Chap­ter 109 of All the Col­ors of the Dark opens with Patch being urged out of his self-imposed iso­la­tion by younger crew mem­bers, eager to expe­ri­ence the nightlife after two weeks of seclu­sion. The group piles into an old, weath­ered camper, with the scent of cheap cologne min­gling with a pal­pa­ble sense of des­per­a­tion, all while they share a bot­tle of Jim Beam. The night ahead is filled with antic­i­pa­tion, and the con­ver­sa­tion turns to the con­cept of real men and their sup­posed allure to col­lege girls, a top­ic that brings about laugh­ter and eager debates. As the camper rum­bles toward Boston, Patch feels the build­ing excite­ment, but beneath it, a qui­et uncer­tain­ty stirs. This night, filled with the pos­si­bil­i­ty of dis­trac­tion, offers a tem­po­rary escape from his trou­bled thoughts, but it also serves as a reminder of the weight he car­ries.

Upon arriv­ing in Boston, Patch is imme­di­ate­ly struck by the vibrant ener­gy of the bars lin­ing JFK Street. In his fad­ed jeans and leather boots, he blends into the scene, though his inter­nal bat­tle sets him apart from the care­free excite­ment of the night. The live­ly crowd and the hum of voic­es cre­ate a buzz that momen­tar­i­ly pulls him from the depths of his mind. Inside a crowd­ed Irish bar, Patch is approached by a girl whose friend­ly demeanor and laugh­ter briefly lift his spir­its. They engage in casu­al con­ver­sa­tion, but soon, his mind drifts back to Grace. The girl’s pres­ence, although pleas­ant, can­not shake the mem­o­ry of Grace’s absence, and Patch finds him­self won­der­ing if any of the women around him could offer even a frac­tion of the con­nec­tion he once had with her. Despite the fleet­ing excite­ment of the encounter, Patch is remind­ed that he is still haunt­ed by the woman who occu­pies his thoughts.

As the night pro­gress­es, Patch moves to the Boat­man bar, where he decides to sit alone amidst the bustling crowd. The noise of the bar and the con­stant motion of peo­ple around him only serve to height­en his sense of iso­la­tion. Even in the midst of a live­ly crowd, he feels dis­con­nect­ed, as if he is observ­ing life from a dis­tance rather than engag­ing in it. His atten­tion shifts to a blonde girl engaged in a tense alter­ca­tion with a man, her dis­com­fort evi­dent as she attempts to resist his advances, only to be met with laugh­ter from his friends. The scene fills Patch with a surge of pro­tec­tive­ness, and with­out hes­i­ta­tion, he inter­venes. A punch is thrown, knock­ing the aggres­sor to the ground, and for a moment, Patch is pro­pelled by an instinct that seems both for­eign and famil­iar. The crowd’s ener­gy shifts in an instant, and Patch’s action dis­rupts the esca­lat­ing ten­sion. Though the alter­ca­tion was brief, the emo­tion­al inten­si­ty of the moment is unde­ni­able, as Patch’s pro­tec­tive instincts over­ride his own hes­i­ta­tion and self-doubt.

The after­math of the con­fronta­tion is swift, and Patch’s focus imme­di­ate­ly shifts to the girl, Misty Mey­er, as she stum­bles away from the chaos. Their eyes meet, and in that brief moment of shared under­stand­ing, an unde­ni­able con­nec­tion is formed. This fleet­ing moment offers Patch a sense of some­thing real, some­thing beyond the sur­face-lev­el inter­ac­tions he’s had up until this point. How­ev­er, as bot­tles begin to fly through the air and chaos erupts around them, Patch’s atten­tion remains fixed on Misty. He acts quick­ly, scoop­ing her up and car­ry­ing her out of the bar and into the cool, qui­et night air. As they step out­side, away from the noise and tur­moil, Patch feels a sense of relief, but it is fleet­ing. This brief con­nec­tion, though it offers him a brief respite from the weight of his past, is yet anoth­er chap­ter in his jour­ney of emo­tion­al dis­so­nance. As they walk away from the com­mo­tion, Patch can’t help but won­der if this moment with Misty will become just anoth­er for­got­ten encounter in the end­less stream of his life. Despite his doubts, the fleet­ing con­nec­tion leaves a mark on him, remind­ing him that amidst the chaos, there are still moments of clar­i­ty and human con­nec­tion to be found.