n Arvid like the weight of a thousand years. The man before him-this stranger who claimed to be s

truggled to digest the revelation. His accident hadn't been a mere tr

understanding passing between them, thou

ard enough of this nonsense. You can't just show up here after

ng you the truth you've been too blind to see. All these years, you've been in the dark, believing your pain was

pon suddenly crumbling beneath him. He clenched his fists, the anger bubbling up inside him. How could this man stand there and sp

"You want to tell me that I've been a pawn? That everything I've suffered, ev

terness that clung to every word. Instead, he remained eerily c

n by chance?" the man asked, his voice dropping to a low, hypnotic tone. "Do you really think they wou

ore his eyes-Evelyn, the woman who had always been there for him, the one who had cared for him since his father's death. She had neve

orld tilting like a spinning carousel. He wanted to reject the man's words, to deny that anyone he loved could be involved

ly asked, his voice barely

ng dangerous in the man's eyes, a flicker of amusement or perhaps pity. Then, without a word, he reached into the inside pocket of

together, smiling as if they were a family. Arvid recognized some of the faces immediately-his

him like a virus. Who were these people? Why had t

ice filled with a dark kind of finality. "They're the ones who pulled the strings, who made sure yo

back to the man, his mind racing. "What do you mean

ore dangerous. "You've been living in a fog, Arvid. A fog they created for you. But now it

menace to something more reflective. "I came here to give you a choice. To gi

n, the darkness that seemed to surround him like a tightening noose.

f fear and defiance. He was afraid of what this man might

living in the shadows of your past. I want you to fight for yourself, for the person you used to be, for the future that'

on like this. He couldn't keep running from the truth, from the pain, from the life that had been stolen from

zed something. The life he had been living, the emptiness, the isolation-it wasn't living at all. It was just exist

his mind. Wake up, Arvid.

thing stir deep inside him. A spark. A flicker of fire

puppet. It was tim