Dan puts down his spoon and reaches out to set a hand on Marcus's wrist, the back of his hand. The dizzy feeling now isn't from darkness or evil; it's from the realization that they are so similar, that they've been hurt in so many of the same ways.

His thumb strokes the inside of Marcus's wrist.

"When my dad finally lost it, he tried to kill both of us. I had called for help with the shining, called a man I knew I could trust, and it nearly killed both him and my mom, but we got out. My dad died at the Overlook. So we were safe, even if we were changed. The ghosts tried to follow me, but Dick, that's the fried, he helped me with that." He keeps his voice soft, as soothing as he can manage.

"How did you escape it?"