Finally S witnesses the resolution of the narrative that has been built up over the last few pages. He watches as the young man slowly pierces his lips with his needle and performs the act of sewing his lips shut. Straka goes into grotesque detail, describing the blood dripping down his chin, the other sailors howling, the man’s fluttering eyelids. S, horrified, does not even remember seeing the end of the surgery, but he notes that “he will see it vividly in his dreams” (216). This shows how much it moved him, which consequently shows how he still has a strong will to live-the idea of such an act terrifies him, even if he is willing to put himself in great danger to answer his questions.

After this story, the page contains a brief description of S waking up in his hammock with a nail in his hand, though the rest of that account is on the next page.

In the margins, one of the two readers draws a rudimentary stitch with blood dripping down. The artist is likely Eric since the illustration is in red and Eric is the one who writes in red.

At the end of the horrifying story of the sewn lips, Jen sarcastically writes “Awesome. Thanks for the nightmares, Straka” (216), to which Eric responds that he also found the passage disturbing. Jen goes on to write “I really wish you’d gotten your leg looked at” (216). This foreshadows a leg injury for Eric, as well as showing that Eric did not get it treated.