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.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUWDXqn2Ffq

Not a structure.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡugLpCVizSs

Not a monument.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqeIjbTWcjK

But a wound in the skyline.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqChZHvLdk7

A church.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIH4MkrI81r

Hunched.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjOwzAZW2R6

Scarred.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGsUjjoot8k

Breathing.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJCpG8PS5MZ

Its dome sagged like a collapsed lung.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTkgMV9MPZH

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

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs5vd7oqITI

No cross adorned its peak.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnY3cOFTkLX

Only the shadow of where belief had once stood.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡya7q4GGENV

The closer they came, the more it grew—

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF20SW90Vcp

Not in size, but in presence.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAUzp9KDtL1

Like it had always been waiting for them.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3tvVQBbNrz

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

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsLkdg3zyTO

Crucified on each—men in clerical robes.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6AzdbsqJND

Their arms outstretched, hands twisted to hold nothing.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6WrXe95OPw

Their eyes were vacant.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuRCKTPDNzF

Their mouths ajar.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZuqYzHTyB9

And carved into the forehead of one:

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrEpVrY0AWG

"SILENCE IS LOUDER THAN GOD."

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGUOJzxREgx

Langley stopped.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4jngDJsTYd

His gaze faltered.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFHkUlXYCl5

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

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWZMJG1ly4V

—he looked away.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFFNnl9CLsX

Bagwell did not.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1BkSgRF5jD

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

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLX9mZeIBoM

He knew this path.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9ReymgSnJF

And he knew—

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyP7AlQZlbT

The past never stays buried.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLSdj7Xorv4

Not here.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡppCXiKindS

The entrance loomed before them—

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGl7KPlsls2

not like a threshold, but a question.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡawr0w67XeK

One that did not demand an answer, only submission.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDRBlP76A2f

Langley stood at the heavy door.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs7hmdhB8WZ

He reached out.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCEHD3dMDOw

His finger met cold stone.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsYAKBJmIWR

Not just cold—bone-cold.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsfqANFyzjR

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

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy7T2T5nHp3

And the door... did not resist.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡssoL96OWgE

It opened not with creak or groan,

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoKIByGMJKZ

—but with acceptance.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCXOMFI63z6

As if it had been waiting.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaQVJVoOcHW

The woman was already inside.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgOmRhrDMJe

She didn't speak.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvSqJIWzZwu

But her silence wasn't passive—

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxpvlcHYek7

It was ritualistic.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrV95eLYwqQ

Not absence, but permission.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2wbSxCnUuD

Not invitation, but debt.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlBB1GdZ1A0

Langley's eyes met hers.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeTTSIqqCfb

But there were no eyes.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYNnTx7Uyq3

Just hollows where faith had dried out.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTBfNlwTdMA

And strangely—he didn't flinch.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdm9rUCI5Sx

He didn't recoil.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9U3VgYBUbw

It felt... familiar.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcB5e6YNga4

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

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTInMpKQdZb

"Maybe it started with me."

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ51BuGlfw6m

Bagwell stepped forward.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrD42sP5LmM

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

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ88INTpGULf

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

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo393X3OyEh

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

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhWCYbCxluU

The woman bowed.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2Orabb7v2U

But not reverently.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeqIisXwB9H

It was a motion too precise, too rehearsed—

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5Q3TktqQtA

a memorized gesture from a forgotten script.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrRwaLE5RKC

She whispered, trance-like:

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnyql2ctTDx

"Passage... or change?"

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc4sYvDGR9i

Bagwell didn't hesitate.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzeBODSTwBX

His voice was iron:

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnnAA4cku1J

"Passage."

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5WgoIVPc8Y

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

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGU7LidkDEz

not to touch him, but to hover.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq5X2893C7z

Close enough to feel.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNT9uP4yq5B

Her voice coiled like incense smoke:

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCZmgbirHIV

"One arm missing. No soul left."

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRLhZXS5Myk

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

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdmKaWPhD6e

Trying to win an Oscar, Plisskin?"

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaMOvWjt9Ul

Langley said nothing.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6j30OODDcv

But she already knew the answer.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt3uPmOGHV6

Bagwell moved ahead of him.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbN0CVZOsG0

His tone was no longer polite—

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLPAYVupylA

It was business.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjTBA4T4Z89

"Has it been recalled?" he asked.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIlqQdJ9sJL

The woman shook her head slowly.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKKYO96W9Mt

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

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFZ4MdPS63p

Bagwell paused.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx75tXaDDZc

His jaw clenched slightly.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEuIfRWibeL

He bit the corner of his lip.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTRlu6qJeJz

"By who?"

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsW6x9a1aUz

No reply.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZPSx7lcBk0

Only silence.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgOx5muvb8R

And then—

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRRJVIwoKcO

A single drop of water fell from the ceiling.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZHIjwaNLM2

The sound echoed across the cavernous room like a warning.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjBq8MSyTCI

Sharp.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuaotoo4BPw

Cold.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡffwbZ1Mekb

Langley turned his head instinctively.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN5WlPBNkcD

Behind him... there was nothing.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw91KREcuKO

No door.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwbaBjiSFZo

No light.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS1KHUF1vr6

Only stone.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv4rWJlzNAz

The way back had collapsed into the architecture—

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx3g49AGxPG

swallowed by design.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9MgcfmvqBu

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

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmhjoyarwSK

Her presence dissolved.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCKRrEfAcXs

But before she vanished completely, she whispered:

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGVTY8FRssB

"God is not here.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkVNrMHNfXt

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

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrlKnTIvAIC

Langley's hands trembled.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjMhFzKq5yT

He turned to Bagwell.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdpRowDviUY

"The way?"

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8gP1Oya73J

Bagwell pointed toward a narrow corridor—

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK5vOQQdPSq

once used for baptisms,

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9PU39t1ISC

now just a scar in the brick.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6vGaUxnOOZ

A path that only went one way.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzaXTRutJwP

The decision had been made long ago.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEWvSlKlO8P

They were merely fulfilling it.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9CpcxzxCsR

There was no structure here.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmCpzgJGlYb

Only presence.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs5gpXdlyLy

Dust no longer drifted in the air—

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWcQztfT5Nw

It hung in thought.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiqrp9Db5iv

It was warm.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkPt4vVyOn6

Not comforting—

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFpciUptuJd

but feverish.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9LEZ4gcXkM

A heat that didn't heal,

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRaxsBv6qqf

just reminded.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9H8LyRvAf2

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

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfeL7deOis6

He stepped forward.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOwmxHf69Gj

And the floor—

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJw4OfXJVQt

it sighed.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDXie4UCokA

A slow exhale from stone that remembered belief.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcNVCVhZikc

The walls bled with damp.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyRsCJJDt8w

Not natural moisture—

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG4ZG7NVVW2

—but spoiled divinity.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe2NJTtHhyJ

The altar still stood.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5mNUrJihGA

But it no longer belonged to any one god.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNp6E5uSRb6

It had become a tombstone for all of them.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYWAkBtnzNP

Engraved in its cracked surface:

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdfoyQ9SDTF

The Cross,

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ71wmpmr9wJ

The Star of David,

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQUGhIf0nSm

The word Allah.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZPUkRExIMf

Each layered over the other,

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVMOgSyDFm3

each split and splintered,

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgALHw6jbcb

until they formed not a symbol—

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVU3PBcZImR

but a wound.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrdAhTGAoND

The stone pulsed beneath Langley's gaze.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVI5oCLOrBS

A migraine carved in rock.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN4G95zXee3

Silent.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIhukHImi9y

Persistent.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXwQ9ec099J

There were no prayers left in this place.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmkPSE934O1

Only eyes.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRxURejMiAd

Figures moved beneath the fractured light—

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQejmgBipIA

but they were not naked.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOwsqFBPeuV

They were not human, either.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjN6NoYDryp

Not anymore.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfPXBdXLXH1

A woman walked across the stone in silence.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgvpT45JlM0

She wore a nun's robe.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbjD2CWdNAA

Her feet made no sound.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2YqZ9lrUZf

Her eyes held no light.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbUybSGK9Ga

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

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoOCQ30HPBW

Another figure stood nearby—

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvb3WdX4JKf

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

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtcCSYwiuSu

Her arms were raised—

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNekY9CwMH5

—but not in prayer.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoVsqNsAc1t

In offering.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxW8UsXad1D

Not to a god.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYMCi3kD18D

But to debt.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKQSzDx0sus

They did not speak.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡosuPWV2H1X

They did not blink.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgwbXDnCc09

Their humanity had not been taken—

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXOypeTf9dr

—it had melted.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaD7cUxu1fO

Abandoned like robes at a shoreline no one returned to.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq1FgaTPiy9

These were not people.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIAQkT0Go5c

They were what faith had tried to forget.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmGZNE0Z5jA

Then, another figure emerged.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4PgdS1iAd8

Closer.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVGKIzGbkUa

Slower.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHFK6MiN6tx

A woman.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdLce8yOAKX

She wore no makeup—

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxcLsvrzB1K

She wore a mask.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4769MwaUSa

But the mask didn't hide her.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvZTH4oK2id

It replaced her.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhLULGsEqmV

It wasn't fashioned like skin.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvOKEJ7GoN7

It was shaped like belief.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTdBu1SNNVb

And in this place, they did not sell flesh.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnhPB0LRrWF

They sold God.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡItJn5ojWPb

Her breath was strange—

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfQMr1MKw3Y

warm in one nostril, cold in the other.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbFnUgEMEQL

Alive, yet split.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd6lXjksrvF

She stepped closer—

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzyZFplE4Vv

not seductively, but ceremonially.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJq8i16VYcl

Then she spoke.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7TNSw713sM

Her voice wasn't loud.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOCpZjO09TD

But it struck like a hymn buried in ash:

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr8s0ccUx1d

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

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvTNljuF9lb

Bagwell didn't flinch.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIQmp5gDMpY

He barely even blinked.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIg6aLj9KfT

He had expected the question.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRnNsrcASbb

Worse—he had expected the indifference behind it.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8VsrTPjsyI

His lips curled with dry mockery.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaE54UuC43l

"Friday for me," he said.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG7sqDzvamG

"The crucified one.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0WnNhK0V3F

The other cried too much last time."

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAcI4IfMqSq

He didn't say it to her.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0btOEw20aa

He said it at Langley.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ78Isup0eTG

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

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeUukmWVzDm

Langley didn't answer.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ02OE1D5wlv

Bagwell looked ahead again, voice low:

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNO2YuHSY9e

"They keep calling."

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF4FgV6jymJ

He exhaled.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡETcvWmBlQ2

Not smoke.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAsQqE6sYIv

Fatigue.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd8Iqfzv7Pa

"But when no one answers...

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG0j7VVdibr

They don't pay the price.

51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ04gcEncv7b

Just cheap prayers."

ns216.73.216.251da2

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