This story deals with childhood sexual abuse. If you are triggered by content related to that, do not read this story.

"Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks." (Matthew 12:34)

The gates to the compound stand open: heavy and wooden, in need of sanding and varnishing. Daryl stops his bike on the dirt track and squints through the evening haze at the sign just inside the sprawling property. Brethren of the Blessed Spring, in faded, peeling black letters. There used to be words beneath those, a Bible verse, maybe. But all that remains on the weathered board are specks of paint, faint grey smudges. On the gates, he notices, is the name of the compound, two letters on each gate so the name is displayed when they are closed: Elim. Daryl tries the word in his mind. It moves like something shutting, the syllables forbidding entrance.

Unable to get another job in the small town where he lives, Daryl goes to do maintenance work for the Brethren of the Blessed Spring in Colorado. Hoping for peace, for a routine without disturbance, he instead finds himself caught up in the lives of the community--particularly that of the head elder's wife.

Months into their life in the Commonwealth, Daryl reaches breaking point in his relationship with Carol over a conversation they've had one too many times.

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Daryl is temporary librarian at an exclusive private college in Georgia. Carol is a professor of English Literature at the same college, with a daughter in her second year of study. 

30 MAY--no chapter today, I'm sorry--I meant to get one up but writing has proved difficult the last two days. Tomorrow morning I am having eye surgery, and will likely struggle with a screen for a bit. Please know I'll be using all available eye energy to write ;) I'll update as soon as I can.

A conversation with Ezekiel compels Daryl to confront Carol about their past, and their future.

Carol is a successful tattooist specialising in scar coverups. Daryl wants a backpiece. 

To go in the dark with a light is to know the light.
To know the dark, go dark. Go without sight,
and find that the dark, too, blooms and sings,
and is traveled by dark feet and dark wings.

(Wendell Berry)

Daryl convinces Carol they don't need any of the usual sex toys to play.

"Left or right, dumbass. Merle’s voice growls in his head. Always so fuckin’ slow. Jesus. To his left, the trees roll out, an endless echo of each other. To his right, the same; but a bush of white flowers is growing at the base of a cedar a little way further, the petals wide, the centres butter yellow, and so he chooses right, because he needs a sign and this is it." 

Sometimes, even a broken world brings you something perfect. 

"Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain." (Isaiah 40:4)

Single parenthood to a traumatised child, a lingering wrist injury, and a nerve-wracking return to orchestra life - Carol isn't sure she's ready to cope with any of it, especially when someone she hoped was gone from her life makes a re-entry; but she finds unexpected solace in the passageways of the concert hall, in the person of a reticent artist completing a carving across the back of the stage.

The fifth time it happens, she knows she has broken whatever was left between them; but it was a flimsy thing by now anyway, frail as ashes, and even though he looks at her like it’s a betrayal, she cannot pretend that she agrees with him.

In the aftermath of Henry's death, Carol wakes at night beside the King, calling Daryl's name.

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.