Kurt Langley: Liberty Falls - Episode Two - God's Hollow

"Echo..."

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Langley's voice ricocheted off the ancient stone arches, returning not as sound, but as something deeper—denser. It was no longer merely his voice. It was something bruised. A residue. A wound that bled memory rather than blood. Guilt, perhaps, disguised as resonance.

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He closed his eyes and spoke quietly, as if confiding in the void itself.

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"What if what we hear... is rejecting us?"

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The question left his lips not as a thought, but as a confession—delayed, defeated, and already anticipating silence in response.

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Bagwell didn't stop walking, but the pace of his steps slowed.

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His eyes weren't fixed on anything around them.

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They seemed to peer inward, burrowing into something unspeakable.

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When he finally replied, his voice was low and final—like the closing of a vault door:

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"Then we're in the right place."

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Langley said nothing.

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He looked down at the fractured stones beneath their feet—at the web of hairline cracks that seemed to stretch like veins across the bones of the city.

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"Do the paths to that place... remain open?" he murmured, more to the broken earth than to Bagwell.

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The older man didn't answer immediately.

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Instead, he retrieved a cigarette, spun it between his fingers like a ritual, but made no move to light it.

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"Dockmen don't build roads," he said finally.

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"They lock them."

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Then, turning to Langley with the faintest flicker of recognition in his eyes, he added:

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"We can go forward. But there's no going back."

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Langley raised his head. This time, his voice held no uncertainty.

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"There's nothing left to go back to."

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Bagwell's shoulders relaxed, not in relief, but with the quiet resignation of a man who had just acknowledged something unchangeable.

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He didn't avert his gaze, but his breath caught—just for a moment.

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"Some voices will be silenced tonight," he said, barely above a whisper.

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"But the bargaining isn't over. Not yet. Not while knowledge is currency... and flesh is leverage. And the Dockmen..."

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He took a step closer.

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"...they still have you on a leash."

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They began to walk, though neither of them truly led.

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Langley's steps were deliberate, yet without direction—like a man already halfway through a decision he hadn't made.

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Bagwell trailed just behind, his presence like a shadow too large to belong to one man, a second outline threatening to engulf the first.

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The street held its breath.

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There was no wind.

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Just the sense of something unseen waiting in silence.

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Their footsteps stirred not dust, but shadow—something below the surface, something older than brick and bone.

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Not earth.

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Not air.

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Something... inside.

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The ash here no longer drifted.

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It had settled.

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Not out of peace, but resignation.

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The city had already accepted its fate—given itself up to rot.

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Moss crept down from the walls like veins that no longer pulsed.

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They didn't grow.

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They remembered.

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Then the road curved—an unnatural bend, like a corridor shifting in a dream.

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And suddenly, the space widened.

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There, amidst the ruins and skeletal facades of forgotten buildings, a single wall still stood as if in defiance.

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It bore no graffiti, no blood, no prayer.

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Only a sentence, clean and eternal:

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"FORGET YOUR VOICE, AND YOU'LL ESCAPE YOUR SHADOW."

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Langley halted.

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He didn't look at the message—

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He looked down.

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The dirt beneath him had not been stirred in a long time.

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But imprinted there, preserved in the stillness, were two overlapping marks:

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A handprint.

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A footprint.

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One had walked away.

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The other... had waited.

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From the edge of the street, one of the old lamps flickered to life.

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It didn't hum.

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It cracked.

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A single blue spark snapped in protest—

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then silence reclaimed it.

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Bagwell said nothing.

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He didn't need to.

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But his eyes slid toward Langley, the way you look at a man whose name you once knew.

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Langley returned the glance—brief, over the shoulder.

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That was all it took.

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In that shared glance, the silence became a contract.

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On the ground nearby, half-buried in dust and time, was a screen.

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One line still pulsed on its faded display:

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"THE FUTURE STARTS CLEAN."

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And just beneath it—

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A child's hand.

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Not moving.

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Not warm.

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Faded.

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Dried.

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Left behind.

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Langley didn't kneel.

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He didn't touch.

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Some remnants, he knew, were not meant for hands.

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They passed a shattered storefront, where a war-era recruitment poster still clung to broken glass.

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Its colors had bled away long ago, but the slogan remained:

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"PROTECT YOUR FUTURE. THE FUTURE IS YOU."

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Langley stepped closer.

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The soldier on the poster resembled him—eerily so.

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But the man in the image was smiling.

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He paused.

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The thought came uninvited:

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"When was the last time I smiled?"

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But no voice inside him answered.

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There was no voice left.

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The scent reached him before the image did—

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Dust, iron, dried blood.

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It wasn't just familiar; it was intimate.

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A memory that refused to fade, clinging to the lining of the lungs like regret.

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Langley didn't need to look to know.

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Some things, once etched into the senses, became permanent residents.

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A half-dead neon sign buzzed somewhere ahead, sputtering the remnants of a once-familiar name.

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Only three letters still clung to life:

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G – E – T.

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Below it, beneath the weak light, was a slumped body.

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Its head was hidden under a black sack, like shame trying to cloak itself—

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or perhaps hiding from a God it no longer believed in.

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From beneath the fabric came a noise—

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Not breath.

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Not a voice.

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A soft, sickening crackle, like the memory of someone choking.

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Fingers dangled, limp and drained.

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Nails chipped, skin pale and translucent.

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Still trembling.

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Still animate—

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—but not alive.

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Langley paused, but didn't turn.

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Bagwell's shoulder flinched behind him, barely visible.

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Langley noticed.

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He said nothing.

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Some moments don't ask for commentary.

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They bury themselves in the silence.

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They moved on.

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In another window, three mannequins stood like witnesses in a mock ritual.

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Two were kneeling.

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One stood over them with a raised hand—frozen mid-baptism.

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Their faces bore no features.

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But one of the kneelers had hollowed sockets, gouged clean.

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It wasn't mannequins that had been tortured.

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It was testimony.

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The streetlights blinked erratically, like dying neurons misfiring in a brain too old to dream.

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Some flickered—

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Others burned constant, as if refusing to acknowledge change.

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At the center of the road, something blocked their path.

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Not a tree.

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Not a monument.

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An old power pole—collapsed and broken.

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Atop it sat a child's shoe.

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There was no message attached.

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No name.

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No blood.

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And yet, everything about it screamed.

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They didn't stop to ask why.

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There were no answers here.

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Only echoes.

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In the distance, something monumental clawed its way out of the horizon.

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The fractured silhouette of the Brooklyn Bridge—

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a corpse of steel and stone.

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Its cables hung like the uncombed hair of a madman.

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The towers, once proud, were now cloaked in moss and years.

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But the bridge itself still stood.

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It had once been a path even God had walked.

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Now...

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Not even God returned.

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Langley lifted his gaze.

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The sky offered nothing.

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No stars.

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No moon.

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Not even cloud.

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Just... weightless dark.

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Directionless.

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Perfectly still.

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And he kept walking.

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They turned left—

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and something loomed beneath the streetlamp ahead.

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It hunched like a forgotten beast, blanketed in moldy canvas and silence.

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An old EWA tank, long abandoned, its form sagging under the weight of disuse and rust.

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The barrel drooped downward, not in defeat—

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but in disinterest, as if it had refused every order ever given.

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Oxidation had bled down its sides like old blood.

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The ground beneath it stained as though the machine had tried to rot the city from its belly outward.

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Painted in faded white across its hull:

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"IN GOD WE TRUST."

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Langley crouched beside it, his eye catching something wedged beneath the treads.

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A single military boot.

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Worn.

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Empty.

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Stuffed inside it—

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a torn slip of paper, barely clinging to ink:

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"THEY SOLD THOSE WHO WALKED.

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AND THOSE WHO STOOD... THEY ERASED."

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Bagwell stood over him, unmoving.

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Not reading.

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Just knowing.

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They kept walking.

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As they neared the end of the street, the very ground beneath them seemed to change dialect—

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The asphalt cracked open, revealing beneath it veins of stone, old brick, ancient tile.

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It was as if the city had tried to forget what it once was by layering over itself,

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—only to remember too late.

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Langley's eyes drifted downward again.

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There, carved crudely into the earth:

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A perfect circle.

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And inside it—seven broken lines, like fractures in a mirror.

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He knew what it was.

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This place hadn't been for those who prayed.

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It had been built for those who were prayed to.

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The air turned suddenly cold—

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—but it wasn't wind.

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It was something older than breath.

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The chill of memory laying its hands on the back of your neck.

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Bagwell halted.

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He opened his mouth to speak—

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"From here on—"

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—but the sentence collapsed before it could walk.

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It didn't need to finish.

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Some knowledge is inherited in silence.

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Then, from the hood of a rusted car, a word gleamed faintly under grime:

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CONFESS

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Etched into the metal beneath, like a wound:

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"First they heard. Then they went silent."

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Langley raised his eyes.

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And there—

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It revealed itself.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4L1MT1Ydm8

Not a structure.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx0M1QpsHDx

Not a monument.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ35hHpL77df

But a wound in the skyline.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ315UXuu4Fs

A church.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyeKUy5fS3D

Hunched.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3x1F1blsb6

Scarred.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbBkyuSmfgj

Breathing.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbfFazODDaR

Its dome sagged like a collapsed lung.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡky6RPNyGJL

Its walls were black stone, stained not by time but by silence.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡePWDqH12vc

No cross adorned its peak.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhPMI7IqJRq

Only the shadow of where belief had once stood.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWkpJbgi0t4

The closer they came, the more it grew—

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh2IwXLU4bG

Not in size, but in presence.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW7lAgeuLmy

Like it had always been waiting for them.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAofVuVxfwj

On either side of its entrance, rusted stakes jutted from the ground.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPH9pFGbJ6b

Crucified on each—men in clerical robes.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjYcedVx4VW

Their arms outstretched, hands twisted to hold nothing.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDpeUKodIsL

Their eyes were vacant.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2hghtYTUyB

Their mouths ajar.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4FWfIt10VQ

And carved into the forehead of one:

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPQTZXVs8Gj

"SILENCE IS LOUDER THAN GOD."

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdjVDgykz44

Langley stopped.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfqq5vUwdS2

His gaze faltered.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnwPQSHnBfY

For the first time since they'd entered this decaying corridor of memory,

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtc4s8enKnd

—he looked away.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaosF3ZkU97

Bagwell did not.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYO7I4y40jW

He continued forward, as if walking toward a version of himself he had already betrayed once.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlJ61tziOU8

He knew this path.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG5YGYIZOGc

And he knew—

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQDw9HS7Olc

The past never stays buried.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWQIIpCLrEc

Not here.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcqX7EESXMr

The entrance loomed before them—

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkUnaCJhypm

not like a threshold, but a question.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7d1Ni6UGSZ

One that did not demand an answer, only submission.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv99o9eFXon

Langley stood at the heavy door.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp38VkgAi29

He reached out.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKamUFdw5hN

His finger met cold stone.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGPrbewpYl2

Not just cold—bone-cold.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn1RMjdCFn2

The kind that remembered every hand that had tried to enter before.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDEkz1w8ldn

And the door... did not resist.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnTOh8kweKx

It opened not with creak or groan,

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlw3JhrzzTr

—but with acceptance.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMuDsZ9IIbT

As if it had been waiting.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAY9wAXzEhD

The woman was already inside.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBhiFLRPSH2

She didn't speak.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnhqWvH8cgp

But her silence wasn't passive—

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFflNpuJdkh

It was ritualistic.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdcFedQ7g7A

Not absence, but permission.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ895Xu5rcaw

Not invitation, but debt.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0Aoh7f38yc

Langley's eyes met hers.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJrsdNtZkoZ

But there were no eyes.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnvg24ryYre

Just hollows where faith had dried out.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMNNrb0n2d7

And strangely—he didn't flinch.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz8KpaqCDxz

He didn't recoil.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTRXpZSfxvD

It felt... familiar.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7lncMACO7c

"The void of God..." he thought.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5fgj5OQKZD

"Maybe it started with me."

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXlvQlAHf7A

Bagwell stepped forward.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ42Ic8cxObr

He approached the unmoving figure with the steadiness of someone enacting an old rite.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg7MYJC9ueG

He reached into his coat and retrieved a small metallic badge—

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3WBGwjyF7w

a star, glinting faintly with the Dockmen's seal.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPTQRv68nV2

The woman bowed.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeGvkLNVtFy

But not reverently.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLYyd4LZA30

It was a motion too precise, too rehearsed—

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7BSwhXQ20O

a memorized gesture from a forgotten script.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNcU4vAam6e

She whispered, trance-like:

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡufX8a9BXPW

"Passage... or change?"

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGyewZ5km51

Bagwell didn't hesitate.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrFTY1DR4Y7

His voice was iron:

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡir3SWnCbxz

"Passage."

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwcf8m1nYaA

The woman nodded, turned to Langley, and extended her hand—

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtyZOZcdMRV

not to touch him, but to hover.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK61xOTYoAt

Close enough to feel.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡusYd7ieD0y

Her voice coiled like incense smoke:

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsa55nclOob

"One arm missing. No soul left."

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmBxk86qQTM

"And yet... you still walk like it's a stage.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEkHdz6TH5R

Trying to win an Oscar, Plisskin?"

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDDUWp5UtM7

Langley said nothing.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgz9PNa8r33

But she already knew the answer.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBboda40zDX

Bagwell moved ahead of him.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZC3LurBTHJ

His tone was no longer polite—

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNDZzQEVwgv

It was business.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaJK6uOblRx

"Has it been recalled?" he asked.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEe2nzdUbLO

The woman shook her head slowly.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr2k9dgm096

"No... but it is being watched."

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY8u5jQbAgt

Bagwell paused.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNgKt1KXQXE

His jaw clenched slightly.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ350oQpzhBH

He bit the corner of his lip.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaZ2R6JXsDG

"By who?"

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡouu5VuSo3k

No reply.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡskKM67xsHy

Only silence.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKoWZqC7s9q

And then—

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ73jlt8b3vU

A single drop of water fell from the ceiling.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS447q5Q5I5

The sound echoed across the cavernous room like a warning.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvLlA4lltdQ

Sharp.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTDxLWBHYi4

Cold.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH9jrtQkZ9C

Langley turned his head instinctively.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHXEPrO8bbq

Behind him... there was nothing.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJsisny0L1d

No door.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfBBcUb29DR

No light.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhu2IUj1Dns

Only stone.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOYcMvW181D

The way back had collapsed into the architecture—

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtao5VHTAt9

swallowed by design.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr3QkTHsnXN

The woman, still without a sound, stepped back into the darkness.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcOpyJOcvDt

Her presence dissolved.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ81dWPGCbx

But before she vanished completely, she whispered:

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFn9TzmoC1Y

"God is not here.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX8w7Ohr6c0

But the void of God... is always open."

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoJ565L6sip

Langley's hands trembled.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfmiAUPV3M3

He turned to Bagwell.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFXvKj4CxDy

"The way?"

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcuSI7g8yiP

Bagwell pointed toward a narrow corridor—

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAQoPvUw4OQ

once used for baptisms,

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO3uWMc6Dj6

now just a scar in the brick.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8mr4F2ojFo

A path that only went one way.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFl458KanP6

The decision had been made long ago.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGPwYIisQ3y

They were merely fulfilling it.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwzaSoADt7X

There was no structure here.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCuDqvVaARn

Only presence.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDkrproWCzc

Dust no longer drifted in the air—

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP1tpKlFsR0

It hung in thought.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGRUjzX6O6K

It was warm.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUDcXFhDj7W

Not comforting—

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSFVBkgg4ae

but feverish.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXensfSyRTD

A heat that didn't heal,

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ4Pr8Ebg56

just reminded.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJnDl0uzxJT

Even the sweat on Langley's skin refused to pray.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCs2psmmXDM

He stepped forward.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqly1911xYz

And the floor—

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtuI1Si9jlN

it sighed.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa28y92l4Jf

A slow exhale from stone that remembered belief.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC9Y0HeZQYw

The walls bled with damp.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNeEU9f9bHl

Not natural moisture—

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgn6DBoglQO

—but spoiled divinity.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9OmKi1eFss

The altar still stood.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYI5OCegeF0

But it no longer belonged to any one god.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBdznNrSlfT

It had become a tombstone for all of them.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdMPQuZO9hN

Engraved in its cracked surface:

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf6fMYTUuHe

The Cross,

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXbKO99MAWs

The Star of David,

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSQXVAiPCuO

The word Allah.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWHEy8OWjLu

Each layered over the other,

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ732y0zQ142

each split and splintered,

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYDKVURvgRr

until they formed not a symbol—

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ72lV54a27c

but a wound.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7n0oZkfPaW

The stone pulsed beneath Langley's gaze.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSPbMxeSCR9

A migraine carved in rock.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUGXMnbIONI

Silent.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡieLef0yEqJ

Persistent.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6PS24RdTC7

There were no prayers left in this place.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcGFin3PBy3

Only eyes.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiPuapud5zC

Figures moved beneath the fractured light—

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIrNYQcleLz

but they were not naked.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7hdAphOY1L

They were not human, either.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv2Xj3FWgv7

Not anymore.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7oDSlAYqea

A woman walked across the stone in silence.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡigeqyy87JA

She wore a nun's robe.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7yofvJrKcL

Her feet made no sound.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOsLQSf1COp

Her eyes held no light.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxXW0Vxse8i

They were black holes—voids that didn't reflect, only absorbed.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ54PT7lEMyM

Another figure stood nearby—

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR0hzTu8QKe

Torso bare, her chest etched with verses from forgotten scriptures.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe51ypX5KME

Her arms were raised—

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE8qxrNYxFE

—but not in prayer.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡReA2mu6mTm

In offering.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi7QyHRkwCa

Not to a god.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA0WpY4Vgiu

But to debt.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSKvIkSD4tP

They did not speak.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfiFlUeLuAS

They did not blink.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKBLyc2prja

Their humanity had not been taken—

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNWS0xDPZJh

—it had melted.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjQb012bOkD

Abandoned like robes at a shoreline no one returned to.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNxt8eeO2Xy

These were not people.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIEF8gBMmKc

They were what faith had tried to forget.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfbBcxK1VJx

Then, another figure emerged.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ383BZdDSNi

Closer.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHr6ezQSg73

Slower.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOeoJgjpknn

A woman.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1H5gmFcPRO

She wore no makeup—

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUXcp7bfrHu

She wore a mask.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHZRNlu8lQv

But the mask didn't hide her.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6nbvIxRTZu

It replaced her.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJeYHrtSnPv

It wasn't fashioned like skin.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8GvvNoO8Qo

It was shaped like belief.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmHl8Y6J2DA

And in this place, they did not sell flesh.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPU2mdBQ0aI

They sold God.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnHWJwZ5UZN

Her breath was strange—

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpBCY2Hha0v

warm in one nostril, cold in the other.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcRKjRq88Sw

Alive, yet split.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡijgdMgzVBQ

She stepped closer—

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsKktINM1FM

not seductively, but ceremonially.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1AtE0mX9co

Then she spoke.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTuIgNHH5xR

Her voice wasn't loud.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLZzL9IuM2h

But it struck like a hymn buried in ash:

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVHK6y3kQTg

"Today... which God would you like to fuck?"

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlqB5QXGb0D

Bagwell didn't flinch.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf7yWJYe6A1

He barely even blinked.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdc4AEXTww9

He had expected the question.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNMSSb27QeV

Worse—he had expected the indifference behind it.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqzsaLJmGnd

His lips curled with dry mockery.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxTkahN3HtR

"Friday for me," he said.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOlUmnsYN54

"The crucified one.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhAjd3g6uEq

The other cried too much last time."

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTdRKtfrYe4

He didn't say it to her.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRR2HSilstz

He said it at Langley.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGrTFU7lIUS

Almost as if to explain something he hadn't been asked.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdMwmmPI99r

Langley didn't answer.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6Wv1NUeNnT

Bagwell looked ahead again, voice low:

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMtMQcIGSvn

"They keep calling."

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyBx3LBsGVi

He exhaled.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGMB6SvSMON

Not smoke.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeM9qRER9bO

Fatigue.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyXm1g7JGH4

"But when no one answers...

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc6Q3YgoqvF

They don't pay the price.

144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWZGS97hmmI

Just cheap prayers."

ns216.73.216.139da2

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