In Chap­ter 135 of “All the Col­ors of the Dark,” Patch nav­i­gates the qui­et town, now shroud­ed in a sol­id snow­fall, with a sense of urgency and reflec­tion. He avoids Main Street, keep­ing his head down while breath­ing deeply, feel­ing the chill sting his chest. Recent­ly released from a lengthy prison sen­tence, Patch reflects on his prepa­ra­tions for rein­te­gra­tion into soci­ety, par­tic­u­lar­ly his con­ver­sa­tions with a fel­low inmate, Ter­rence Roots. Roots had facil­i­tat­ed Patch’s under­stand­ing of men­tor­ship, build­ing rela­tion­ships, seek­ing resources, and the impor­tance of rou­tine. Despite nod­ding along, Patch har­bors an inner tur­moil, haunt­ed by the mem­o­ry of a lost love, which had left a deep void that he could not artic­u­late to oth­ers.

Although he main­tains a facade of sta­bil­i­ty by engag­ing in dai­ly activ­i­ties, like clear­ing ice from the dri­ve­way and prepar­ing meals, he car­ries the weight of his past. His friend Saint had been a source of sup­port, stock­ing his freez­er with cooked meals, while the cama­raderie with Sam­my pro­vid­ed tem­po­rary relief. Sam­my, ine­bri­at­ed, brings over expen­sive bot­tles of cognac, and togeth­er they indulge, cul­mi­nat­ing in Patch’s first ven­ture onto Main Street since his release. There, he notices the changes and feels a mix of famil­iar­i­ty and alien­ation.

Inside Sam­my’s gallery, Patch is tak­en aback by art pieces fea­tur­ing girls he rec­og­nizes from his past. Each paint­ing evokes mem­o­ries and emo­tions, and as he moves from one to another—Anna May, Lucy Williams, Ellen Hernandez—he expe­ri­ences a deep con­nec­tion to the women depict­ed, par­tic­u­lar­ly Eloise Strike, whose gaze prompts painful mem­o­ries of Grace, his lost love. After two hours of con­tem­pla­tion among the prints, Patch finds a sack of mail from the des­per­ate par­ents of miss­ing women, yearn­ing for clo­sure or answers.

He ten­der­ly drapes a silk blan­ket over Sam­my, who has suc­cumbed to sleep, and reflects on the weight of their shared his­to­ry. Patch acknowl­edges Sam­my’s con­tri­bu­tions but rec­og­nizes that the past can­not be changed, encap­su­lat­ing his need to move for­ward. This chap­ter illus­trates Patch’s inter­nal con­flict, the echoes of his past life, and his strug­gle to find solace in the present while con­fronting haunt­ing mem­o­ries.