Dated October 28th

[intrinsicworth]

Comments

[intrinsicworth]

Glen's smile thinned. "Of course, as you say."

"Ah, excellent. I'm glad to hear that. And Mr. Flagg, do you believe in spooks? Or are you merely amused by those who do? I don't particularly, but I hear from others that the Island may make a believer of me in due course. What do you think?"

[the_adversary]

"I do I do I do believe in spooks," Flagg cried, in a weirdly good imitation of the Cowardly Lion. He chuckled at his own joke, nodding along. "But I do," he said. "I absolutely do. I don't think you can be in my line of work and neglect to believe in them. On the contrary, I'd say I'm amused by those who don't. Shows a lack of imagination, I think. And besides-- they're always the first to die in the scary movies." He grinned, showing off an impressive, if entirely human, range of teeth.

[intrinsicworth]

"Indeed, and yet the mind is excellently fluid isn't it? As is belief, both willing to change at a moments notice according to time, place, and opportunity. We fear when we need to fear and believe when we need to believe. But I suppose I don't have to tell you that. You're a man who understands the nature of people quite well. The slightest hint, the shadow on the wall as it were, and a person is likely to jump out of their skin until they turn the light on. What is the reality? Is it the spook or ourselves?" Glen countered.

[the_adversary]

"Oh, the spook," Flagg assured him. "It is very much the spook. I'm sure there are plenty of folk here on the island who could tell you that much. I once knew a fellow-- a priest, actually-- who believed that his faith, his belief, could protect him from a monster." He frowned, shaking his head thoughtfully. "But Father Callahan, he just didn't have the spiritual chops, I guess. I wonder if anybody does. 'Cos you know, when you get right down to it, my, what sharp teeth the monsters have. And human beings are such fragile things."

[intrinsicworth]

"Belief isn't exactly a shield or a sword," Glen said seriously, "and the world has got plenty of teeth left to its own devices without adding monsters to it," he added, as if he had said what makes you so special. "We humans are like that. Capable of a great deal of good and evil alike, but ultimately extremely fragile and, heh, brief," Glen said, amused with mortality as only a man who had made peace with his own death could be.