I don't know what possessed me to write this, it kind of just happened. These two police officers, Carson Layne (who has had something else tragic in his past) and Clark Fisher, work together. Then Carson's girlfriend, Becky, is murdered by a criminal he's been tracking. Later, he has a chance to bring her back to life through a magic/cult-type thing, but at the price of five other lives. He decides not to, but his choice still haunts him, and that's where this dialouge happens.

So yeah, it's just a kind-of story, but I wrote this scene and I figured I'd get some critques before I worked out the rest. Tell me if you like the idea or not. And does anyone know how to do italics on this thing?

“She’s dead, Clark. I accept that,” At 26, Carson Layne’s black hair had no sign of gray, but his eyes looked so much older than is face; they were haunted, green orbs that had already seen too much of death.

“You had a chance, Car. You had a chance to bring Becky back, and no matter what you say, I know you considered taking it.” Clark Fisher stared back at his friend, trying, as he had for years, to decipher the other man’s cryptic expression.

“It wasn’t worth the lives,” Carson snapped. “I’ll deal.” Then, quieter, “I always have, you can’t deny that.”

“But she was the only one who was more than a face to you,” Clark broke away from Carson’s gaze. “And you can’t deny that.”

“No I can’t. But one life is not worth five. And Becky would agree.”

“Not if she was the one alive and you were dead.”

“Stop it, Clark.” Carson trudged out the missing wall of the building. Beyond that lay his city, the grimy, ash-darkened row of stores that was Waller Street, once the most upscale lane of shops in Heller, New Jersey. Now it was just a slum. A stinking, smoking, slum.

Carson kicked a stone that lay by his foot. It skittered across the broken asphalt and stooped by the shoulder of a sleeping drunk. Beyond the street’s façade, the sun sank into the ground. Night approached.

Becky’s favorite time, he thought, remembering the summer evening just a month before when they’d met under an old oak in the city’s park at midnight, exactly. Remembering how they’d drawn so close, the stars acting as a magnet, pulling them closer. Remembering how, barely more than a week later, he’d seen her in a coffin. Becky… A tear came dangerously close to slipping out of his eye.

Impatiently, he brushed it away. He was Carson Layne, of Heller City P.D. He was invulnerable. There was no room for weakness or grief in his job. You got on with your life, and used your anger to fight the criminals that took away your life, your love. At least, he did.

EDIT: Full Version now up under Between Darkness and Dawn