ultimate scene is only a simulation of Sister Paxton’s head. Like what the three mentioned in regards to the reveal of the prophet, the mind sees solely what it needs to see earlier than dying.
In Sister Paxton’s case, she imagines a sort of divine justice: her good friend is miraculously nonetheless alive, simply in time to kill the monster (Reed). Paxton manages to cease the inner bleeding from the minimize and manages to get out of the basement, discover a manner out of the home and eventually sees a butterfly resting on his hand. As if in a solution to see the sunshine, then, on the final second, it disappears, breaking the phantasm.”
