The mark of the procedure. A real one. Lu is cured.

For a second I think about how easy it would be to pass back to the other side, to walk straight into the laboratories and offer myself up to the surgeons. You were right; I was wrong. Get it out.

Nobody ever said life was fair.

Things would get difficult again. But that was okay too. The bravery was in moving forward, no matter what.

That's when I realized that certain moments go on forever. Even after they're over they still go on, even after you're dead and buried, those moments are lasting still, backward and forward, on into infinity. They are everything and everywhere all at once. They are the meaning.

I’m sorry for everything.” Then he turns and pushes back into the woods, and he’s gone.

The memories seem like snapshots from someone else’s life.