For weeks, I tried to leave him out of everything.95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6H4DSEE5rH
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I changed my route. I took taxis after dark.95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡErHhG9EFKi
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Eventually, I moved to another part of the city, to a building on a quiet street with a broken lamp on the corner.95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcMFBaxqg5N
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I chose it because of the broken lamp.95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNBdRdPCWsM
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Months passed.95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqKfj3lsSUS
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One evening, I got off the bus near my new flat. The rain had started while I was travelling, but this time I had an umbrella.95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLT8PT2zcxp
95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXEdtuW0OAP
People came down the steps behind me. A couple crossed towards the shops. The bus pulled away.95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJKjpZFijSJ
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I opened my umbrella.95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM5S2foxnwi
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The lamp on the corner was lit.95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhnxUNR2saW
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Black shoes waited beneath it.95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeOcrTGQ94Z
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My eyes travelled upward, along the impossibly long trousers, the pale waistcoat, the narrow coat, until they reached the tall silk hat.95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHvXAck7R8B
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The heads floated behind his shoulder. There were more of them now. Near the front, a hood was still caught around the back of one skull.95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2NkfZHJY8H
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He was smiling too.95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUjNZRUS5wl
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In his other hand, he held the loose string. The limp, pale thing still hung from the end of it.95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe9oQxajSU8
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Still empty. Still waiting to be filled.95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9C3Fa9l9BO
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He lifted it when he saw me, the way you might lift a hand to wave at an old friend across a station.95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlSltMUSjeN
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The hollow loops glowed red.95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGEORfBvLrD
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“There you are,” he said, delighted.95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcYFlBQVVQn
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And I finally understood.95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv41H3ZsClm
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He hadn’t saved me at the crossing.95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX7OEzGwwiF
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He had reserved me.
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I ran for the door of my building. I didn’t look at the corner again. He didn’t follow; he never does. He doesn’t need to.95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGySuZ7qJkT
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He simply waits under the next light.
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I have learned a few things since then.95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBDHBA3V1k5
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He is never under the light you are standing in.95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfjsA3SDIUs
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Only the one you are walking towards.95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXRFaJnh7uw
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So I don’t walk towards lights any more.95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaU97rcXovQ
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I keep one lamp on in the living room, and I stayed within the light. I have taken the bulbs out of the hallway.95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD7BrpzMtdY
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I cook in the dark. I have not been out after sunset in eleven days.95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXAlKnC8cnG
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Tonight, the bathroom tap started dripping.95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvus3LTGgRc
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I have been listening to it for an hour.95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡReSX5J46Qf
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The bathroom is at the end of the hallway. The hallway is dark. The bathroom is dark.95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJbUfTCbbdg
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I need to go.95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUZGOq0xeQJ
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I am standing at the edge of my lamp now, on the last bit of floor it reaches, looking down the hallway at the bathroom door.95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIZcxhsEXva
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The switch is just inside the frame. I know exactly where it is. I could reach in without stepping through.
I haven’t touched it.95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSYwiwyhiBR
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Because a minute ago, under the bathroom door, a thin line of yellow light came on by itself.95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRNHcy7sHtN
95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX91tdJO3SS
And from the other side of the door, very softly, I can hear the sound of someone patiently sorting strings.95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE7jZALx2a3
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“Heh… heh…”95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoNj5QJeZKh
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The voice is beside my ear. It always is.95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjScj5dtcnz
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“Do mind the tiles, little one. They’re ever so slippery when they’re wet.”95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhhMQsjrxbA
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The tap drips.95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXLe4lPVEFa
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“It would be such a pity to fall.”95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2R3hfdZwLm
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A pause. The little wet catch in his breath.95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyY3Gg4t2pl
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“I should so hate for anything to spoil it.”
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and then Add to home screen.