Work Text:
The car smelt of transience; straw, cattle, dust, dung; beginnings, endings, points 'twix, 'tween.
Jack breathed in, savoured grit, grime, grease; throat coated with possibilities, where stain was honest-earned. He'd worn negotiator, soldier, assassin--
murderer
--executioner with ease, no flinches, blinks, balking. Would the world settle softer as a lighter borne burden?
Hunched, he rolled shoulders, tried sullen on for size. Scraped filth off walls, rubbed into pores: a wayward vagrant wandering. Hung hope and hide on graded shadow, dappled light.
Waiting for the lurch of engine, he closed weary eyes; heartbeat slowing, dreaming offering a life left behind.