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.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKHdxXK823O

Not a structure.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs32acmmvM6

Not a monument.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtkYdrffObj

But a wound in the skyline.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyCx4jB1mN3

A church.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrPVF9lyPp3

Hunched.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfamRCaB8c1

Scarred.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxgx3AmXB5I

Breathing.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3MXlcq1R6U

Its dome sagged like a collapsed lung.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0MlXowvLxn

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

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwsGXfN8PRg

No cross adorned its peak.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZH22nmRFpe

Only the shadow of where belief had once stood.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmZYtodqOoQ

The closer they came, the more it grew—

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUclajRNsI3

Not in size, but in presence.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvtMzV6mn7c

Like it had always been waiting for them.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnQ9s1nebYy

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

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSiUOCvq6cx

Crucified on each—men in clerical robes.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡisMisBt7Mh

Their arms outstretched, hands twisted to hold nothing.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWTrtjyYqRE

Their eyes were vacant.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPvKH7qJNgO

Their mouths ajar.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8nnDYoYsXJ

And carved into the forehead of one:

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvH6SNDNDEC

"SILENCE IS LOUDER THAN GOD."

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFlT8faTAgg

Langley stopped.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ73qG9gKHCH

His gaze faltered.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5ZhPOfE5kn

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

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTQS1kPqi64

—he looked away.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeCbwp6QlqB

Bagwell did not.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3GHB6lkmDG

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

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf4nQZgBtHk

He knew this path.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIfqHRDL58X

And he knew—

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN3shLAkrug

The past never stays buried.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPqV7h014DA

Not here.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoKc5wBHDO2

The entrance loomed before them—

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRPKETRzvz2

not like a threshold, but a question.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNeMFZAykXj

One that did not demand an answer, only submission.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzyPiF6kaTD

Langley stood at the heavy door.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0rF7elGdKH

He reached out.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZLwMGmNUGC

His finger met cold stone.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs05vNdIzOJ

Not just cold—bone-cold.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ0PXULCWyV

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

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTnK4CPlrya

And the door... did not resist.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn2LQzdoTh3

It opened not with creak or groan,

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEOTK9zRCL6

—but with acceptance.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhc0L5ZaTkk

As if it had been waiting.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeOevS1RF9p

The woman was already inside.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG6QXa5cEkB

She didn't speak.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWpZ53dSDn5

But her silence wasn't passive—

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN7ELb3jfaV

It was ritualistic.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx6DxTcCYwC

Not absence, but permission.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8O9RdJMYHN

Not invitation, but debt.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCLSmRWmNpG

Langley's eyes met hers.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTttJCDYNhs

But there were no eyes.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaqq8FPNbDe

Just hollows where faith had dried out.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcNAEb1lQcJ

And strangely—he didn't flinch.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6ByO4wQknr

He didn't recoil.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡluZzzmVQvS

It felt... familiar.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyE2nyl0p9m

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

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡytVh1mOdvI

"Maybe it started with me."

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb56v6ysPLn

Bagwell stepped forward.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0NrI6aRGJC

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

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTtEycDsUKk

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

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡygZJUj5SR9

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

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMZnkVWtEoB

The woman bowed.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2KZYGOzZpx

But not reverently.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR0uj9k2rEl

It was a motion too precise, too rehearsed—

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH6wkGeRm52

a memorized gesture from a forgotten script.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2fahg1VvX3

She whispered, trance-like:

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwVHT3Yt4w9

"Passage... or change?"

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgyQFoEyNJH

Bagwell didn't hesitate.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKETdTIm5s3

His voice was iron:

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxL97EUfRww

"Passage."

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4fe3Jp9K91

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

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtyuLmwVEVa

not to touch him, but to hover.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡszK8ituIbi

Close enough to feel.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvXB2peACXv

Her voice coiled like incense smoke:

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWzc3KbGpfL

"One arm missing. No soul left."

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkXzkT4CJvd

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

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv7BdJnFGCg

Trying to win an Oscar, Plisskin?"

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp8zW36sfoq

Langley said nothing.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSk3yEwiVmf

But she already knew the answer.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPMnSyMGl41

Bagwell moved ahead of him.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5C42lmiwrI

His tone was no longer polite—

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdKJuFRklcu

It was business.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXwB4PQPUJr

"Has it been recalled?" he asked.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVRUqgekKXM

The woman shook her head slowly.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡavKvL8ZvgD

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

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3qhPX9QzBd

Bagwell paused.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjiwUbDkh5Y

His jaw clenched slightly.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxYanQ6gfLL

He bit the corner of his lip.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyQ6Tf4arYQ

"By who?"

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU61X4bcADU

No reply.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡptBO9ITVkc

Only silence.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtYyx53otQn

And then—

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhxhXfe6Kqo

A single drop of water fell from the ceiling.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLVqoTrPKWa

The sound echoed across the cavernous room like a warning.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPX9PL5f3Bu

Sharp.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOIaXZ8XoiC

Cold.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAD5NP9hjHI

Langley turned his head instinctively.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHlr4dIqcpH

Behind him... there was nothing.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQU6ZJzjSpA

No door.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcq02T1FOnY

No light.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf7JQyKHmTJ

Only stone.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA8fG4XJ3Mn

The way back had collapsed into the architecture—

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6R3EZ7Wi0T

swallowed by design.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhday1z44DB

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

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXIsSXGazwp

Her presence dissolved.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTxg5k22C5t

But before she vanished completely, she whispered:

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGtJNtTIn7Z

"God is not here.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzXNzBZ6h5R

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

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHG0bJflHD0

Langley's hands trembled.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡITfMZR3WGR

He turned to Bagwell.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9RG6GoTVVt

"The way?"

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtjuXcofSWu

Bagwell pointed toward a narrow corridor—

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxIZ2TWBV4n

once used for baptisms,

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYc0ncF1Gh3

now just a scar in the brick.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPHtgQo7DBx

A path that only went one way.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7NK99o6Le8

The decision had been made long ago.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmxEsqajlZl

They were merely fulfilling it.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFTlgkUkJUH

There was no structure here.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVkafRZ3poq

Only presence.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfMwNMdnzEo

Dust no longer drifted in the air—

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOKzfLx0Acj

It hung in thought.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlQpkXW4r2A

It was warm.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzxXo3tfa5h

Not comforting—

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEjL9V0aXx7

but feverish.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyz1Amn3Z6G

A heat that didn't heal,

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfz86WpqL4m

just reminded.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvCR01726TG

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

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPKbAEUvtU1

He stepped forward.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrGWktKzjJN

And the floor—

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgMOpZwihQE

it sighed.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAUfHdcWtBT

A slow exhale from stone that remembered belief.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUKvM5tLb3e

The walls bled with damp.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkeZ1xAAOrI

Not natural moisture—

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxgvWGRdfcC

—but spoiled divinity.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdJoeWKnaIw

The altar still stood.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYUwbl89yei

But it no longer belonged to any one god.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqI2rube2W1

It had become a tombstone for all of them.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡch64PmydWf

Engraved in its cracked surface:

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmK5m9C4Qqf

The Cross,

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmiFCeVc9lh

The Star of David,

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6EhVShFPmd

The word Allah.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8TBdIt3K4V

Each layered over the other,

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSQcuoPPWJ0

each split and splintered,

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzEME0dC8wN

until they formed not a symbol—

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUhzGcVRqmX

but a wound.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHg3CHWIqr0

The stone pulsed beneath Langley's gaze.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtTuCoecJlL

A migraine carved in rock.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpNGlw0ws8M

Silent.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3WvhyAXmO1

Persistent.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb8a8aakZ3c

There were no prayers left in this place.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPFW9s1oSji

Only eyes.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZM2TdPA05p

Figures moved beneath the fractured light—

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnPrgJhUp29

but they were not naked.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT5xRbCNDCH

They were not human, either.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0dJIjw0Yrd

Not anymore.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC9CGTE3ql5

A woman walked across the stone in silence.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡla5VYNjiMh

She wore a nun's robe.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ58FscmDuFm

Her feet made no sound.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh7OqKrfNs9

Her eyes held no light.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDzDFqxcfzo

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

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7iwtNAHtpt

Another figure stood nearby—

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRfHLAmVZX5

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

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡischFmkH3e

Her arms were raised—

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5bF01nDYcQ

—but not in prayer.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0aigO4Y0Ue

In offering.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM2numpybQz

Not to a god.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0nIrG40Cov

But to debt.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfQwTrT4OTp

They did not speak.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvBtvZfJD8L

They did not blink.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSPpa6lFAtW

Their humanity had not been taken—

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGYdIi4VJgq

—it had melted.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI6s7zppclC

Abandoned like robes at a shoreline no one returned to.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ27bHyBItuP

These were not people.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrlTFS0pbvk

They were what faith had tried to forget.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM62b2XbIiO

Then, another figure emerged.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtC0tYupzN3

Closer.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfpOlhDTrwm

Slower.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSOF1SWcyix

A woman.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBDkfkUlSXw

She wore no makeup—

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMEhhVnkkUO

She wore a mask.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlHcLbSFYzn

But the mask didn't hide her.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOxASNOsIxG

It replaced her.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjfwTtksDnz

It wasn't fashioned like skin.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCfDQ3Pf6Im

It was shaped like belief.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡehkXtCEVBg

And in this place, they did not sell flesh.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPFyq6Mn5TB

They sold God.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3HfwWlpmZ5

Her breath was strange—

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNemQS3nGQ1

warm in one nostril, cold in the other.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0YISSsoDYR

Alive, yet split.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkpcVkdkE9Z

She stepped closer—

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjR26WCKTPG

not seductively, but ceremonially.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2mGsjT5wHt

Then she spoke.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8dSfOMbSiY

Her voice wasn't loud.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsSGMHhLFfU

But it struck like a hymn buried in ash:

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKfmXX1AP9g

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

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyvNP0m6d1D

Bagwell didn't flinch.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTF6yQTICBH

He barely even blinked.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAIByqOQBZo

He had expected the question.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGNVqDbeMQN

Worse—he had expected the indifference behind it.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAe7WABlcZf

His lips curled with dry mockery.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcRCINjo1pg

"Friday for me," he said.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBdlh1Q2OHD

"The crucified one.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx0ZpvQ2KPW

The other cried too much last time."

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEsNK7rse7h

He didn't say it to her.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN4ZFZCvzmL

He said it at Langley.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsDF9XS43I5

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

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX2QUu8arEX

Langley didn't answer.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJLXzJvBi33

Bagwell looked ahead again, voice low:

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0CikapYAjB

"They keep calling."

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTuIdsKvZYO

He exhaled.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA7vZZABm2W

Not smoke.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQgM54bm522

Fatigue.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgexSjljWij

"But when no one answers...

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwcbJTwHDN4

They don't pay the price.

31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5XQqAFyzxr

Just cheap prayers."

ns216.73.216.107da2

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