I'm a well read grad student who's bluntly honest about all things, although I try to be most honest about myself.
Because, dear Primus, this was just so much. Matt has to save himself, even when he begs for help, and it damn near kills him. It should have; everyone thought it did. It will also, in retrospect, give him a chance to escape, to recoup, to heal himself.
I can't even. I don't have the words. Onto more Night Walk to give myself a chance to get over just how emotionally exhausting that was for me.