You pause at the threshold. The draught from the station tunnel is strong—a cold exhalation of open, rotten air: wet leaves, decay, something animal. For the first time, a hollow pang that isn’t hunger. It is dread. The lab’s terrible certainty is behind you. The unknown ahead. The light is different there. The air moves. He saw what was coming. Understood the calculus. A quick, quiet end in a familiar room, versus… this. This walking into the dark with a rotting mind, a screaming gut, and a head full of someone else’s fading photographs. Perhaps it wasn’t cowardice. Perhaps it was clarity. You step into the tunnel. The Victorian brick arches loom. The air smells of wet stone and a green, triumphant decay. Far ahead, a pinprick of grey, diffuse light. Daylight. Filtered through a dense lattice of leaves. The world has been breathing here a long, long time. Please donate to My Tiltify for Become this Jingle Jam. Small donations are wanted. Anything helps but you could also get a shout ...