(Untitled)

[beentodamascus]

It took him twenty four hours to admit it to himself. Twenty four hours to admit that Angela wasn't coming back. He'd left Coraline sleeping quietly and he'd padded through the trees to a familiar door. For a long time, he hadn't even known why he was there. He made enough noise walking up to the hut that, if Sarah was awake, she'd know that he

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[thedescent_into]

When she isn't dreaming, Sarah Carter sleeps like the dead. Unmoving and silent, but at the first noise, her eyes snap open and she's alert, as if she'd never been asleep at all. It's habit, now, to be so careful. No amount of therapy will flush that out of her.

She's already pulling on a robe when the knock comes, peaking through a thin slat by the door and letting out a sigh.

Pulling open the door and standing in the gape, she immediately knows something is wrong. "What's happened?"

[beentodamascus]

It had been two days, maybe, since Adam had slept well, and, even though he was trained, even though he'd once done that for a living, it showed in the lines of his face.

"Angela," he said, his voice raw. "Angela's gone, Sarah."

[thedescent_into]

Oh.

There's no surprise. Only a kind of hollow, tired resignation. Oh, another one. One after another.

Sarah steps away from the door and says, "Come inside." He hasn't slept in days. She knows, because she'd done the very same when Beth was gone.

[beentodamascus]

Adam slipped by her without another word. He didn't remember the last time he'd changed the clothes he was standing up in. Couldn't remember when he'd sat still for more than a few minutes.

He'd told her he loved her and now he'd lost her. He'd lost another woman all over again.

He stood there in the middle of Sarah's home numbly, his hands hanging at his sides, and he had nothing that he knew how to stay.