"And then it would be him?" Behind him, the tree is murmuring things to him, winding its roots into him and pulling him apart. He doesn't want the dark thing in him to go away, strongly suspects that he needs it in order to hold himself together, but the fissures are growing. Even it would agree at this point that something has to be done.

But that way...

"No, I..." All the times like this before, all the times he's shown Neil things he could never let anyone else see. "No, I want it to be you."