20 oice said, “Long s ther oi ,” it said. oice. Now a voice “Longer,” it He saw only Soft, L Soft, barely au the cave. S fl , staring a man gws alo The second v said, “More. d v , staring at the incandescent water, desperate, as ws alone, for the sound of another soul. fl , staring g g ing a he second voice, fi nally, was a woman’s. It e.” d voice, a little boy’s, said the same thing. ourth—they came more quickly now—mentioned the sun. The fi fth spoke of the moon. The sixth hisper and repeated, “more, more,” while the ourth—t tioned the sun. hisper Soft, barely auly ge “Longer T Long u ha surface “Show yours er me hen, sudde ice said, “Lo re?” Dor scr He had been man left. He se st walls. man left. He se n left. He seft. He se of ut it br e p mman sear hedc en trying to esc searched f ice said, “Long ea ong He had been tr e since the old man left. He searched for passageways. He banged on st walls. He tried to lower himself into the pool ut it repelled him with air, as if a million e pushing up from below. ying to escape the cae sin eamed. amed. cape the ca w only wisps of white smoke on the pool’s p , and a bright turquoise glow. ourself!” er me!” hen, suddenly, there it was again. A single word. ely audible, a mumbled prayer wafting up into t? Dor wondered. He crouched on the rior or wet his fi ngers with the slowly dripping water p . Do from the fi ssure. But he could not escape the voices from the glowing pool—asking, always asking, for days, nights, suns, moons, and, eventually, hours, months, and years. If he put his hands over his ears, he heard them just as loudly. And thus, unknowingly, did Dor begin to serve his sentence— to hear every plea from every soul who desired more of the thing he had fi rst identifi ed, the thing that moved man further from the simple light of existence and deeper into the darkness of his own obsessions. Time. It seemed to be running too fast for everyone but him. 21 Sarah read Ethan’s text on her phone. Her heart dropped. “Can we do this next week? Sumthin I gotta go 2 2nite. See u at shlter, OK?” Her knees buckled, like a marionette’s with the strings released. “No!” she screamed to herself. “Not 15 . Dor co
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