Interlude 1: Beneath all your darkest fears

Looking through the glass, the world watches and waits outside. Breathing to cloud the surface. Blowing to chill the air. Breathless with anticipation. Inviting souls to come out and play. Waving them on with a warm welcome without saying a word about what’s to come.

A windshield playing the flat scenery they pass. A bay window picturing the woods and the rolling mountains beyond them. A dormer presenting the vacant road and the quiet town it sits alongside.

Longing, fear, and curiosity, all barely scratching the surface. Desperate to break and crash, yet stuck.

The air shifts, the forecast suddenly puzzling those watching.

It’s as if the sky itself knows what’s coming.

Those who watch it don’t and can’t know. They can still see the sky.

They can still picture some hue of hope.