The fire died.

I watched the embers turn to ash.

My name is Elias.

I was seven.

The house was cold.

The snow pressed against the glass.

It whispered.

It wanted in.

My father stood by the window.

He wore his coat.

It was blue.

It was old.

The buttons were brass.

He did not look at me.

He looked at the dark.

The war was close.

We heard it.

It was a low hum.

Like bees in the wall.

Like a engine far away.

It was the sound of the end.

My mother was gone.

She had left in the night.

I did not know where.

I only knew she was gone.

The house felt bigger.

It felt empty.

The furniture was still there.

The chairs.

The table.

The clock.

The clock stopped.

It had stopped at three.

It had always stopped at three.

We did not fix it.

We did not care.

Time had no meaning.

My father moved.

He was tall.

He was quiet.

He moved like a ghost.

He touched the wall.

He closed his eyes.

I felt a fear.

It was deep.

It was in my chest.

It was a stone.

I wanted to speak.

I wanted to call him.

But I could not.

My mouth was dry.

My throat was tight.

I looked at my hands.

They were small.

They were pale.

They were mine.

I knew they were mine.

But they felt foreign.

They felt like they belonged to someone else.

Someone who had died.

Someone who had gone before.

I looked at my father.

He was still by the window.

He was still looking out.

The snow was falling.

It was thick.

It was heavy.

It covered the world.

It covered the past.

It covered the future.

It covered us.

We were small.

We were two.

We were alone.

The hum grew louder.

It was in the floor.

It was in the walls.

It was in my teeth.

My father turned.

He looked at me.

His eyes were dark.

They were deep.

They held a pain.

It was a great pain.

It was an old pain.

It had been there for a long time.

It had been there since before I was born.

It had been there since before him.

I saw it.

I knew it.

I had always known it.

It was the weight of the house.

It was the weight of the land.

It was the weight of the blood.

We are bound.

We are tied.

We cannot leave.

We cannot escape.

The cycle is hard.

The cycle is strong.

It pulls us down.

It pulls us in.

It pulls us back.

To the same place.

To the same moment.

To the same end.

My father stepped away.

He walked to the center of the room.

He stood still.

He looked at the floor.

He looked at the shadows.

The shadows moved.

They danced.

They twisted.

They were like hands.

They were like faces.

They were like memories.

I saw my mother.

She was in the shadow.

She was smiling.

She was sad.

She was waiting.

She had never left.

She was here.

She was always here.

She was part of the house.

She was part of the wall.

She was part of the air.

I looked at my father.

He was crying.

He did not make a sound.

The tears ran down his face.

They fell to the floor.

They hit the wood.

They disappeared.

Into the grain.

Into the dark.

Into the past.

I felt a pull.

It was in my head.

It was in my mind.

It was a voice.

It was not my voice.

It was not my father's voice.

It was an old voice.

It was a deep voice.

It said, *It is done.*

It said, *It is time.*

It said, *You must go.*

I did not want to go.

I wanted to stay.

I wanted to be small.

I wanted to be safe.

I wanted to be held.

But the voice was strong.

The voice was true.

I looked at my father.

He was fading.

He was becoming thin.

He was becoming light.

He was becoming air.

He was leaving.

Not with a body.

With a soul.

With a spirit.

With a memory.

He was joining the house.

He was joining the land.

He was joining the cycle.

I felt a shock.

It was cold.

It was sharp.

It was a realization.

It was a truth.

I understood.

I was not a child.

I was a vessel.

I was a link.

I was the next step.

I was the continuation.

The war was outside.

The war was loud.

The war was real.

But the war was not the end.

The end was here.

The end was inside.

The end was within.

The fire was dead.

The house was quiet.

The snow was silent.

The world was still.

I stood up.

My legs were stiff.

My knees were weak.

But I stood.

I walked to the window.

I looked out.

The snow was bright.

The sky was white.

The ground was white.

Everything was white.

Everything was clean.

Everything was new.

And everything was old.

I put my hand on the glass.

The glass was cold.

The glass was hard.

The glass was there.

I pressed my hand.

I felt the cold.

I felt the hard.

I felt the there.

I was here.

I was now.

I was real.

I was alive.

The hum stopped.

The war stopped.

The world stopped.

For a moment.

For a breath.

For a heartbeat.

Then it started again.

The hum.

The war.

The world.

But I was different.

I was not afraid.

I was not small.

I was not weak.

I was strong.

I was ready.

I was prepared.

I knew what I had to do.

I knew what I had to be.

I knew what I had to face.

I was not alone.

I was never alone.

I was with them.

I was with my father.

I was with my mother.

I was with the house.

I was with the land.

I was with the past.

I was with the future.

I was with the cycle.

I closed my eyes.

I breathed in.

I breathed out.

The air was cold.

The air was clear.

The air was life.

I opened my eyes.

The room was dark.

The window was bright.

The snow was falling.

The night was coming.

The day was gone.

The past was gone.

The future was here.

I was here.

I was ready.

I turned away.

I walked to the door.

The door was heavy.

The door was old.

The door was solid.

I put my hand on the handle.

The handle was cold.

The handle was smooth.

The handle was metal.

I turned the handle.

It clicked.

It turned.

It opened.

The cold air rushed in.

The snow rushed in.

The light rushed in.

I stepped out.

I stepped into the snow.

The snow was deep.

The snow was soft.

The snow was white.

I walked.

I walked forward.

I walked away.

I walked into the night.

I walked into the dark.

I walked into the unknown.

I walked into the end.

I walked into the beginning.

I was gone.

I was here.

I was gone.

I was here.

The house stood.

The house waited.

The house watched.

The house remembered.

The house held.

The house endured.

I was part of it.

I was part of the house.

I was part of the land.

I was part of the cycle.

I was part of the end.

I was part of the beginning.

I was part of the life.

I was part of the death.

I was part of the truth.

I was part of the lie.

I was part of the memory.

I was part of the forgetting.

I was part of the knowing.

I was part of the not knowing.

I was part of the pain.

I was part of the joy.

I was part of the loss.

I was part of the gain.

I was part of the all.

I was part of the nothing.

I was part of the everything.

I was part of the cycle.

I could not escape.

I would not escape.

I did not want to escape.

I was home.

I was here.

I was now.

I was Elias.

I was the son.

I was the heir.

I was the keeper.

I was the guard.

I was the watch.

I was the light.

I was the dark.

I was the snow.

I was the fire.

I was the ice.

I was the warmth.

I was the cold.

I was the heart.

I was the soul.

I was the spirit.

I was the ghost.

I was the living.

I was the dead.

I was the past.

I was the future.

I was the now.

I was the end.

I was the beginning.

I was the middle.

I was the all.

I was the nothing.

I was the everything.

I was the cycle.

I was the loop.

I was the turn.

I was the spin.

I was the wheel.

I was the road.

I was the path.

I was the journey.

I was the destination.

I was the start.

I was the stop.

I was the go.

I was the stay.

I was the leave.

I was the return.

I was the out.

I was the in.

I was the up.

I was the down.

I was the left.

I was the right.

I was the front.

I was the back.

I was the here.

I was the there.

I was the when.

I was the where.

I was the who.

I was the what.

I was the why.

I was the how.

I was the who.

I was the Elias.

I was the boy.

I was the man.

I was the child.

I was the parent.

I was the sibling.

I was the friend.

I was the stranger.

I was the self.

I was the other.

I was the one.

I was the many.

I was the single.

I was the multiple.

I was the whole.

I was the part.

I was the sum.

I was the difference.

I was the product.

I was the quotient.

I was the equation.

I was the answer.

I was the question.

I was the silence.

I was the sound.

I was the noise.

I was the music.

I was the song.

I was the dance.

I was the step.

I was the move.

I was the action.

I was the reaction.

I was the cause.

I was the effect.

I was the reason.

I was the result.

I was the logic.

I was the emotion.

I was the thought.

I was the feeling.

I was the sense.

I was the touch.

I was the taste.

I was the smell.

I was the sight.

I was the hearing.

I was the knowing.

I was the being.

I was the doing.

I was the having.

I was the going.

I was the coming.

I was the staying.

I was the leaving.

I was the returning.

I was the ending.

I was the beginning.

I was the middle.

I was the cycle.

I was the loop.

I was the turn.

I was the spin.

I was the wheel.

I was the road.

I was the path.

I was the journey.

I was the destination.

I was the start.

I was the stop.

I was the go.

I was the stay.

I was the leave.

I was the return.

I was the out.

I was the in.

I was the up.

I was the down.

I was the left.

I was the right.

I was the front.

I was the back.

I was the here.

I was the there.

I was the when.

I was the where.

I was the who.

I was the what.

I was the why.

I was the how.

I was the who.

I was the Elias.

I was the boy.

I was the man.

I was the child.

I was the parent.

I was the sibling.

I was the friend.

I was the stranger.

I was the self.

I was the other.

I was the one.

I was the many.

I was the single.

I was the multiple.

I was the whole.

I was the part.

I was the sum.

I was the difference.

I was the product.

I was the quotient.

I was the equation.

I was the answer.

I was the question.

I was the silence.

I was the sound.

I was the noise.

I was the music.

I was the song.

I was the dance.

I was the step.

I was the move.

I was the action.

I was the reaction.

I was the cause.

I was the effect.

I was the reason.

I was the result.

I was the logic.

I was the emotion.

I was the thought.

I was the feeling.

I was the sense.

I was the touch.

I was the taste.

I was the smell.

I was the sight.

I was the hearing.

I was the knowing.

I was the being.

I was the doing.

I was the having.

I was the going.

I was the coming.

I was the staying.

I was the leaving.

I was the returning.

I was the ending.

I was the beginning.

I was the middle.

I was the cycle.