Chapter 5: Shading Fog

Jule was finally able to focus her thoughts on the previous evening. The salty taste of bacon brought the memories of the night crashing down on her sloping shoulders. The glint of light from her fork immersed her in the memory.

Last night. Had it really just been last night? A hint of stale smoke on her sweater told her "yes."

Awakened by low voices just after going to bed, Jule decided to find the source of the unexpected sounds as she was too curious to realize she should just go to sleep. Cracking the heavy door of the Gray Man's home, she looked out to see a casually flickering light spilling from the slits in the walls of the small nearby barn.

The stillness of night and the dead of winter combined to create a heavy weight on all natural things standing in the bleak air. Jule trudged into the frozen scene before her. She contemplated who would be out here. In this bitter cold. At this black hour.

Thinking now to herself, she should have turned back. She should have gone directly back to bed. Better yet, she should have never left the bed. Then nothing would've changed. Nothing would've happened. Her life's course would not have shifted... dead ended.

Now stopped at one of the larger splits in the wall planks, Jule crouched down and stared into the scene before her.