All that we see or seem Is but a dream within a dream.

It is between Curtis's rooms and Rat's rooms that Grey explores. He still wants to know the city, still wants to feel at home here. But it's still too big, it's still too wide-open. It's still too loud.

But he comes to a stop when he peers into a window. He presses his casted fingers to the glass as he looks in, watching someone climb, jump, fall, rise and do it again. He feels his breath quicken, feels the muscles of his legs tense in following the movements. He feels a sharp, deep pang of want. To do that, to move like that again.

Without thinking too much of it, he moves toward a door, figures out how to open it and he steps inside.


(Poe's "A Dream Within a Dream")