_{“Stop,” is the first thing he says to her, a weary grin teasing the corners of his mouth like he’s nowhere near convinced. What ever kind of convoluted humor this is, he’s no clue where it came from. But he knows he wants it to stop.}

     _{But he can see her expression change to something seldom present on her features – a dreadful kind of pleading, that anxious little crease in her forehead. As he comes to the sickening realization, his expression begins to mimic her’s.}

     _{“No,” is the second thing he says to her, and the last.}