"As long as you stick to that," Dan says, and he doesn't need the shining to see the possibility for restlessness. "I'm sure you'd rather be heading back up there." Dan remains unsure of whether he could make himself go back into that dark place, though he thinks that if Marcus did, he'd try.

He lifts a hand to his bandaged throat, a far-away look in his eyes. "Yeah, you're right." It's on his list of things not to think about, puzzles not to solve. Had it been Mrs. Massey that had strangled him, or had it been-- that's not what he wants to think about, no. But he's gone quiet and distant enough that he feels he should say something.

"I was strangled pretty badly as a child, once. I don't think my mom understood that much. It's not like she could have taken me to a doctor anyway, I think we were snowed in at that point. I suppose I was lucky."