The brass is tarnished. You hold it in your left hand. The metal is cold. It bites into your skin. You do not let go. The light is low. The gas lamps hiss. They burn with a sickly yellow glow. The air is thick. It smells of wax and old paper. And sweat. You are in the office. The walls are high. The wood is dark. It smells of varnish. You sit at the desk. Your chair is stiff. You have been sitting for hours. Or perhaps days. Time has no weight here. It is a fluid thing. It pools in the corners. It drips from the ceiling. You look at the object. It is a small box. It is made of oak. The lid is closed. Your fingers tremble. They shake against the wood. You try to stop them. You cannot. Your body is a machine that has failed. The gears are stripped. The springs are broken. You are old. You feel it in your bones. The ache is constant. A low hum. It vibrates in your teeth. You are a man of the law. You have served for thirty years. You have broken men. You have broken spirits. You have held the line. The line is blurring now. The ink runs. The pages are wet. You look at the door. It is closed. The lock is heavy. Iron. It is solid. It is safe. Outside, the world moves. Carts roll on cobblestones. Horses whinny. Voices shout in the street. The noise is distant. Muffled. Like a dream. You focus on your breath. In. Out. In. Out. The rhythm is slow. Deliberate. You count the seconds. One. Two. Three. The number is endless. You remember your brother. Thomas. He was young. He was bright. He had eyes like clear water. He did not look away. He never looked away. He saw things. He pointed them out. He was right. You were wrong. You know this now. The knowledge is a stone in your gut. It sinks. It pulls you down. You opened the file. You read the name. Thomas Ashworth. You saw the evidence. You saw the lies. You signed the order. You sent him to the cell. The cell was cold. The walls were damp. The bed was a slab of stone. He died there. Not of sickness. Not of age. Of silence. Of the dark. You held the box. You opened it. Inside was a letter. It was yellowed. The ink was faded. You read it once. You read it again. You read it until the words lost meaning. The words were simple. They were direct. They spoke of duty. They spoke of honor. They spoke of you. They praised you. They thanked you. They called you a friend. This was the weapon. This was the poison. You believed them. You believed the system. You believed the hierarchy. The chain of command is a chain of iron. It binds. It binds the strong to the weak. It binds the guilt to the act. You are the link. You are the hinge. You hold the door shut. You keep the monster in. Or is the monster out? You are not sure. The distinction is lost. The fog has swallowed it. You look at the clock on the wall. The hands are still. They have stopped. The second hand is frozen. It points to twelve. The hour is unknown. The minute is unknown. The time is yours. You own it now. You have taken it. You have seized it from the hands of fate. You will not return it. You will not yield. You will hold it until you die. You will hold it until the bones turn to dust. You will hold it until the name is forgotten. But you will not forget. You are the keeper. You are the warden. You are the ghost in the machine. You are the error in the code. The code is perfect. The code is clean. The code is white. You are the stain. You are the rust. You are the rot. But you are also the anchor. You hold the ship in place. You keep it from drifting. You keep it from sinking. Without you, it would break. Without you, the chaos would reign. You are the barrier. You are the wall. You are the stone. You are the silence. You are the breath between the words. You are the pause in the music. You are the shadow that defines the light. You are the darkness that gives the star its shape. You are the void that holds the universe together. You are the nothing that makes the something real. You are the end. You are the beginning. You are the center. You are the edge. You are the whole. You are the part. You are the one. You are the many. You are the self. You are the other. You are the man. You are the law. You are the truth. You are the lie. You are the good. You are the evil. You are the sacrifice. You are the victim. You are the killer. You are the saint. You are the sinner. You are the brother. You are the killer. You are the friend. You are the enemy. You are the father. You are the son. You are the mother. You are the child. You are the love. You are the hate. You are the fire. You are the ice. You are the storm. You are the calm. You are the voice. You are the silence. You are the word. You are the space. You are the ink. You are the paper. You are the pen. You are the hand. You are the mind. You are the soul. You are the body. You are the breath. You are the blood. You are the heart. You are the lung. You are the liver. You are the kidney. You are the bone. You are the skin. You are the hair. You are the eye. You are the ear. You are the nose. You are the mouth. You are the tongue. You are the tooth. You are the jaw. You are the neck. You are the shoulder. You are the arm. You are the elbow. You are the wrist. You are the finger. You are the nail. You are the chest. You are the rib. You are the spine. You are the hip. You are the leg. You are the knee. You are the ankle. You are the foot. You are the toe. You are the shadow. You are the light. You are the dark. You are the dawn. You are the dusk. You are the noon. You are the night. You are the sun. You are the moon. You are the star. You are the planet. You are the earth. You are the sky. You are the air. You are the water. You are the fire. You are the earth. You are the metal. You are the wood. You are the stone. You are the sand. You are the dust. You are the ash. You are the smoke. You are the cloud. You are the rain. You are the snow. You are the ice. You are the frost. You are the dew. You are the mist. You are the fog. You are the haze. You are the gloom. You are the dim. You are the gray. You are the black. You are the white. You are the red. You are the blue. You are the green. You are the yellow. You are the orange. You are the purple. You are the brown. You are the gray. You are the color. You are the shade. You are the tone. You are the hue. You are the light. You are the dark. You are the bright. You are the dim. You are the sharp. You are the soft. You are the rough. You are the smooth. You are the hard. You are the soft. You are the hot. You are the cold. You are the wet. You are the dry. You are the wet. You are the dry. You are the loud. You are the quiet. You are the fast. You are the slow. You are the strong. You are the weak. You are the tall. You are the short. You are the wide. You are the narrow. You are the deep. You are the shallow. You are the high. You are the low. You are the front. You are the back. You are the left. You are the right. You are the up. You are the down. You are the in. You are the out. You are the here. You are the there. You are the now. You are the then. You are the what. You are the where. You are the who. You are the why. You are the how. You are the when. You are the which. You are the that. You are the this. You are the it. You are the he. You are the she. You are the they. You are the we. You are the I. You are the me. You are my. You are mine. You are your. You are yours. You are his. You are hers. You are its. You are their. You are theirs. You are our. You are ours. You are who. You are whom. You are whose. You are what. You are which. You are why. You are how. You are when. You are where. You are there. You are here. You are now. You are then. You are before. You are after. You are above. You are below. You are within. You are without. You are inside. You are outside. You are front. You are back. You are left. You are right. You are up. You are down. You are in. You are out. You are on. You are off. You are over. You are under. You are across. You are along. You are around. You are about. You are above. You are below. You are beneath. You are below. You are below. You are below. You are below. You are below. You are below. You are below. You are below. You are below. You are below. You are below. You are below. You are below. You are below. You are below. You are below. You are below. You are below. You are below. You are below. You are below. You are below. You are below. You are below. You are below.