Chap­ter 96 of All the Col­ors of the Dark begins with Nix sup­port­ing an emo­tion­al­ly over­whelmed Saint fol­low­ing a trau­mat­ic event. Saint, wear­ing a torn dress, fran­ti­cal­ly search­es through the house, her move­ments dri­ven by haunt­ing mem­o­ries of her friend, Jim­my Wal­ters. The emo­tion­al weight of the sit­u­a­tion is pal­pa­ble as she des­per­ate­ly tries to find some­thing that will give her clo­sure. The house, filled with shad­ows of the past, becomes a phys­i­cal rep­re­sen­ta­tion of her grief and frus­tra­tion. As she moves from room to room, the air is thick with the anguish of unre­solved pain, and Saint’s actions become increas­ing­ly errat­ic. Her heartache, over the loss of a friend and the deep lone­li­ness she feels, is evi­dent as she search­es tire­less­ly, hop­ing to uncov­er some form of res­o­lu­tion that has elud­ed her for so long.

Nix, under­stand­ing the inten­si­ty of Saint’s emo­tions, attempts to phys­i­cal­ly restrain her while offer­ing emo­tion­al sup­port. Despite Saint’s protests and her attempts to con­tin­ue her fran­tic search, Nix remains calm, pro­vid­ing a sense of sta­bil­i­ty that Saint des­per­ate­ly needs in her frag­ile state. The con­trast between Saint’s emo­tion­al chaos and Nix’s com­posed demeanor high­lights the ten­sion in their rela­tion­ship. As Saint’s tears flow, reveal­ing years of hid­den pain, Nix’s silence becomes a pow­er­ful form of com­fort. He doesn’t offer solu­tions or emp­ty reas­sur­ances, but sim­ply remains there, shar­ing in her grief with­out judg­ment. This moment of vul­ner­a­bil­i­ty show­cas­es the depth of their con­nec­tion, as Saint allows her­self to lean on Nix, even though her emo­tion­al tur­moil remains large­ly unspo­ken.

Their con­ver­sa­tion then delves into deep­er ter­ri­to­ry as they reflect on faith and promis­es made. Saint recalls a vow she made to God, promis­ing to lead a right­eous life if only her friend, Patch, would return to her. The weight of this promise hangs heav­i­ly over her, reflect­ing her des­per­ate desire for res­o­lu­tion and the inner con­flict she feels about the choic­es she has made. Nix, ever empa­thet­ic, lis­tens with­out mock­ing her beliefs, offer­ing qui­et reas­sur­ance that despite the dif­fi­cult road ahead, there is hope. He speaks of the future, remind­ing Saint that she has pos­si­bil­i­ties, such as attend­ing Dart­mouth, even if that future seems dis­tant amidst her cur­rent pain. Nix’s abil­i­ty to acknowl­edge Saint’s feel­ings with­out belit­tling them offers her a rare moment of com­fort, show­ing that she is not alone in her strug­gle.

The ten­sion in the scene inten­si­fies with the arrival of Deputy Hark­ness, who enters with a sense of duty but also com­pas­sion. Saint, des­per­ate for answers and dri­ven by a need for jus­tice for those who have gone miss­ing, urges Hark­ness to con­sid­er the pos­si­bil­i­ty that anoth­er girl is out there, lost like the oth­ers. Her plea empha­sizes her deep com­mit­ment to find­ing the truth, even as the search seems to be slip­ping fur­ther away. Nix and Hark­ness briefly dis­cuss a shared child­hood mem­o­ry of a hid­den stor­age cel­lar, adding a lay­er of per­son­al con­nec­tion and his­to­ry to the inves­ti­ga­tion. Their mutu­al knowl­edge of the land serves as a sub­tle reminder of the ties that bind them to the place and the past they are try­ing to under­stand. As the con­ver­sa­tion shifts, the three of them begin to work togeth­er, search­ing through piles of wood for any evi­dence that might pro­vide a clue.

Despite the lack of a for­mal war­rant, Hark­ness is moved by his empa­thy for Saint’s cause and agrees to assist in the search. Frus­tra­tion builds among the group as they sift through the debris, but Saint’s deter­mi­na­tion nev­er wavers. Time seems to be run­ning out, and she pulls away at the rot­ten tim­ber with an urgency born of her need to uncov­er the truth. As the wood is cleared, a set of steps is revealed, lead­ing down into the dark­ness, an omi­nous dis­cov­ery that sends a chill through the group. The ten­sion that has been build­ing through­out the chap­ter reach­es a boil­ing point as the prospect of uncov­er­ing some­thing sig­nif­i­cant looms larg­er than ever.

The chap­ter reach­es its peak as Saint, dri­ven by a mix of dread and resolve, steps down the creaky wood­en steps. The air is thick with the weight of their col­lec­tive fear as they fol­low her lead into the dark­ened depths. Hark­ness shines his flash­light, illu­mi­nat­ing a grim and hor­ri­fy­ing dis­cov­ery: a sin­gle mat­tress soaked in blood, a scene that evokes both hor­ror and despair. The sight marks a sig­nif­i­cant turn­ing point in their inves­ti­ga­tion, solid­i­fy­ing the fright­en­ing real­i­ty of what they have been search­ing for. This dis­cov­ery is not just a phys­i­cal find but also a metaphor for the dark­ness that has been lurk­ing just beneath the sur­face of their quest for answers. The unset­tling nature of what they’ve uncov­ered leaves them with more ques­tions than answers, pro­pelling the sto­ry for­ward into a more chill­ing and com­plex chap­ter of their jour­ney.