In Chap­ter 125 of “All the Col­ors of the Dark,” the pro­tag­o­nist, Patch, reflects on his jour­ney as he tra­vers­es across states. Hitch­hik­ers come and go, while a cou­ple grum­bles about their fel­low trav­el­ers. He recalls watch­ing a woman on horse­back against the ris­ing sun before arriv­ing at Still­wa­ter. Here, he gives up his seat on the crowd­ed bus to a young girl who is preg­nant but too young to ful­ly grasp the impli­ca­tions of her con­di­tion. His trav­els take him through Okla­homa City, where he spends an entire night at a bus sta­tion.

Dur­ing this time, Patch finds a pay phone and reach­es out to Saint, rem­i­nisc­ing about Cal­lie Mon­trose, a girl who might have shared expe­ri­ences sim­i­lar to his own—hunting and play­ing games in the woods. He reflects on the trag­ic fate of Cal­lie and oth­er girls, ques­tion­ing the sense­less vio­lence that has impact­ed them. Saint, sens­ing Patch’s emo­tion­al tur­moil, tries to guide him away from reck­less think­ing, while Patch grap­ples with dark­er mem­o­ries of his past and the dan­ger­ous paths he’s walked.

As they talk, the con­ver­sa­tion shifts, and Patch con­tem­plates moth­er­hood, admir­ing Sain­t’s poten­tial as a nur­tur­ing fig­ure com­pared to his own expe­ri­ences. He acknowl­edges his feel­ings of being on the brink of tur­moil, cit­ing that he was always close to falling. Their con­ver­sa­tion reveals the depth of their friend­ship, even as Patch admits to a hus­tler’s lifestyle and the strug­gles that come with it. Sain­t’s ongo­ing search for a rosary brings a sense of pur­pose to their exchange.

Before he knows it, Saint has traced his call, unbe­knownst to Patch. He walks through town, reflect­ing on his life and rela­tion­ships. While rest­ing on a bench out­side St. Joseph’s Cathe­dral, he meets an elder­ly woman who, through con­ver­sa­tion, brings warmth to his soli­tude. Their exchange empha­sizes under­stand­ing and con­nec­tion, hint­ing at Patch’s move­ment from dark expe­ri­ences into lighter moments with Grace, whom he loves dear­ly.

The chap­ter con­cludes dra­mat­i­cal­ly with Patch rob­bing the Mid­First Bank short­ly before Saint arrives, indi­cat­ing that con­se­quences are clos­ing in on him .