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.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxnUOdj3R30

Not a structure.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDecCN0Ag6Q

Not a monument.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNX6ulFxquz

But a wound in the skyline.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡonr2xaidZ5

A church.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyMO1Eu1HL6

Hunched.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVV51kFsrDS

Scarred.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6S6NunOay3

Breathing.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡinwXBYZeNS

Its dome sagged like a collapsed lung.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2pEPg9xahb

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

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFzmwTxXEG5

No cross adorned its peak.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVADtbasAPB

Only the shadow of where belief had once stood.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPuDE5DITDV

The closer they came, the more it grew—

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRjHUmr3NPC

Not in size, but in presence.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuDUK3YBEC4

Like it had always been waiting for them.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMxg5qQZgmi

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

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡox4QS4VG7u

Crucified on each—men in clerical robes.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQN9pKDBR8R

Their arms outstretched, hands twisted to hold nothing.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtv1LEW84wB

Their eyes were vacant.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡREkjqKGKOz

Their mouths ajar.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQxW0poyWHj

And carved into the forehead of one:

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNfNB2m94bU

"SILENCE IS LOUDER THAN GOD."

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgXr3CMPYpU

Langley stopped.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS1IMvjIuvN

His gaze faltered.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv30Re514xi

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

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYZpxUEtrC2

—he looked away.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8GNxc4wsNo

Bagwell did not.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY5j6gFcTvi

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

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTUDvA1NOum

He knew this path.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡas0Ns4BgXy

And he knew—

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyBbW8oZoxb

The past never stays buried.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRtY1SkgvSh

Not here.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1JGFPnvfeV

The entrance loomed before them—

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGYiTX0qmd2

not like a threshold, but a question.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl6DrkiJO97

One that did not demand an answer, only submission.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnsH2ulWd4W

Langley stood at the heavy door.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLBkWdE9HA1

He reached out.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP6qwdct5eA

His finger met cold stone.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡREKPcimA7N

Not just cold—bone-cold.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGhvOlTeUat

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

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbPWKkjOQJO

And the door... did not resist.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKyXVFSXZN5

It opened not with creak or groan,

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvSm0xObIOT

—but with acceptance.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn2NVDTgOfp

As if it had been waiting.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrzyMcK2cDe

The woman was already inside.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3rEKKZ21h8

She didn't speak.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgaVHjUDHLL

But her silence wasn't passive—

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7t7RfmQkjW

It was ritualistic.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlnVQS9cA0a

Not absence, but permission.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIs5GVjd10O

Not invitation, but debt.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcjEFKZ3lly

Langley's eyes met hers.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx1pmOYUGqB

But there were no eyes.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHQAQs9riMT

Just hollows where faith had dried out.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWoUqrUeuJs

And strangely—he didn't flinch.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGO0BWAUfFi

He didn't recoil.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDyLi4bVY09

It felt... familiar.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxqfSqne01N

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

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2oyMbsjjR4

"Maybe it started with me."

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0pkz6lrco5

Bagwell stepped forward.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZjCcuEZzO4

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

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbV6JPGGtrH

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

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡki4iU6Ug0j

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

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5yqByJotNH

The woman bowed.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd9oHtxKbD8

But not reverently.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyjN1oBpiYm

It was a motion too precise, too rehearsed—

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDn3jg1j543

a memorized gesture from a forgotten script.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZeCjA9fH6n

She whispered, trance-like:

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK2eQl2gBEr

"Passage... or change?"

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzotaqCVVxq

Bagwell didn't hesitate.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx17pYaC0gt

His voice was iron:

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVYmJWQvjs9

"Passage."

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF36Uz9PJSK

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

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNLNR9FBxzE

not to touch him, but to hover.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡapxaB6TeVp

Close enough to feel.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCzhtnNWuor

Her voice coiled like incense smoke:

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqbZCYDjIox

"One arm missing. No soul left."

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiXSLJqdWSf

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

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpLMIeGPjMK

Trying to win an Oscar, Plisskin?"

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡedHsIIHwwD

Langley said nothing.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy4pOMJTDnx

But she already knew the answer.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnCkFht48Pp

Bagwell moved ahead of him.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvqGkk5xLvb

His tone was no longer polite—

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1rqxWusWFL

It was business.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡENTAieYs14

"Has it been recalled?" he asked.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFbDict8Q46

The woman shook her head slowly.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYHGuHNFgho

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

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrnkS7AQhnp

Bagwell paused.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYjO7cSvwXu

His jaw clenched slightly.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb9ckaGCjS7

He bit the corner of his lip.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJJap5ZZPCk

"By who?"

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4mi8hocywd

No reply.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzEBS0MLMVJ

Only silence.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡweRfEWxf1P

And then—

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa0rGM7Zc2h

A single drop of water fell from the ceiling.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI5ho7d2HwN

The sound echoed across the cavernous room like a warning.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv7M2Blcf6U

Sharp.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPGFuABTLj3

Cold.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmVEwZ91jSG

Langley turned his head instinctively.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuunfQOCqjg

Behind him... there was nothing.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlEFWgpAMd3

No door.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf8WOBUFBOD

No light.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe6202QkOWF

Only stone.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLCY4d5TRFA

The way back had collapsed into the architecture—

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGXTN7xDybB

swallowed by design.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgigzrC2Yg4

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

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlPIVpRQ2Jz

Her presence dissolved.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJGz9iZWEZu

But before she vanished completely, she whispered:

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMi1q3rmyvN

"God is not here.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHOnYs8FsAt

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

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRIjSM7xKEU

Langley's hands trembled.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9T9UzoamRd

He turned to Bagwell.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrvj914LoM5

"The way?"

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ49GSK5ps8H

Bagwell pointed toward a narrow corridor—

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGQi3qPxj9Z

once used for baptisms,

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9AsHKmgazk

now just a scar in the brick.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡejWOKFfoCF

A path that only went one way.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDJTJT9VOyp

The decision had been made long ago.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8cghZJcALr

They were merely fulfilling it.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwF2CjYEbEH

There was no structure here.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡba1g9Q3EJx

Only presence.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLcVp08hnVr

Dust no longer drifted in the air—

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡezmJRsqENM

It hung in thought.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOHWnWa9213

It was warm.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcIVawTmTP5

Not comforting—

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRP3HS1qgE8

but feverish.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHLyKYAXInS

A heat that didn't heal,

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ982TwpKHBy

just reminded.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZKPCJkTujn

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

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfyzZ58cErs

He stepped forward.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgYIxk8hvr2

And the floor—

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQqmeMch5Zv

it sighed.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ09QlhGGyDh

A slow exhale from stone that remembered belief.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtJFcWteKuj

The walls bled with damp.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlVwTJKGvZq

Not natural moisture—

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvOWlscYR3O

—but spoiled divinity.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7tySbSKHfD

The altar still stood.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAL9gIedewO

But it no longer belonged to any one god.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhvZ3NXwEPY

It had become a tombstone for all of them.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa21mKYONCi

Engraved in its cracked surface:

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡagft2vkoYE

The Cross,

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlFpbY5rdGs

The Star of David,

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWBzEyqsRLx

The word Allah.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡps1kKIujBg

Each layered over the other,

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvrkAaerB5j

each split and splintered,

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSkObtsUZlk

until they formed not a symbol—

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIt7oPAtOIL

but a wound.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdC5CPGqLAi

The stone pulsed beneath Langley's gaze.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJsqm0oDl36

A migraine carved in rock.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlHTCJdpaQw

Silent.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqSJO8UJjyO

Persistent.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp10MgxWWGi

There were no prayers left in this place.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡThoXtMfKCF

Only eyes.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyIL4NjYZk7

Figures moved beneath the fractured light—

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj6V6SRN5fy

but they were not naked.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUeeWIiCRcF

They were not human, either.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmygfNcJRas

Not anymore.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAhXXJgUEkG

A woman walked across the stone in silence.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAp8Lsc8Dc7

She wore a nun's robe.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpcaElX8497

Her feet made no sound.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpR8fomkGJy

Her eyes held no light.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5gz3lSrRQu

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

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnFvYX8wDfC

Another figure stood nearby—

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU7Y9NPgxw4

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

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡErQu783JKn

Her arms were raised—

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSYYWVEqYCF

—but not in prayer.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoPa2SS7aeG

In offering.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsxILpyHE7l

Not to a god.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3xdcBFYkmp

But to debt.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgWmSpIZLmL

They did not speak.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHGwRd4c7B2

They did not blink.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtHMMymswEL

Their humanity had not been taken—

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYuQRiSdyYj

—it had melted.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFxb0LC0rH7

Abandoned like robes at a shoreline no one returned to.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfA2sFDggjW

These were not people.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq3XfWNKP7Z

They were what faith had tried to forget.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcN0HybO4ck

Then, another figure emerged.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkclSRMUejU

Closer.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfLGzaNF60b

Slower.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR6ceT9dqCh

A woman.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIKqSa15eae

She wore no makeup—

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKVG0owggnQ

She wore a mask.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4lJqTJrDm9

But the mask didn't hide her.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdwZMgYXeTY

It replaced her.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs1i4m85rdn

It wasn't fashioned like skin.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs0r29Ig9o2

It was shaped like belief.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvH05a8BD5W

And in this place, they did not sell flesh.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOWbzDEF6as

They sold God.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwXKtHmFuaq

Her breath was strange—

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxNMN9DgiKu

warm in one nostril, cold in the other.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0gGzLMtNXc

Alive, yet split.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA20qQp4FR3

She stepped closer—

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQLXKOv3j2U

not seductively, but ceremonially.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnr5WE2Ju2i

Then she spoke.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEY4uvZjd6D

Her voice wasn't loud.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK1NFTrWtBV

But it struck like a hymn buried in ash:

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh8I18fIJKi

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

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf7ruPf4MTw

Bagwell didn't flinch.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4C0bW0zSUf

He barely even blinked.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrdqJocqDlQ

He had expected the question.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡitJzPsKE98

Worse—he had expected the indifference behind it.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM6NATxbAVe

His lips curled with dry mockery.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzPMyc4LIPS

"Friday for me," he said.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh1dwOy0ZgA

"The crucified one.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6T4UNlXUbg

The other cried too much last time."

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡISM3DfhXed

He didn't say it to her.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOJwf9uVpdX

He said it at Langley.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp28vs4135l

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

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBz3TVOCeJC

Langley didn't answer.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ05KZ7Jpxyn

Bagwell looked ahead again, voice low:

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsSHsdhCLbE

"They keep calling."

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0UfMF8sD8p

He exhaled.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKU2LcBYJry

Not smoke.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWHFwRzfhJ1

Fatigue.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBilOlpGMQP

"But when no one answers...

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ89M65IytM8

They don't pay the price.

122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3FucaRzL1F

Just cheap prayers."

ns216.73.216.82da2

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