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.

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Not a structure.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1QrJppvNQq

Not a monument.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyPK0h3Lzik

But a wound in the skyline.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjCCy0V2QSI

A church.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡasNnY9KDRU

Hunched.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡONEDRrEvO9

Scarred.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIGZoa3L50N

Breathing.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgEUznYx6vf

Its dome sagged like a collapsed lung.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHaVhIrialg

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

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfAyn3b2iZw

No cross adorned its peak.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ89f1zCFH0A

Only the shadow of where belief had once stood.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8YesMcPM8L

The closer they came, the more it grew—

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEqMSo5lPBd

Not in size, but in presence.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡULHsCW85kU

Like it had always been waiting for them.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuatssZwAdO

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

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYA7uCLQbZ8

Crucified on each—men in clerical robes.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaaXXA1HcVr

Their arms outstretched, hands twisted to hold nothing.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdewkcwUsUe

Their eyes were vacant.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEZMuvfQnoh

Their mouths ajar.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBxvspagWS9

And carved into the forehead of one:

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOH7qMf2qSh

"SILENCE IS LOUDER THAN GOD."

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvPWrhOulDK

Langley stopped.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZJrbiRLSWE

His gaze faltered.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdYwE7nxcUx

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

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvfluIW6Nkv

—he looked away.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJFhk0U8xmu

Bagwell did not.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFTcvLryTr7

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

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuVrCYUliMh

He knew this path.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaEtmIWV5gg

And he knew—

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqI0VIgPkNk

The past never stays buried.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoylcw2dsKd

Not here.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxjQOUlEbGb

The entrance loomed before them—

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3v3jW0BITH

not like a threshold, but a question.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡND3Yn83m1l

One that did not demand an answer, only submission.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt45TXjEjKb

Langley stood at the heavy door.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnlF5iOsrwI

He reached out.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOidDnqWDMq

His finger met cold stone.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxZziwnqV4r

Not just cold—bone-cold.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBicDnMfcKM

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

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7ULKffDMTQ

And the door... did not resist.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ43aJpP56vM

It opened not with creak or groan,

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡygMo8XQRO7

—but with acceptance.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡToUzkjrQBR

As if it had been waiting.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRWpIiYj4oT

The woman was already inside.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2HJeCb6Xdn

She didn't speak.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAdBK54QXbh

But her silence wasn't passive—

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuoT8VR5aFm

It was ritualistic.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2K06jG59kN

Not absence, but permission.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvuRoGy9yd7

Not invitation, but debt.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCXt8k12t39

Langley's eyes met hers.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ18q3EjixNL

But there were no eyes.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDoAz7GGbNK

Just hollows where faith had dried out.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1coJkEsNGx

And strangely—he didn't flinch.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9jcfHE07e5

He didn't recoil.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxHTzj6Ei7n

It felt... familiar.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZPc5C3zmCz

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

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP1rc8NPOeb

"Maybe it started with me."

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxzH16JUT8o

Bagwell stepped forward.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU7pOIFDJF8

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

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡef7ji44ftb

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

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ6L9NW2ZKc

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

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdtGCAzRkOU

The woman bowed.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjg0OeZ4rQh

But not reverently.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU6qnss80aH

It was a motion too precise, too rehearsed—

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIEBc3eeXRd

a memorized gesture from a forgotten script.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHuPU0Yl9mr

She whispered, trance-like:

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnU0nrIu76f

"Passage... or change?"

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYov0hZb5wg

Bagwell didn't hesitate.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3I8edzgDRN

His voice was iron:

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT2WV1avLR0

"Passage."

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD7ePAdsurR

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

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR62dFOd4WT

not to touch him, but to hover.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4XmnnU0upv

Close enough to feel.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡECY0BwkRKB

Her voice coiled like incense smoke:

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcUtyy2oYrH

"One arm missing. No soul left."

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFlfnOWjALh

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

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHJ9OEfxUfA

Trying to win an Oscar, Plisskin?"

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIt0R04Jx03

Langley said nothing.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡegNbulYxCL

But she already knew the answer.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7lVl55yT97

Bagwell moved ahead of him.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLpemL5bXS5

His tone was no longer polite—

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYL6Rv82K5m

It was business.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH9reMAvNCu

"Has it been recalled?" he asked.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtIIIwrcP7R

The woman shook her head slowly.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpoyhZbUfZS

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

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD8BSX40kFI

Bagwell paused.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlt3RXnaOuu

His jaw clenched slightly.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtmln4kdre6

He bit the corner of his lip.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsIPmy6TRyd

"By who?"

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgqosWwP0rU

No reply.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe4A5lpoBs0

Only silence.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3WsYrwPU1z

And then—

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDpi46So5Kf

A single drop of water fell from the ceiling.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGGJQzSbCh3

The sound echoed across the cavernous room like a warning.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQYaQwHOa9c

Sharp.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwAqW1okbcA

Cold.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsToUNMGexZ

Langley turned his head instinctively.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeRzUhGE1fs

Behind him... there was nothing.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIapbahsKox

No door.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7czRvRZXtO

No light.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzi8OFJg5Ry

Only stone.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc4oUuCEYSf

The way back had collapsed into the architecture—

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIsZgweX3ZV

swallowed by design.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9YgAgApDYs

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

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhIZikPVhOu

Her presence dissolved.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwFdsabeYUS

But before she vanished completely, she whispered:

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtbBkOwlsU0

"God is not here.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFdhI2pjjUj

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

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJvpyGAszlI

Langley's hands trembled.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6p8e89aEdW

He turned to Bagwell.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIfGYid2PM9

"The way?"

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhM6Xuy8N6Z

Bagwell pointed toward a narrow corridor—

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwFMNaFyXs7

once used for baptisms,

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpvS8QEB5Ar

now just a scar in the brick.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC7ZfUwByHM

A path that only went one way.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXUVkMKCFY6

The decision had been made long ago.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW4uzFXAggc

They were merely fulfilling it.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX73G42CuWC

There was no structure here.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGRIPhN78D6

Only presence.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIZKC5TIbA0

Dust no longer drifted in the air—

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9WkqGlVCNn

It hung in thought.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6aWef1iHhG

It was warm.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKgE0XJEWPE

Not comforting—

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb9HKcKZ3u6

but feverish.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeLjLAyPcy7

A heat that didn't heal,

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH1njaeaPkh

just reminded.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr6xCCUOM4O

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

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNjgJb6UkF5

He stepped forward.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGEMxlHgJxw

And the floor—

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCguXKEyKZv

it sighed.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGeVg5YSe8o

A slow exhale from stone that remembered belief.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcbh7lKIZrb

The walls bled with damp.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAhAOAPwEEa

Not natural moisture—

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLivgZpaMg8

—but spoiled divinity.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVpTbIlqE8f

The altar still stood.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp4CEa4kVv4

But it no longer belonged to any one god.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2iHHTxVgnV

It had become a tombstone for all of them.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrJNZcZUBZX

Engraved in its cracked surface:

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpmDh31ZK16

The Cross,

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGUXKntFsdy

The Star of David,

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtXvNBGPKKh

The word Allah.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6t7XNB6k2P

Each layered over the other,

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpmJJ8Vkgoq

each split and splintered,

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR2kTziWGTv

until they formed not a symbol—

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡObVznT89Ob

but a wound.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc1Nggz440c

The stone pulsed beneath Langley's gaze.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZswe1gEskZ

A migraine carved in rock.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8xdN8Z6Tra

Silent.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx1iRbSVwJH

Persistent.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzXuzE354Km

There were no prayers left in this place.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡatsehwHNXB

Only eyes.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkR8sCAWojT

Figures moved beneath the fractured light—

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbKBvqoY7B9

but they were not naked.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOWSZHov7AH

They were not human, either.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgwLBXGfuIG

Not anymore.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWQupnom4SX

A woman walked across the stone in silence.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyOv7JBlIJF

She wore a nun's robe.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkxvm8v1JA7

Her feet made no sound.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeAyRE9iZ5f

Her eyes held no light.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzissX1NrTW

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

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNRZoGn1K6X

Another figure stood nearby—

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdEeMes3iBy

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

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPNacOmvoEc

Her arms were raised—

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgKkTkbFPGc

—but not in prayer.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTWDp32BqBa

In offering.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpD0vunAD21

Not to a god.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkRP6cN0Ur2

But to debt.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7AfxKkBtOw

They did not speak.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3tOnm37Rsw

They did not blink.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡswtfKhbsh8

Their humanity had not been taken—

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn9D7M3u80d

—it had melted.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7wbBtyDecx

Abandoned like robes at a shoreline no one returned to.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2haC1VhCjZ

These were not people.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUSVeeODQnN

They were what faith had tried to forget.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6zgtAv9nr2

Then, another figure emerged.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9twFxuxhZm

Closer.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8a90dPBRZM

Slower.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8XJo4FRyTI

A woman.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiCX3ooBfoH

She wore no makeup—

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnQZNCkgchc

She wore a mask.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJl2DdUcOXC

But the mask didn't hide her.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8KFF7R9bzA

It replaced her.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWky3m7NazP

It wasn't fashioned like skin.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXWrvLUghRd

It was shaped like belief.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0rtArk8FvU

And in this place, they did not sell flesh.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNZ2JG774rc

They sold God.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSDboMsAfGC

Her breath was strange—

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeZNNmqf4xr

warm in one nostril, cold in the other.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEnSBKQg3aC

Alive, yet split.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLTsxbeMt8z

She stepped closer—

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPsIQ05NbQk

not seductively, but ceremonially.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ80HL8TKNSw

Then she spoke.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnVr659eXvx

Her voice wasn't loud.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡprJbrlrdqz

But it struck like a hymn buried in ash:

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQkEKRR0m6e

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

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAI5xGpkJsn

Bagwell didn't flinch.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ412O80UYM2

He barely even blinked.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp5U2kEN3vX

He had expected the question.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF9xMTOYVLb

Worse—he had expected the indifference behind it.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbFLlbs66Ut

His lips curled with dry mockery.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSLO3Sx0Xdm

"Friday for me," he said.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4omANnMSKL

"The crucified one.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrkq3e9bM28

The other cried too much last time."

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡplHrpjBnxD

He didn't say it to her.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxQmzlgJ4vn

He said it at Langley.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGEV35UKEpk

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

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbFplr4vkyc

Langley didn't answer.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhgNOKIEHRR

Bagwell looked ahead again, voice low:

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR46OUXfD6M

"They keep calling."

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQyeA7dkRY9

He exhaled.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgnP9lkBeo2

Not smoke.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD4ShzDHRoD

Fatigue.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqmvT5J8hzI

"But when no one answers...

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡze031oA6kY

They don't pay the price.

96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡztROylxa5w

Just cheap prayers."

ns216.73.216.153da2

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