Chap­ter 87 of All the Col­ors of the Dark finds the pro­tag­o­nist and Misty in a qui­et basil­i­ca in Huntersville, where they share an inti­mate moment. As Misty strug­gles with prayer, she is bur­dened by the bless­ings she has already received, unsure of what more she can ask for. Despite this, the depth of their con­nec­tion is evi­dent as Misty tight­ly grips the protagonist’s hand, sym­bol­iz­ing the emo­tion­al inten­si­ty of their bond. This scene high­lights the com­plex­i­ty of Misty’s inner world, where grat­i­tude and long­ing coex­ist, and where her rela­tion­ship with the pro­tag­o­nist deep­ens as they nav­i­gate their own emo­tion­al strug­gles. The basil­i­ca, a place often asso­ci­at­ed with reflec­tion, becomes a set­ting that con­trasts the weight of Misty’s inter­nal con­flict with the ten­der­ness of the con­nec­tion they share. The qui­et sur­round­ings allow for a moment of calm amidst the tur­bu­lence of their lives, ampli­fy­ing the inti­ma­cy of their exchange.

Mean­while, the pro­tag­o­nist spends a con­sid­er­able amount of time at the pub­lic library, reflect­ing on the last decade of his life. As he sifts through old records and doc­u­ments, painful mem­o­ries resur­face, remind­ing him of events he had unin­ten­tion­al­ly over­looked. He recalls a bliz­zard that swept through the region, the shock­ing assas­si­na­tion of polit­i­cal fig­ures, and the cul­tur­al moments that shaped soci­ety. This reflec­tion not only brings per­son­al mem­o­ries to the fore­front but also extends to a broad­er soci­etal con­scious­ness, high­light­ing the often-over­looked tragedies and expe­ri­ences of those around him. His efforts to gath­er names and faces of those affect­ed by these events are dri­ven by a desire to remem­ber and hon­or their lives. How­ev­er, his con­tri­bu­tions to Nix, the chief, are met with indif­fer­ence, as Nix files the infor­ma­tion with­out offer­ing any acknowl­edg­ment or val­i­da­tion. This lack of recog­ni­tion from the per­son in charge cre­ates a feel­ing of frus­tra­tion and alien­ation for the pro­tag­o­nist, who seeks to make sense of his past and the world around him.

The nar­ra­tive then shifts to the protagonist’s domes­tic life, focus­ing on his inter­ac­tions with Sam­my dur­ing their week­end bar­be­cues on the bal­cony. Their friend­ship is char­ac­ter­ized by humor and cama­raderie, but there are hints of under­ly­ing ten­sion. Sam­my casu­al­ly men­tions a woman named Nina, sug­gest­ing com­pli­ca­tions in his per­son­al life that add an ele­ment of unease to their oth­er­wise light­heart­ed gath­er­ings. Mean­while, the pro­tag­o­nist nav­i­gates the del­i­cate dynam­ics of car­ing for his moth­er, ensur­ing that her needs are met while simul­ta­ne­ous­ly pro­tect­ing Misty from the trou­bled atmos­phere at home. This jux­ta­po­si­tion of domes­tic respon­si­bil­i­ties with emo­tion­al com­plex­i­ties under­scores the protagonist’s strug­gle to bal­ance his oblig­a­tions to his fam­i­ly with his desire to pur­sue a mean­ing­ful con­nec­tion with Misty. His role as a care­tak­er, while filled with duty and love, also car­ries the weight of respon­si­bil­i­ty, leav­ing him feel­ing torn between the two aspects of his life.

Through­out the chap­ter, Misty’s desire for deep­er inti­ma­cy is sub­tly revealed, par­tic­u­lar­ly as she yearns for a more mean­ing­ful con­nec­tion through their rela­tion­ship. This is most evi­dent when she express­es her wish to attend the prom, a sig­nif­i­cant social event for young peo­ple that sym­bol­izes both cel­e­bra­tion and tran­si­tion. Though the pro­tag­o­nist is hes­i­tant at first, he even­tu­al­ly agrees, tak­ing Misty to the dance where they share a heart­felt embrace. This moment cap­tures the mix of joy and respon­si­bil­i­ty he feels toward her, high­light­ing the emo­tion­al com­plex­i­ty of their bond. Their con­nec­tion, while root­ed in youth­ful love, is also marked by the weight of their indi­vid­ual strug­gles and the chal­lenges they face togeth­er. The prom serves as a metaphor for the stage of life they are in—one of growth, change, and a mix of hope and uncer­tain­ty about the future.

As the pro­tag­o­nist delves deep­er into his paint­ing, he finds solace in cre­at­ing por­traits of local girls, chan­nel­ing his grief and artis­tic tal­ent into mean­ing­ful works. His art becomes a form of emo­tion­al expres­sion, allow­ing him to process the loss and trau­ma he has expe­ri­enced. The reac­tions to his paint­ings elic­it strong emo­tion­al respons­es, par­tic­u­lar­ly from the moth­ers of the girls he paints. These reac­tions are filled with a sense of grief and con­nec­tion, as the moth­ers see their daugh­ters immor­tal­ized in the art­work. How­ev­er, the encounter with Richie Mon­trose, who returns the por­trait of his daugh­ter, Cal­lie, reveals the pro­found pain of loss that res­onates through­out the chap­ter. Richie’s inabil­i­ty to accept the por­trait sym­bol­izes the over­whelm­ing sor­row that can­not be eas­i­ly addressed or over­come. Chief Nix’s obser­va­tion about grief rein­forces this theme, empha­siz­ing that those con­nect­ed to the vic­tims car­ry the emo­tion­al weight long after the ini­tial tragedy. The nar­ra­tive intri­cate­ly weaves togeth­er the per­son­al and col­lec­tive expe­ri­ences of loss, mem­o­ry, and mourn­ing, leav­ing read­ers with a deep sense of the emo­tion­al com­plex­i­ties that shape the lives of the char­ac­ters. The chap­ter serves as a pow­er­ful explo­ration of the ongo­ing impact of grief and the strug­gle to find mean­ing and clo­sure amidst pain and uncer­tain­ty.