After hours, Sadie and Beth were locked in a bitter argument debating which selection of new books the store should offer the following week. Beth was in the lead, having made the most valid points, but she was not involved whole-heartedly. Sadie just wasn't happy, because Beth was obviously winning, and she didn't care.

"Sadie, the man could write the same word on every single page and still have a best-seller. Trust me, you want to include his newest stuff," Beth sighed.

"But the man doesn't have any in his stories. They're all about the same evil things. Another novel, but a little known author that writes with passion is worth more than a best-seller," Sadie debated, determined to be stubborn. She walked around to the front counter, carelessly dusting random spots with her dust cloth.

"Oh shit, someone left their wallet here," Sadie sighed. She picked it up, and flipped through it, trying to find some ID.

"Beth, it looks like your customer," Sadie announced, after finding a picture.

Beth glanced up at the picture she was holding up. She nodded, and bent down over her clipboard again.

"You know, Bethy, this guy is gorgeous. He's not a regular, but I swear I've seen him before," Sadie rambled on.

"Sadie, you're a nut. Sure, he's good-looking, which is why you wish you know him from somewhere," Beth laughed.

"Yeah, it's too bad. His friend's aren't that bad-looking either," she said. Beth took another glance at the photograph, and felt her blood run cold.

It was her late-night customer, all right. Standing next to him, though, was a man with green eyes.

Pleading green eyes. Suddenly, the face was so familiar, a face and a pair of eyes she'd seen in her mind so many times, she was astounded that she hadn't noticed him in the picture before. Grasping the picture as if it would disappear, she stared at the face, trembling.

"Beth, you're scaring me," Sadie said quietly.

"The eyes," Beth breathed, reaching forward with shaking fingers to brush the photograph.

"Yeah, Mr. Baby Blues has eyes a girl could fall in love with," Sadie chattered, convinced that that was what Beth had implied.

"The green eyes," Beth whispered, as she laid the photo down on the counter, looking intensely at it. She recognised the snapshot. A party, a big celebration. She could remember his overwhelming sense of achievement and pride. The four men in the picture held meaning to him; she had sensed that by feeling the way they interacted together.

There was only one man she couldn't recognise from that scene that was the man who had left his wallet at the store. But her focus was on the man with the green eyes. She was positive that she had found him. She had found the largest piece of her puzzle. But she still needed more, she had to find him. She needed to know how they all fitted together.

* * * *

The harsh, chilling cold of the very early hours did not keep Beth from her place; a small, forgotten park that marked the happier periods of her childhood.

Parents, having intuitively sense the difference in their child, had remained indifferent towards her. Instead of creating trouble for attention, Beth would spend house sitting and playing in the old park. She was never missed.

After reaching the familiar spot, she surveyed the area. Smiling faintly, she spotted the gnarled tree. She walked over towards it, and placed her hands on the rough bark. The old tree had offered nurturing where her mother would not. Climbing up gingerly, she settled quite comfortably in the largest limb. Looking around, she noticed how much larger the world seemed from that limb compared to her apartment's high-looking window. She felt much smaller; a positive thing for her. The smaller the world seemed, the worse the connections seemed to be. For if the world was so small, how could there be so many people who gave into their evil compulsions?

She closed her eyes, determined to answer an equally unanswerable question. Pulling the picture out of her walled, she surveyed the faces again.

Sitting there all alone
In the window of her room
Watching the world go by
Brings tears to her eyes

"What am I going to do?" Beth whispered, shivering slightly in the cold. "How am I going to help him? I don't even know what is going to happen, let alone how to stop it."

Looking back down at the photo, she surveyed the green-eyed man once again. Why was he so important? What was there about this man that made him so important? Beth had decided not to try to help those she connected to, simply because there was no way she could possibly help them all. But due to the close nature of this man's relationship with him, she knew that she must help him. But how?

If you keep holding on
You'll never be wrong
Just close your eyes

"How can I help you? What am I going to do?" she whispered. Feeling the great press of ill feelings and evil intentions that she struggled to keep at bay, trying to shrug off a random connection, she felt weak and helpless.

"I can't even help myself! Why the hell do I think I can help him?" she cried out suddenly. Gasping suddenly for air, she grasped the tree beneath her. I can't even live my own life, I've been controlled by what other people feel all my life, and I think I can have an impact of his life?

You may feel weak
But you are strong

A warm breeze suddenly drifted through the tree, bringing some feeling back into Beth's numb fingers. Nestling further into the crook of the limb, Beth tried to relax so that she could think. Whether or not she would be able to help, she would at least have to try.

What does her future hold
That's a story left unknown
Will she make in through her days?