Comic page | Chapter 6 | Page 8

There are 9 panels.

PANEL 1:Alan's field of vision widens again, pushing the darkness back to the edges. The slightly blurred image of Vince appears in the center, his hair and beard partially graying, looking directly at Alan with concern and extending a hand toward him. He exclaims: "How wet you are!".

PANEL 2:Alan closes his eyes again, and the image goes black. Vince's voice guides him, imperative: "Come, take those clothes off or you are going to get sick! Up, hurry!".

PANEL 3:Vince moves a little closer to Alan and, looking at him steadily and seriously, says: " Don’t fall asleep, I can’t do this alone".

PANEL 4:Vince is kneeling at Alan's feet, who is lying down, and begins to take off Alan’s boots. He begins telling a story: “It reminds me once, long ago,

PANEL 5:He helps him take off his wet t-shirt, leaving Alan’s bare torso that reveals bruises and injuries on his back and arms. Vince keeps telling the story: “It was really cold and you came home all in shivers… You were so small… Do you remember?”.

PANEL 6:He gets up and moves to the side to wring out the t-shirt with his hands, and adds, as the water falls to the floor: “You were all red and you wouldn’t say what you’d been doing. Cristina kept coming to check on you… and you were running a fever”. Alan remains hunched over with his torso bare, holding his arms to his body against the cold.

PANEL 7:Vince unfolds the t-shirt out on top of a bush and leaves it to dry. He continues: “And to think that in the end it turns out you were hiding in the sea… so I wouldn’t find you”.

PANEL 8:Downcast, Alan puts a closed hand to his eyes and rubs them.

PANEL 9:Vince finishes the story with a sweet, playful expression, his eyes crinkling into a wide smile as he says: "You can be quite a rascal sometimes…".