diff --git a/source/toy_interpreter.c b/source/toy_interpreter.c
index e428c07..cb74446 100644
--- a/source/toy_interpreter.c
+++ b/source/toy_interpreter.c
@@ -224,19 +224,28 @@ static void consumeShort(Toy_Interpreter* interpreter, unsigned short bytes, uns
 static bool execAssert(Toy_Interpreter* interpreter) {
 	Toy_Literal rhs = Toy_popLiteralArray(&interpreter->stack);
 	Toy_Literal lhs = Toy_popLiteralArray(&interpreter->stack);
-	Toy_parseIdentifierToValue(interpreter, &lhs);
+
+	Toy_Literal lhsIdn = lhs;
+	if (TOY_IS_IDENTIFIER(lhs) && Toy_parseIdentifierToValue(interpreter, &lhs)) {
+		Toy_freeLiteral(lhsIdn);
+	}
 
 	if (!TOY_IS_STRING(rhs)) {
 		interpreter->errorOutput("The assert keyword needs a string as the second argument, received: ");
 		Toy_printLiteralCustom(rhs, interpreter->errorOutput);
 		interpreter->errorOutput("\n");
+
+		Toy_freeLiteral(rhs);
+		Toy_freeLiteral(lhs);
 		return false;
 	}
 
 	if (TOY_IS_NULL(lhs) || !TOY_IS_TRUTHY(lhs)) {
 		(*interpreter->assertOutput)(Toy_toCString(TOY_AS_STRING(rhs)));
-		Toy_freeLiteral(rhs);
 		interpreter->panic = true;
+
+		Toy_freeLiteral(rhs);
+		Toy_freeLiteral(lhs);
 		return false;
 	}
 
@@ -1086,16 +1095,14 @@ static bool execFalseJump(Toy_Interpreter* interpreter) {
 	//actually jump
 	Toy_Literal lit = Toy_popLiteralArray(&interpreter->stack);
 
-	bool freeLit = false;
-	if (TOY_IS_IDENTIFIER(lit)) {
-		Toy_Literal idn = lit;
-		Toy_parseIdentifierToValue(interpreter, &lit);
-		Toy_freeLiteral(idn);
-		freeLit = true;
+	Toy_Literal litIdn = lit;
+	if (TOY_IS_IDENTIFIER(lit) && Toy_parseIdentifierToValue(interpreter, &lit)) {
+		Toy_freeLiteral(litIdn);
 	}
 
 	if (TOY_IS_NULL(lit)) {
 		interpreter->errorOutput("Null detected in comparison\n");
+		Toy_freeLiteral(lit);
 		return false;
 	}
 
@@ -1103,9 +1110,7 @@ static bool execFalseJump(Toy_Interpreter* interpreter) {
 		interpreter->count = target + interpreter->codeStart;
 	}
 
-	if (freeLit) {
-		Toy_freeLiteral(lit);
-	}
+	Toy_freeLiteral(lit);
 
 	return true;
 }
@@ -1995,7 +2000,6 @@ static void execInterpreter(Toy_Interpreter* interpreter) {
 				}
 			break;
 
-
 			case TOY_OP_FN_RETURN:
 				if (!execFnReturn(interpreter)) {
 					return;
diff --git a/source/toy_refstring.c b/source/toy_refstring.c
index 08ccca0..716d291 100644
--- a/source/toy_refstring.c
+++ b/source/toy_refstring.c
@@ -96,4 +96,4 @@ bool Toy_equalsRefStringCString(Toy_RefString* lhs, char* cstring) {
 
 	//same string
 	return strncmp(lhs->data, cstring, lhs->length) == 0;
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}
diff --git a/test/scripts/ternary-expressions.toy b/test/scripts/ternary-expressions.toy
index be8fda6..1e8d72b 100644
--- a/test/scripts/ternary-expressions.toy
+++ b/test/scripts/ternary-expressions.toy
@@ -23,13 +23,13 @@
 
 //test ambiguous syntax
 {
-	var a = 1;
-	var b = 2;
-	var c = 3;
-	var d = 4;
-	var e = 5;
+	var aa = 1;
+	var bbb = 2;
+	var cccc = 3;
+	var ddddd = 4;
+	var eeeeee = 5;
 
-	assert a ? b ? c : d : e == 3, "Ambiguous syntax failed";
+	assert aa ? bbb ? cccc : ddddd : eeeeee, "Ambiguous syntax failed";
 }