The Grey Between
He woke in a world that didn’t remember him.
Roads crumble. Sky never clears. Machines are still, reflections broken.
He walks because there’s no other choice.
Somewhere behind the fog of memory—a voice, a promise, a reason.
Maybe.
Along the way, he meets others.
Not many. Not often.
But enough to wonder:
Is this a punishment? A test? A reckoning?
Or just… what’s left?
And then one night:
“Ronan,” the old man said. “You’re a real lost one, aren’t you?”
He didn’t answer. He never does.
“Come on over here and I’ll show you how it’s done. It’s not hard. It gets a little easier the more times you do it.”
The fire sparked. Caught. Took hold.
“Like all things you build in this life, you first need a good foundation.”
“Fire don’t care who you are,” he said. “Treat it right, it lives. Treat it wrong, it burns your fingers.”
He held up a weathered flint. “This? This is what the old ones carried. Not just to eat, but to be seen. To say: I’m still here.”
He tried. Failed. Tried again.
Then—
A spark.
A flame.
“That’s what I do,” the old man said. “I carry fire. Someone has to.”
THE GRAY BETWEEN
A novel by Terrance David
Coming late 2025