That Tuesday, the article Dark had interviewed for was published. They were sending a physical copy in the mail, but he read the digital copy---reading it wasn't much easier than sharing it, but it was easier nonetheless. It helped it wasn't only about him. The article followed four other people, who had all left Iraq in his same year. At the time they left, one had been about his age, one had been in their mid twenties, one was only a couple years younger than he had been, and one had been a seven-year-old who left with her family, but the part of the article focused on her. Some, like him, left by themselves. The twenty year old left with their now-ex-wife. Even though all of their stories, paths, and lifestyles diverged, there was a common theme throughout all of them he related to. It helped to read how many of them still missed at least parts of what was once their country, despite settling into their new lives.
For Dark's part, it never touched on the abuse he faced... At least not intentionally. There were some sentences which hinted at it, but it clearly the authors clearly attempted to avoid mentioning it. It spoke a lot, though, about his time in the Lion Cub's, the bombing of his home, and his time in the refugee camp before talking about the difficulty of being sent to New York and going to school there. Although the article didn't explicitly mention his suicide attempt, it did address the lack of sufficient mental health care he had received and how it took a long time for his life to stabilize, even with a program who made an attempt to support him. This, too, was a common theme across all of the recounts of the people from his program: they all eventually ended up in a fairly good place, but it was a really difficult and sometimes unwelcoming road to get there. The author highlighted how this program was clearly a step in the right direction, but wasn't enough, but unfortunately creating a sufficient program for as many refugees as needed it seemed like an impossibility.
Of course, his story, and the stories of all of the other members of his program, ended with updates of what they were doing now. The pictures of all of the program members were used. Ultimately, this article didn't use any of the family pictures taken in the actual article: the one they used of Dark was him just against their mantle, holding one of their plaster skull casts in his hands, looking slightly off the camera.
Trusting very few people he knew would actually read it, Dark took the evening to cope with the feelings it dredged up---easier, now that his depression was overall less severe---and the next day kissed his wife and baby goodbye before driving to Tristan's to help out at the flower shop again.
