I knew better than to go. And yet the map burrowed in my skull. Days later, a new thread appeared titled "Lantern Exchange" with a single rule: bring one, take none. Images came: a battered hurricane lamp, a bonsai of glass, a jar full of fireflies. @neon_moth wrote, "I will leave one at the bridge this Sunday. If you follow the map, leave a mark—nothing that will last." The map's star pulsed like a heartbeat. People started to plan, in the kind of tentative, hopeful language reserved for reunions and exorcisms.
