In Chap­ter 223 of “All the Col­ors of the Dark,” we encounter a tense and emo­tion­al moment between Saint and Char­lotte. Saint meets Char­lotte at the main gate, lean­ing on the hood of her cruis­er to deliv­er dis­tress­ing news: her father has escaped from prison that very morn­ing. Charlotte’s ini­tial lack of reac­tion under­scores the grav­i­ty of the sit­u­a­tion and her inter­nal strug­gle. She appears calm in her sum­mer dress, with thick blonde hair styled in a Dutch braid, yet the looks from bystanders liken her to an exot­ic crea­ture.

Saint empha­sizes the urgency of inform­ing her if her father shows up, warn­ing that law enforce­ment in the area is trig­ger-hap­py and will not engage in dia­logue before resort­ing to vio­lence. Their con­ver­sa­tion shifts as they dri­ve through town, stop­ping near the old rail­road and walk­ing into the woods. Saint reflects on the nature of belief and real­i­ty, recall­ing her child­hood real­iza­tion about San­ta Claus. Char­lotte con­tributes to the con­ver­sa­tion by shar­ing her expe­ri­ence, show­ing that even painful truths can be hard to face.

Saint con­veys the com­plex­i­ty of human nature, express­ing her thoughts on Jim­my Wal­ters, a man who appeared kind but had a dark side. She shares these insights while observ­ing a heron, allow­ing the seren­i­ty of nature to con­trast with her emo­tion­al tur­moil. Char­lotte then reach­es out to hold Sain­t’s hand, encap­su­lat­ing the bond they have devel­oped amidst chaos. Saint strug­gles with the bur­den of want­i­ng to be more than just a friend to Char­lotte, reveal­ing her feel­ings of inad­e­qua­cy and iso­la­tion from her past.

As the con­ver­sa­tion turns back to the poten­tial threat of Charlotte’s father, Char­lotte express­es a sense of res­ig­na­tion, believ­ing she is not a pri­or­i­ty in her father’s life. She rem­i­nisces about their first meet­ing, illus­trat­ing her inno­cent hope that he would ful­fill a promise of con­nec­tion. This chap­ter intri­cate­ly weaves themes of friend­ship, fear, and the com­plex­i­ties of famil­ial rela­tion­ships, high­light­ing both vul­ner­a­bil­i­ty and resilience amid unset­tling cir­cum­stances.