Fallout

Ivory isn't talking to me. I walked into her work space today and...nothing. Not even a word. She was counting all the bandages she had left. I told her I would go out and buy more. She didn't even acknowledge I existed.

Okay, I kept a secret. A big secret. I probably would have been targeted by the Black Dog if, well, you know. If I didn't have what was in the box.

John was a bit nicer. I think it's because he knows he's only safe because of what's in the box. I haven't seen Albert yet today and I don't know if he's read the last post, so I'm not sure how he'll react.

Some our guests were chillier to me today, too. Guess some of them read the blog.

I wish I could have just kept the box, never taken it out, left it the safe to gather dust. I wish it was still my secret. But Ivory...after the incident with Ruby, she told me to post it or else she would. She told me, "No more secrets." And she hasn't said anything else to me since.

Fine, Ivory. No more secrets.

I have a fragment of the Dying Man in my office. It's what keeps us safe. It's pretty much the only thing that keeps us safe. See, back when I was running, I realized that nothing stopped them. Not bricks and mortar, not steel, not the tallest building or the lowest basement. The only thing that stopped one of them was the presence of another.

I was looking for something. I don't know what. Something to help me stop running. So I went to the Acropolis in Athens. Someplace old, someplace perhaps eldritch. I went there and I found it. A broken piece, smaller than my fist. But there this...miasma. I felt sick as I looked at it, but I knew. It would keep my safe.

I used tongs to hold it. Then I put it in a box and put that in another box. I used gloves within gloves. And then I brought it back here.

It's kind of paradoxical that something called the Dying Man is what's keeping us alive. But it is. It's a shield to protect us from Them.

I guess I'm just sorry I kept it a secret from you.