The chapter opens with a description of Vincent's strange behavior. He would blank out and talk to himself, and his parents didn't approve of it. They moved him to a different house, where he lived in a "diffi cult life" . Vincent received an award from his sister for her work in the forest, and people asked if they felt like decorations because they were so close to her. The chapter ends with an explanation of the location of the forest. It looks like someone has come to the forest before Vincent did, and he can't figure out why it's keeping such a secret from everyone else. He wonders if the people who live in the cottages in the woods are the same people that live in a big house across the way. He's been waiting all day for someone to show up, but he hasn't. The police are looking for someone who kidnapped a child. He doesn't have anything to say to anyone, so he tells the store to stop delivering to the cottages for a while. He asks the store owner to take care of his things while he's sleeping, so that the "punks" don't touch his stuff. He feels better now that his body is warm, and there's still a spot for him down there. The store owner tells him that the police are quietly staying away from the cottages, and that they must be looking for Vincent because he is a suspect in the abduction of the child. They just need to get his stuff, which is why they're hiding it in a different room.