Chap­ter 114 of All the Col­ors of the Dark takes place at the Glenn Hook Reser­voir, where Nix is fish­ing, enjoy­ing the peace of the water while grap­pling with the pres­sures of life’s respon­si­bil­i­ties. He catch­es fish like cat­fish and wall­eye, using the time to con­verse with Saint, who has come to see him despite being on her sup­posed hon­ey­moon. Their con­ver­sa­tion reveals the truth behind her mar­riage to Jim­my, explain­ing that they are focus­ing on sav­ing mon­ey for home ren­o­va­tions and his upcom­ing exams. Nix express­es his con­cern for Saint, recall­ing past dis­cus­sions about her life choic­es, par­tic­u­lar­ly the impli­ca­tions of mar­ry­ing Jim­my while Joseph’s shad­ow looms over her life.

Saint reflects on her wed­ding night with Jim­my, recall­ing how it felt awk­ward and dis­ap­point­ing, a far cry from the ide­al­ized ver­sion she had once imag­ined. Nix probes fur­ther into her feel­ings about mar­riage, and Saint describes it as “decent,” offer­ing a can­did assess­ment of her cur­rent state. She touch­es on her moth­er’s belief in Jim­my’s inher­ent good­ness, or pos­si­bly her desire for safe­ty and sta­bil­i­ty, espe­cial­ly in light of the unre­solved issues with Joseph. Their con­ver­sa­tion explores deep­er themes of love and exis­tence, as Nix reflects on life’s roles and how peo­ple, often shaped by their past, come to accept cer­tain cir­cum­stances. He opens up about his own heart­break, allud­ing to past rela­tion­ships that have left their emo­tion­al mark.

As the dis­cus­sion deep­ens, the two delve into more pro­found top­ics like the weight of par­ent­hood and soci­ety’s expec­ta­tions of it. They share a mutu­al under­stand­ing about the strug­gles that come with respon­si­bil­i­ty, which are often more chal­leng­ing than oth­ers per­ceive. Nix, shar­ing his own expe­ri­ence of los­ing a cher­ished dog from his youth, touch­es on the emo­tion­al scars that come with loss, a sen­ti­ment Saint con­nects with, giv­en the loss­es she’s faced in her own life. Though the con­ver­sa­tion touch­es on these deep­er, more somber top­ics, they also find moments of light­ness, recall­ing fish­ing exploits from the past. How­ev­er, the mood shifts as the dis­cus­sion turns toward the town’s his­to­ry of vio­lence, par­tic­u­lar­ly a crime involv­ing Cal­lie Mon­trose’s father, which adds a dark under­tone to their reflec­tions.

As the day begins to fade, Nix shares trou­bling news with Saint: the FBI has start­ed an inquiry into her, sig­nal­ing a poten­tial shift in her life and cir­cum­stances. This rev­e­la­tion hangs heavy between them, as it marks a turn­ing point for Saint’s future. The chap­ter clos­es with a ten­der, yet qui­et moment of close­ness between Saint and Nix, a ges­ture that high­lights the integri­ty and bond they share. This scene is a poignant reminder of the evolv­ing dynam­ics in their lives, set against the back­drop of haunt­ing mem­o­ries and per­son­al growth. The peace­ful yet melan­cholic set­ting of the fish­ing trip encap­su­lates their shared jour­ney of grap­pling with the past while attempt­ing to move for­ward in a world that con­tin­ues to chal­lenge them.

In this chap­ter, themes of loss, self-reflec­tion, and the com­plex­i­ties of rela­tion­ships are intri­cate­ly explored. Saint’s inter­nal strug­gle regard­ing her mar­riage and her con­nec­tions with Nix serve as a stark con­trast to the idyl­lic set­ting of the reser­voir, empha­siz­ing how even in moments of tran­quil­i­ty, the weight of per­son­al his­to­ry and unspo­ken truths can linger. The pres­ence of past tragedies, par­tic­u­lar­ly in the town’s vio­lent his­to­ry, serves as a con­stant reminder that the char­ac­ters’ emo­tion­al jour­neys are deeply inter­twined with the world around them. Nix’s gen­tle prob­ing and can­did reflec­tions allow Saint to con­front aspects of her life she might oth­er­wise avoid, while also reveal­ing his own vul­ner­a­bil­i­ties, mak­ing their bond all the more sig­nif­i­cant in this chap­ter. The chap­ter con­cludes with a sense of fore­bod­ing, as the FBI inquiry looms, sug­gest­ing that the qui­et peace of this moment will soon be dis­rupt­ed by the unfold­ing mys­ter­ies and con­se­quences of their actions.