Chap­ter 226 of All the Col­ors of the Dark intro­duces Patch in a moment of qui­et soli­tude, a hun­dred miles south of his pre­vi­ous loca­tion. From his van­tage point on a bluff, he looks out over the Mis­sis­sip­pi Riv­er as it curves and twists, cre­at­ing an oxbow. He’s metic­u­lous­ly kept him­self look­ing clean and com­posed, with his hair cropped short and his face fresh­ly shaven. The blue leather satchel beside him con­tains all the essen­tials: clothes, mon­ey, and sup­plies that he had scav­enged from Cooper’s car, which he lat­er dis­card­ed in a seclud­ed, remote spot. Despite the warm, oppres­sive sun, Patch keeps his ball cap pulled low, con­ceal­ing much of his face. The eye patch, how­ev­er, remains in his pock­et; instead, he wears dark sun­glass­es, seek­ing some relief from the blind­ing light. As he strolls along the river­bank, the chang­ing col­ors of the sky at sun­set cap­ti­vate him. The once bold hues of the river’s sur­face grad­u­al­ly shift, cre­at­ing abstract pat­terns that seem to blend seam­less­ly into the sky. The beau­ty of the scene is almost over­whelm­ing, and for a moment, Patch longs for the artis­tic abil­i­ty to cap­ture it on can­vas, as if the fleet­ing image could be pre­served for­ev­er in a paint­ing.

The qui­et peace of the moment con­trasts sharply with the urgency of Patch’s jour­ney. As the evening draws in, he seeks cov­er in a seclud­ed copse, find­ing shel­ter among the sedges. Using his satchel as a makeshift pil­low, he rests on the cool ground, his mind focused on the upcom­ing jour­ney that awaits him. With dawn approach­ing, the check­points in the area will shift, sig­nal­ing the next step in his jour­ney toward Ten­nessee. This moment of still­ness and con­tem­pla­tion is more than just a phys­i­cal pause—it marks an emo­tion­al turn­ing point for Patch. Cross­ing into Ten­nessee isn’t mere­ly a geo­graph­i­cal shift; it’s the final stretch of his jour­ney toward a deep­er per­son­al goal. For Patch, this move­ment toward Ten­nessee rep­re­sents a step clos­er to the woman he longs to reunite with, some­one he holds dear and who has been the source of his deter­mi­na­tion through­out this tur­bu­lent jour­ney. As the night begins to set­tle, the antic­i­pa­tion grows, and the urgency with­in him inten­si­fies, match­ing the rest­less cur­rent of the riv­er below.

Patch lies alone in the copse, feel­ing the weight of his thoughts as the world around him qui­ets. In this brief moment of soli­tude, his mind drifts back to the per­son wait­ing for him, the one who has been the dri­ving force behind his every deci­sion and move. The still­ness around him, the gen­tly flow­ing riv­er, and the fad­ing light serve as a back­drop for his inter­nal reflec­tion. The land­scape itself becomes a metaphor for his emo­tion­al jour­ney. Just as the riv­er twists and winds its way through the land, so too has Patch’s jour­ney been long and uncer­tain, filled with unex­pect­ed turns. The soli­tude offers him a brief moment of peace, but it is clear that this is only temporary—his path is lead­ing him for­ward, toward a future that is as uncer­tain as the river’s wind­ing course. The qui­et of the night brings a fleet­ing sense of calm, but it is under­cut by the ever-present urgency of his goal. The peace­ful still­ness of nature is in stark con­trast to the emo­tion­al and phys­i­cal jour­ney that Patch is about to embark upon, high­light­ing the dual nature of his existence—one of qui­et reflec­tion and the oth­er of con­stant move­ment toward a final, uncer­tain des­ti­na­tion. This jux­ta­po­si­tion of inner peace and out­ward urgency mir­rors the inter­nal con­flict Patch feels—longing for con­nec­tion, yet know­ing that the road ahead will require sac­ri­fices and deter­mi­na­tion to reach the place where he tru­ly belongs.

As the day fades into night, the ten­sion between Patch’s desire for calm and the pres­sure of his jour­ney inten­si­fies. The still­ness of the riv­er becomes a sym­bol of his own inner tur­moil, each rip­ple on its sur­face mir­ror­ing the thoughts rac­ing through his mind. The antic­i­pa­tion of cross­ing into Ten­nessee brings with it both a sense of relief and a grow­ing anx­i­ety. He knows that once he cross­es this thresh­old, the uncer­tain­ty of what lies ahead will be replaced by some­thing far more per­son­al. The jour­ney toward Ten­nessee is more than just a phys­i­cal relo­ca­tion; it rep­re­sents the cul­mi­na­tion of his emo­tion­al jour­ney, the clos­ing of one chap­ter and the open­ing of anoth­er. Patch’s heart beats with antic­i­pa­tion, not just for the geo­graph­i­cal shift, but for the reunion he hopes to expe­ri­ence. His thoughts con­tin­ue to revolve around the woman wait­ing for him, and though he feels a deep sense of deter­mi­na­tion, there’s also a sense of fear—fear of what might come once he arrives, and fear of what he might have to leave behind. But despite the fear, the pull of this reunion remains unde­ni­able, and Patch is deter­mined to see it through, no mat­ter the obsta­cles that lie in his path.

As Patch pre­pares him­self for the long night ahead, the weight of his jour­ney becomes all the more evi­dent. The Mis­sis­sip­pi Riv­er, calm yet con­stant, serves as both a com­pan­ion and a reminder of the pas­sage of time. It is a force that moves relent­less­ly for­ward, much like Patch’s own jour­ney. Each pass­ing hour brings him clos­er to his des­ti­na­tion, but it also brings with it the weight of all that has tran­spired along the way. The sense of hope that fills him as he stares out at the riv­er is tem­pered by the uncer­tain­ty of what lies ahead. Patch’s jour­ney is far from over, but with each step, he moves clos­er to the res­o­lu­tion of his inner con­flict. The land­scape, with its beau­ty and still­ness, offers a moment of respite in the chaos of his life, yet it also serves as a reminder of the jour­ney yet to be com­plet­ed. The ten­sion between peace and urgency, rest and move­ment, defines Patch’s expe­ri­ence in this chap­ter, cap­tur­ing the com­plex­i­ty of his emo­tion­al and phys­i­cal jour­ney as he pre­pares for the next phase of his path toward Ten­nessee.