you are lost; you can never go home

[__badseed]

It was all wrong

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[__marvolo]

There was something refreshing about the warmth, after huddling alone in the cold for so long. It was good, he thought, to be able to sleep under a tree instead of shivering under stolen blankets, not wanting to start a fire that would attract attention. He dearly missed civilization, but he knew they weren't ready for him yet, that perhaps not all had forgotten that the pile of ash that had been left in his cell was allegedly once a man whom they all should fear.

But sometimes -- sometimes -- civilization came to him

[__badseed]

There was a slight gasp, a tiny gulp for air as if she were going underwater. The world spun dizzily around the girl, and she looked up and up. Time was on hold as she recognized him-- not just his face, the darkness inside of him that was like what she had once known, the darkness waiting back in the well.

"I know you," she said.

[__marvolo]

"Surely you don't," he said slowly, raising his eyebrows. "You must be very mistaken." Children often were. They were terribly dull like that.

[__badseed]

"Yes, I do," said Samara. "You're the man who hurt Jane. I visited her almost every day. I tried to spy on you a couple of times."

She stepped backwards. "You're not in jail. You're not dead."

Oh no, said a voice inside her. You let the dead in.