Of their livesPainBlindingThe eyes of the Mind and the heartCHAPTER TENThe events of the time had affected Samuel's once beautiful physique and he had become a slender figure of a man. This fact said what his lips could not say. His strong dark curls were now replaced by baldness. There was a drain, a tension, that ate away at him. He seemed only half a man. Daunting fears lingered on his brow, as if waiting for a moment, a thought. He had tried to fight it, but most of the time he gave up. Valarie could see the need and desperation in Samuel's spirit. How it cast a shadow on both of them. Lying between them like hard matter, he had settled and settled into his place. There were those unusual moments when she would try to get closer to him, but he wouldn't, couldn't let her. He walked away. He wasn't sure if he was mad at her or if it was her fault, or both. Whatever it was, it had turned something in Samuel against the woman he had loved. Valarie noticed that Sophia's arrival had brought more unrest into their lives, especially for Samuel. Loving Sophia had opened Valarie's heart, and Samuel noticed. Valarie now that, within her limited abilities, she tried to contact Samuel. She could see him withering before her. This pushed her to try beyond herself, to really try, but now it was Samuel who pulled back, pushing away her outstretched arms. He had wanted her for so long. He had waited so long. no stomach for it. It would seem that his needs have dried up, have been stripped of any expectation of being met. He had learned to do without it, to do without it and now he... in the center of the paper... inside, made his way to the surface. Without asking her permission, he pushed himself to the surface of her heart. She didn't think she could survive, or even have the strength to want to love and be loved. It was the child's innocent need for love that had the power to stir things inside Valarie. She couldn't understand that such a need, the need for love and to be loved, could survive in the graveyard of her past. But Valarie would have to learn that it is only through healing her own wounds and ultimately letting go and forgiving her transgressors, and herself, that she would be able to survive. allow her to move on, move on and truly love, truly live again. But the process wouldn't spare her, it wouldn't take any shortcuts, and if she wasn't careful, it could easily kill her, throw her off some bridge, or choke the life out of her body..