Derrick lay on his back looking up at the ceiling, watching the fan rotate. The blades weren’t rotating fast enough to make any significant difference in the temperature, but the fan made a steady low, squeaking sound that he couldn’t sleep without. Then again, he hadn’t been doing much in the way of sleeping. It was 4 a.m., and the room would have been completely dark if he didn’t have the superior eyesight of a wolf.

Sleep was impossible. He couldn’t stop thinking about what happened today. And it was terrible because he was thinking less about the consequences of punching Mary’s dad, and more about that criminal who had been in the holding cell with him. Rowan.

Rowan was a good name for a bad person. At least, Derrick assumed that Rowan was a bad person. Anyone who trespassed and wound up in a cell just automatically wasn’t going to be a great person. Then again, teachers who punched the parents of their students weren’t exactly model citizens either. However, Derrick knew he had been in the right, no matter how foolish his actions had been.

The police agreed with him on that. After he had been led away by that big burly cop named Terry, they took him to the Police Chief’s office. The Chief hadn’t been there, which led him to believe that this was the only available office. He had this confirmed for him at the end of his conversation with the police, when they asked if he had questions. Apparently there was some sort of damage from the last big summer storm that affected most of the officers’ rooms, leading them to have to rotate who got an office and which one it was. The Chief insisted upon being included in the rotation.

Once Derrick was there, Officer Terry reassured him that he wasn’t going to be arrested. He could still remember the flood of overwhelming relief, so strong that he almost wept.

Even though Derrick had technically been in the wrong when he struck out against Mary’s father, the father in question wasn’t going to press charges because he also knew that he had been in the wrong for hurting his daughter. The police confided in Derrick that apparently this abuse had been going on for quite some time. The mother was also a victim but she had apparently been so afraid of what her husband would do that she just tried to take most of the abuse herself to protect Mary. A few anonymous tips to the police hadn’t been enough to really get anything started, especially when no one was willing to press charges.

However, now that the abuse had carried over into the public eye, all the wheels were finally set in motion. Mary’s mother was no longer in this by herself, having more than a dozen witnesses who would provide support for her during the trial in the future.

Therefore, Derrick was off the hook. Terry informed him that while what he did was wrong, there was literally no one in the entire city who would fault him for what he’d done. Everyone probably wished they had done the same thing.

Still, Derrick felt guilty. He had tried so hard to earn the trust and respect of his students, especially the ones like Mary who needed a little more encouragement than the others. He seemed to have been succeeding and she was coming out of her shell a little. Now, all the progress they had made together was probably ruined when she had seen that he had the same sort of brutality in him as her father.

It wasn’t these thoughts that were keeping him up tonight. No, that was Rowan. The stupid, nosy trespasser. The criminal.

The handsome criminal, because there was no denying that Rowan was an incredibly attractive alpha. He definitely wasn’t the type that Derrick would normally find himself going for, but he did have that bad boy air about him that no one with a pulse could resist. His shoulders and chest were as broad as a football field and just as manly, with curls of dark hair protruding up over the top of the black low cut, v-neck t-shirt he’d been wearing. His face had been rugged and square, softened only slightly by a shadow of a beard. Bright hazel eyes were in stark contrast with his fauxhawk hair, so dark and true black that it could only have been dyed.

Derrick preferred quieter men, men with elegance to them, but like most omega wolves, he also sought someone who could dominate and protect him. It was in his nature, and he accepted it as all wolves did, because it was as familiar to him as breathing.

Finding a man who could be both dominant and soft at the same time was impossible. Even finding someone capable of both at different times was like trying to flip a coin that had been glued to a table. If you really wanted to see both sides of that coin, you had to end up going out of your way to change something and the end result might be a stubborn, ruined mess.

Rowan had definitely seemed like one of those coins that couldn’t be flipped, a one-sided man with no dimension. Yet, the way Rowan had looked at him seemed to hint at something else beneath the rough masculinity. It wasn’t as if his outward personality was a façade, but as if there was something deeper that even he might not have been aware of.

Derrick figured that he was almost certainly trying to make a mountain out of a molehill. Whatever he had seen in Rowan’s gaze, it was much more insignificant than he assumed it was.

So, why can’t I forget?

Those eyes had been so knowing, it was almost as if Rowan recognized him. That surely couldn’t be the case, since Derrick figured he would remember passing by an alpha wolf who looked like that. You didn’t just not notice someone like that when they came walking down the street, even when you were crossing to the other side to get away from them because they looked dangerous.

They couldn’t have known each other, and yet Derrick found himself consumed by the nagging sense that they did. It was inexplicable and it was the last thing he needed on top of all the other trouble he’d gotten himself into, but it was there all the same. He kept picturing Rowan’s distinctive features, those eyes striated with oaken brown, sapphire, and emerald, wondering if his memory might be jogged if he just kept looking at this from all the different possible angles.

By the time 5 a.m. rolled around, Derrick was no closer to remembering what he didn’t know, and he was exhausted. His head felt like a bowling ball, his brains nothing but dead weight. His eyes were so tired that they ached, and he could feel that pain radiating outwards to encompass his entire face. Thoughts came sluggishly and everything seemed to be moving in slow-motion.

Reaching out with an arm that took about a year to reach the alarm clock, Derrick turned it off. The alarm wouldn’t go off for another hour-and-a-half, but he knew by now that he was already going to be up. There was no point in having it blaring uselessly into the silence.

Sitting up took an extreme effort and the world swayed around him, but he eventually managed it. Mornings were never easy for a man who was nearing 30, but this one in particular was rougher than anything he’d ever experienced before. He had aged at least 20 years in the night, perhaps as many as 50. Numbers were meaningless to describe the way he felt, which was absolutely like shit.

The right thing to do would be to take some melatonin and wait for it to hit his system by typing out an email to the school, letting them know he was going to be out sick for the day. Then, finally, blessedly, he just might be able to go to sleep. Everyone needed to shirk their responsibilities on occasion and this just might be his chance.

But, the right thing would also be the wrong thing in this scenario and that was why he swung his feet around to the floor and pushed them into his slippers. Fighting free of the last of his blankets, he stood up and shuffled out of his room and down the hallway, ending up in the kitchen. His apartment was situated on the third floor and could be very drafty sometimes; just before dawn was no exception, with an unwelcome chill seeping up through the tiles on the floor. Shivering a little, he quickly put on a pot of coffee and then stood nearby for the warmth as the pot heated up. Teachers in general weren’t paid the best, so his own pretend-teacher finances weren’t in the best shape. Turning on the heat now when the cold season hadn’t even really begun yet would be a waste of money that he couldn’t really afford.

When the coffee was nearly done, he made a bowl of oatmeal and took both into the second bedroom that he had adapted into his office back when he first moved in. The walls were covered in wholesome posters that all had to do with learning and music, and there were more posters stacked up on the shelves in the closet. Every couple of months, he made it a habit to swap out some posters from the music room at the school with a few of the ones that he had in here. Little touches like this were something he felt a lot of teachers were missing out on. Kids could grow stagnant, being in the same environment all the time. Their minds were built for exploration and play, not for rigorous textbook learning; to combat some of that idleness, he tried to change up their environment just when they were growing bored of it.

It was such a small thing, but it really made a difference.

His walls were also covered with storage cubes which held every instrument imaginable, from a violin in its pristine case, to a plastic recorder that had really seen better days. A drum set sat in the corner, a guitar and cello lingering nearby. Right beside his desk, beneath the window, was the love of his life: an electronic piano keyboard.

The piano was really nothing special. It was only a keyboard on a stand, with very few functions when compared with the more recent models. The sound had grown static-y, filled with haptic feedback, and the pedal attachment had started to make a horrid clunking noise whenever it was depressed.

But he loved it. It was part of his daily routine. The sound, the sway of his body, it soothed his soul. He occasionally played from songbooks, especially when he was making sure to practice a part that he would expect a child to learn, but there were more songs in his head that he preferred to set free. He occasionally wrote one down, but he was of the opinion that everything sounded better when it was spontaneous, when you were really feeling it.

If this was any other morning, he would have sat at his desk and eaten his breakfast while looking over the lesson plans of the day. Everything he did each day was marked down on a planner, very similar to the ones that the kids carried so they could remember their assignments. Spontaneity was a wonderful thing but he did need to know what was supposed to happen, when it came time to get everything on track again. After that, he would hop over to the piano and play what he had come to think of as the Dawn Song. The Dawn Song had no real set melody or notes, but it had a certain feel that always seemed to bolster his mood by the time he was done. Played with his right hand on Top C and the left an octave down, the notes were high-pitched and gentle. It was simple positioning, but there was no one here to judge him.

Today, he sat on the bench and couldn’t really seem to get into it. His thoughts were scrambled and he couldn’t seem to get them in line long enough to make anything of them. His hands shifted restlessly and his fingers were heavy, but the keys were so much heavier. The music itself was resisting him.

Other than a few tuneless, plucked notes, there was no Dawn Song.

Something is very wrong with me.

Time ticked slowly by like a metronome set to the lowest setting. Derrick tried to take more time with his usual morning activities, but he ended up completing everything in around the same time as he normally would. His nerves were jangling, and he couldn’t seem to sit still, couldn’t let himself go slow for more than a few seconds at a time.

He was back in his office at the piano, and then he went out into the living room to watch TV. The news didn’t hold his attention and neither did an infomercial for a new brand of dish soap that cleaned your drain when you unplugged the sink to let the water out. After that, there was a ten-second advertisement for a local business, a little gallery called Dust to Dust. Derrick applauded whoever had made it, because it was brief, to the point, witty, and just not terrible like some homemade commercials could be.

But he wasn’t about to go shopping for paintings any time soon.

By the time it was 7 a.m., he couldn’t stand anymore of this waiting-around shit. It was still a little early for him to be heading to the school since it wasn’t all that far away, but he felt suddenly in dire need of expensive coffee. If there was ever a time when he deserved a pumpkin spice latte, this sure as hell was it.

Grabbing his keys, he headed out and went to the Starbucks nearby. It was packed full of high school and college students and haggard parents toting toddlers on their hips. The amount of requests for a PSL were absurd before he even got up to the counter, and he was pretty sure that the barista rolled her eyes at him. He didn’t blame her and left a tip, which was apparently large enough for her to change her attitude. Her manner suddenly became a bit too friendly.

Sorry, he thought. I swing the other way. And I bat a lot of foul balls in the process.

Coffee in hand, he drove to the school and parked along the side where the rest of the teachers did. Churchland was a big enough place to be able to afford custom plaques for the more valued members of their staff, set on the concrete parking blocks. Derrick didn’t have a designated spot, however. Neither did most of the ladies who worked in the office.

He spotted Elaine’s van parked slightly further down the side of the school and was hit with a sudden wave of fresh anxiety. She had witnessed his attack on Mary’s father. Her opinion of him might have soured beyond repair, and if that happened, he didn’t know what he was going to do. She was his only real friend here.

A coppery taste settled in the back of his throat. His coffee was suddenly vile and acidic in his mouth and he had to force himself to swallow it instead of spitting it out. There were a few other early arrivals out here in the parking lot, and it wouldn’t do for them to see him spit a mouthful of brown liquid down the trunk of one of the bushes.

The front doors of the school building were open and Derrick went through them, trying his hardest not to hunch up his shoulders as he did so. These normally familiar, comforting walls suddenly seemed strange and unwelcoming, as if he had entered a place where he no longer belonged.

The office door was right past the front entrance, and Derrick turned to look through the window, wanting to see if Elaine was there at her perch, waving at him like she did every morning.

She wasn’t there.

Quite suddenly, he was certain that she had died. Died or retired, because she should have been here. She was never not here except for that day two years ago when she was sick in bed with pneumonia and no one knew about it until the news came that she’d been admitted to the hospital for dehydration. Some strong antibiotics and some IV-administered fluids, and she had bounced back stronger than ever.

What if this time she hadn’t bounced back? What if she had gone home after witnessing something shocking—like a mild-mannered musician becoming aggressive, perhaps—and died? Or was in the process of dying right now, as he stood here staring at the empty office like a nitwit?

But no. He’d seen her van, hadn’t he? He was sure of it. Maybe he would go back outside and really make sure. He also realized that he’d forgotten his bag with his lesson plans in his car, so that at least gave him an excuse for what he was about to do.

Derrick turned around and found himself face-to-face with the principal.

Principal Nathanial Pepper was one of those men who really didn’t seem to age so much as they just matured and got better. He was pushing 40 and streaks of salt-white had begun to sprinkle their way through his eyebrows and brown hair, but the look was extremely attractive on him. His eyes were amber and clear, welcoming and firm, and he wore glasses that no one was ever sure he actually needed.

Derrick’s opinion was that the glasses were a prop, an attempt to look a little less imposing. Principal Pepper was an alpha wolf and he looked like it, with a very dominant air to his personality. Speaking to him could be intimidating, and so he often made an attempt to soften his hard edges.

Also, wolf shifters had powerful senses and eyesight was one of them. Derrick didn’t know a single wolf who had problems with any of their senses until they were much older than the principal currently was.

“Oh!” Derrick said, taking a few steps backward. Though the other wolf wasn’t his pack leader, the principal was still his superior and Derrick was experiencing the same sort of intimidation around him that others did. Those amber eyes had grabbed onto him and wouldn’t release him, boring into him as if they could see straight to his soul. “I’m sorry, Principal Pepper. I forgot something. Didn’t mean to run into you.”

Principal Pepper smiled, but it didn’t last long and it didn’t touch his eyes. “I’ve told you to call me Nate. Nathan, if you insist on being formal. We’ve known each other for years now, Derrick.”

They had a brief fling towards the beginning of Derrick’s time teaching here, but they hadn’t been compatible, not even for sex. Whatever sparks there might have been had died rapidly no matter how they tried to stoke the fire, and they had gone their separate ways. Their encounters afterwards were always professional or polite, never awkward. They weren’t friends, as superior and subordinate, but neither were they jilted lovers who had become sworn enemies.

Principal Pepper had never made any backhanded decisions to cause trouble for Derrick’s career, as he so easily could have.

Derrick had a very reasonable suspicion that all that was about to change.

“Right. Sorry…Nathan. I should look where I’m going. Excuse me.”

Derrick had no more than thought about stepping to the side when Nathanial held out one arm to stop him from going anywhere. “Derrick, I think we need to talk. Would you mind joining me in my office for a minute?”

Uh-oh.

Dread trickled like ice water down his spine and his stomach clenched, suddenly acidic. He regretted the extra coffee that he’d had to drink but at the same time he was glad to be holding onto the Styrofoam cup, because the warmth against his fingers was all he could feel. He was numb, wary, and resigned.

“Of course,” Derrick said. He couldn’t feel his lips move and he could hardly hear the sound of his own voice from the way his pulse was pounding in his ears. “Lead the way.”

Nathan nodded. Not so much as a single strand of his hair moved. Turning, he went through the door of the office and then held it open for Derrick to follow. Elaine’s current stack of library books had been removed from the floor, placed instead on top of the desk to relieve them of their duty as doorstops.

He understood now why Elaine wasn’t in here, why no one else was in here. The other office workers should have been preparing for the day, or there should be teachers getting cups of coffee, discussing their plans, and gossiping about what student was causing problems this week. They were all absent. It was intentional. Nathan must have cleared them all out so they couldn’t listen in on the conversation he was about to have with Derrick.

This wasn’t a good sign.

The Principal’s office was at the very back of the main office, down a short hallway to the right. Nathan reached to grab a key from the clip he kept on his belt and unlocked the door, then gestured for Derrick to head inside.

Derrick had been inside this office on only three other occasions. The first was when he was hired to the school. The second had been for an impromptu makeout session that had left them both feeling as if there was definitely something exciting lacking between them. And the third had been to have a deep discussion on their decision to stop trying to be lovers.

Being in here now was giving him a real sense of déjà vu, mostly because of the dread still soaking its way down his spine. The last time he was in here, he was also expecting to be let go.

Nathan locked the office door behind them, which only confirmed Derrick’s fears.

“Calm down,” Nathan said. “I can smell your fear. You don’t have to be afraid.” He smiled again but it still never even came close to touching his eyes. “I just don’t want anyone to interrupt us. I made sure everyone left us alone but there’s no telling what those humans will get in their heads at times.”

All of the other teachers were human, except for the guidance counselor. When he spoke of the humans, Nathan’s tone softened toward extreme gentleness. It might seem odd that a wolf would be in charge of what was essentially a community of humans, but Derrick had seen that gentleness before. Nathan had a definite nurturing side to him that went well with his instinctual desire to lead, which meant that he was capable of making decisions both strict and fair. However, that nurturing side was a bit overbearing when you were trying to be in a relationship with him. It was almost as if he didn’t trust you to do anything by yourself.

That was good for dealing with human parents, who could be absolutely ridiculous; on the other hand, it completely ruined a sexual relationship to be treated like a child.

“Take a seat,” Nathan said, gesturing towards his desk. The top of it was covered in huge photographs, each one depicting a 6th grade class before they moved on to Churchland Middle School to finish out their last two years. After that, they moved on to high school and that was a different situation entirely.

There were also photographs of teachers and staff members who had retired, and a single portrait of a family. A mother, a father, and a little boy. The boy was undoubtedly Nathanial Pepper himself.

Derrick moved over to the desk on stiff legs and sat down in one of the chairs set out in front of it. Striding gracefully, Nathan went around to the other side and settled down. For a moment, neither of them spoke. Nathan seemed to be gathering his thoughts, pondering over where to begin. His fingers were locked together, as they always were when he was thinking deeply on something.

“So,” Nathan finally said, breaking the silence. “In light of what happened yesterday, I believe we have something to discuss. I believe you know exactly what it is.”

“Yes.”

“Let’s be candid, here. Thank god you punched that fucker.” Nathan’s lips twisted into what could almost have been mistaken for another smile, if it hadn’t been for the fact that he was baring his fangs. “I’ve had my suspicions about all of that for a long time, but Mrs. Berry never said anything when I prompted her.”

Right. That’s their last name. Berry. Mary Berry. That’s almost heartbreakingly sweet.

“I don’t blame you for what you did. I applaud you. You showed some real initiative for an omega.”

That was the sort of condescending behavior that irked Derrick, but this really wasn’t a good time to bring that up. He just nodded, for a lack of anything better to do.

“Unfortunately, my personal opinions don’t matter. We need to be professional about this. I’m sure no parent out there blames you for what you did, but it just wouldn’t look right in the public eye if we did nothing about this.”

“Are you firing me? Let’s be candid, here.” Derrick threw Nathan’s own words right back at him, surprised at the bitterness in his own tone. He coughed a little and then took a sip of his cooling drink to try to disguise his voice as just being rough, but he knew the principal wasn’t going to fall for it. He was much too damn smart for that.

“No, I’m not firing you.”

Just like that, some of the tension inside him disappeared. He slumped down with relief, almost gasping at how good it felt to be released from some of his inner turmoil. Still, he didn’t feel like he’d been entirely let off the hook. They wouldn’t be having this conversation in this manner if that was the case.

“I am going to place you on temporary leave, however.” Nathan grimaced and that was when Derrick realized the other wolf didn’t like this anymore than he did. “I think a month of leave would suffice for all of this to die down. You’re a hard worker and an invaluable member of the team here. I never liked the school plays before you came and got everything ship-shape. Though, I understand if you find somewhere else to go during that time.”

“A month?” Derrick repeated. “A month? What am I going to do for a whole month of leave, Nathan?”

“Look, it won’t be as terrible as you’re making it out to be. I can feasibly make it leave with pay for two out of those four weeks. You won’t be losing out on much. You can take a vacation. I know you haven’t done that in the entire time you’ve been here.”

Derrick dropped his head down into his hands and groaned. “This is so fucking unfair. I can’t believe it. A month. Nathan, we just started getting ready for the upcoming play. The kids just got their parts yesterday. And what about the band? There’s going to be an entire concert that we need to start practicing for.”

“I know,” Nathan said, sympathetically. “It fucking sucks. I’m going to have to hire someone on for the role temporarily, and they won’t be anywhere near as good as you. I know everyone else here undervalues you, but I admire what you do and how you’re able to do it. The kids always look so happy to see you.”

The compliment warmed his heart, but not by very much.

“But, in light of the situation, this is what has to be done. I’m sorry. We should fill out the paperwork, and then I suggest you get anything you might need from the music room. Then, go. I’ll call you about a week before the end of your leave to discuss your reintroduction. Aside from that, is there anything you wanted to discuss? Anything you need to get out in the open? Anything you’d like to say? Completely off the record.”

Now you sound like that damn cop.

Derrick looked right into Nathanial’s eyes and said, “I’m glad I did it.”

“So am I. Let’s get this paperwork out of the way.”

Nathan must have been preparing for this since yesterday because he had all the right papers ready to go. He had filled in the necessary information and signed in all the right places, leaving only a few empty lines where Derrick’s signature was necessary. Nathan read the terms of the paperwork to him and had him verbally agree to all of it, just in case.

Derrick didn’t put up a fight, didn’t protest. He just agreed to everything as was expected of him, and signed in all the right places. When that was done, Nathan saw him out of the office but didn’t follow along behind him.

Sitting at her desk was Elaine. She had a box of cookies sitting out by her elbow, right near a cup of coffee.

“Eavesdropping?” Derrick asked. He was aware that he sounded incredibly tired and truth be told, he felt like he was about to drop to the ground at any moment. Someone could come along and push him, giving him a head-start, and he would just let it happen.

Elaine spoke to her coffee. “Of course not. I have too much respect for you.”

Surprise thrilled through him, though it was a small and shriveled emotion when compared to his exhaustion. “Even now?”

She turned to face him and he was even more surprised by the fact that her eyes were red, as if she’d been crying. Her nose was similarly rosy, which only added to his suspicion. “How bad is it, Derrick?”

He told her.

Her fingers, which had been clutching at what must have been a tissue, relaxed slightly. “You’ll be coming back?”

The truth was that he didn’t know. He was allowed to, and he certainly didn’t want to leave the kids, didn’t want to leave the school, but he had no idea how he was going to face the parents or co-workers now. They would all know what he had done. So would most of the kids. Word would travel fast. By coming back here, would he be sending the wrong message?

He had so many more things to think about and none of them were particularly pleasant, and he didn’t want to take the time to discuss them with Elaine when he should be leaving.

“I’m planning on it,” is all he said.

She nodded, and some of the strain lifted from her expression. “Will you hug me, Derrick? You’re such a good man. You know that, don’t you?”

He had serious doubts but he didn’t protest her declaration and just hugged her. She gripped him with surprising strength, then picked up the box of cookies and held it out to him. “I know they’re your favorite. Take the whole thing.”

He was left holding an unopened package of Birthday Cake Oreos. The gesture made him smile but he shook his head and tried to hand it back to her. “Thanks, but I really shouldn’t. You wouldn’t want me to put a whole bunch of weight on while I’m gone.”

“Maybe if you weren’t so stick-thin, you could actually attract a mate.”

For the third time, she had him surprised. Humans didn’t normally talk about relationships in such a manner.

Elaine must have mistaken the meaning for the befuddled look on his face, because she laughed softly. “I expect you to take this month to find a boyfriend. There’s no better time. Go out there and live a little before you have to come back here to hang out with all the old ladies.”

Her concern and her sincerity were touching, so Derrick promised her that he would go boyfriend-hunting as soon as possible even though he had no intention of doing anything of the sort. They hugged again, and he left.

There wasn’t really anything in the music room he needed, and his bag was still in the car. Holding the cookies, he went out to the vehicle and sat in the driver’s seat. The key was in the ignition but he didn’t seem to have the strength to turn them to start the engine.

Sighing, he opened the Oreos and ate about ten of them in a row. His sorrow was only intensified by the emotional eating, but the rush of sugar gave him the boost he’d been needing. Turning on the car, he pulled out of the parking lot just as the first of the buses were arriving.

Where he intended to go, he wasn’t sure. Certainly not home. As tired as he was, the last thing he needed was to lie in bed listening to the stupid ceiling fan creak as it turned in circles.

Having no other options in mind, he drove aimlessly around the city, letting traffic guide him where it would. He drank the rest of his strongly-flavored coffee and ate more of the cookies, which really wasn’t a smart thing to do. Not only did his stomach start to protest the fact that he was feeding it like he was 20 years younger, a crash was all that more eminent. A sugar crash, caffeine crash, or an actual crash-crash. They were all that much more likely.

Even knowing that, he didn’t pull over until it was almost too late. One minute he was driving just fine, basking in his own misery, and then he was opening his eyes and slamming on the brakes as he blasted through a red light into oncoming traffic.

His brain was screaming and his heart was pounding as cars swerved around him, honking madly, but his reactions were still so painfully slow. It took an eternity for him to realize what had happened, that he must have fallen asleep for a second, and another two eternities to get his car moving again. Hands and feet shaking, his teeth chattering from the unpleasant shock of adrenaline, he pulled off into the nearest parking lot.

Several cars blared their horns at him as they drove by but then everyone who had witnessed his stupidity was gone, and he was alone once more.

His eyes closed.