diff --git a/src/__snapshots__/parser.test.ts.snap b/src/__snapshots__/parser.test.ts.snap
index 1f88662..99a1963 100644
--- a/src/__snapshots__/parser.test.ts.snap
+++ b/src/__snapshots__/parser.test.ts.snap
@@ -114,17 +114,20 @@ exports[`Parsing Notcl Misc Big mess of markup 1`] = `
       {
         "pos": 656,
         "text": "
-      line endings escaped one slash
+      line endings escaped\\
+      one slash
 
       not escaped if \\\\
       two slashes
 
-      escaped with a slash if \\\\ three slashes
+      escaped with a slash if \\\\\\
+      three slashes
 
       not escaped with two slashes if \\\\\\\\
       four slashes
 
-      escaped with two slashes if \\\\\\\\ five slashes
+      escaped with two slashes if \\\\\\\\\\
+      five slashes
 
       not escaped with three slashes if \\\\\\\\\\\\
       six slashes
diff --git a/src/parser.test.ts b/src/parser.test.ts
index 8614271..9f8e963 100644
--- a/src/parser.test.ts
+++ b/src/parser.test.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import { parse } from './parser';
+import { parse } from "./parser";
 
 describe("Parsing Notcl", () => {
   describe("Commands", () => {
@@ -25,13 +25,13 @@ describe("Parsing Notcl", () => {
     it("does not split commands on folded newlines", () =>
       expect(
         parse(String.raw`a\
-                         b`)
+b`)
       ).toEqual([
         true,
         [
           [
             { bare: "a", pos: 0 },
-            { bare: "b", pos: 2 },
+            { bare: "b", pos: 3 },
           ],
         ],
       ]));
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ b`)
         [
           [
             { bare: "a", pos: 0 },
-            { bare: "b", pos: 2 },
+            { bare: "b", pos: 3 },
           ],
         ],
       ]));
@@ -56,13 +56,13 @@ b`)
     it("does not split commands on folded newlines with escaped backslashes", () =>
       expect(
         parse(String.raw`a\\\
-                         b`)
+b`)
       ).toEqual([
         true,
         [
           [
             { text: "a\\", pos: 0 },
-            { bare: "b", pos: 4 },
+            { bare: "b", pos: 5 },
           ],
         ],
       ]));
@@ -337,21 +337,21 @@ b`)
 
     it("permits newlines in braces", () =>
       expect(parse("{\n}")).toEqual([true, [[{ text: "\n", pos: 0 }]]]));
-    it("folds newlines in braces", () =>
+    it("doesn't fold newlines in braces", () =>
       expect(
         parse(String.raw`{\
 }`)
-      ).toEqual([true, [[{ text: " ", pos: 0 }]]]));
+      ).toEqual([true, [[{ text: "\\\n", pos: 0 }]]]));
     it("doesn't fold newlines in braces with escaped backslashes", () =>
       expect(
         parse(String.raw`{\\
 }`)
       ).toEqual([true, [[{ text: "\\\\\n", pos: 0 }]]]));
-    it("folds newlines in braces with escaped backslashes", () =>
+    it("doesn't fold newlines in braces with escaped backslashes", () =>
       expect(
         parse(String.raw`{\\\
 }`)
-      ).toEqual([true, [[{ text: "\\\\ ", pos: 0 }]]]));
+      ).toEqual([true, [[{ text: "\\\\\\\n", pos: 0 }]]]));
 
     test.each(['{"}"', '"{"}'])(
       "does not permit overlapping braces and quotes {%s}",
diff --git a/src/parser.ts b/src/parser.ts
index 90c8cde..9f325e5 100644
--- a/src/parser.ts
+++ b/src/parser.ts
@@ -4,11 +4,11 @@ import {
     InterpolatedPiece, Script, ScriptPiece, SimplifyWord, TextWord, Word as WordType
 } from './words';
 
-const Comment = Regex(/#[^\n]*/y)
+const Comment = Regex(/#([^\\\n]|\\[^])*/y)
   .expects("#")
   .map(() => []);
 
-const PreWordWhitespace = Regex(/[^\S\n;]+/y).expects("whitespace");
+const PreWordWhitespace = Regex(/([^\S\n;]|\\\n)+/y).expects("whitespace");
 
 const BackslashEscape = Sequence(
   Regex(/\\/y).expects("BACKSLASH"),
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@ const Brace: Pattern<string> = Sequence(
       Use(() => Brace)
         .expects("{")
         .map((text) => `{${text}}`),
-      Regex(/\\./y)
+      Regex(/\\[^]/y)
         .expects("BACKSLASH")
         .map(([escape]) => escape),
       Regex(/[^\\{}]+/y)
@@ -133,10 +133,6 @@ const ERROR_CONTEXT = /(?<=([^\n]{0,50}))([^\n]{0,50})/y;
  * @returns - parsed list of commands, or error message on failure
  */
 export function parse(code: string): [true, Script] | [false, string] {
-  /* Preprocess */
-  // fold line endings
-  code = code.replace(/(?<!\\)((\\\\)*)\\\n[ \t]*/g, "$1 ");
-
   /* Parse */
   const [commands, errorPos, expected] = Script.match(code, 0);
 
diff --git a/src/vm.ts b/src/vm.ts
index a187e71..8b68325 100644
--- a/src/vm.ts
+++ b/src/vm.ts
@@ -1,13 +1,6 @@
 import {
-  AsText,
-  Concat,
-  ErrorResult,
-  InterpolatedPiece,
-  ProcResult,
-  Script,
-  TextPiece,
-  Word,
-} from "./words";
+    AsText, Concat, ErrorResult, InterpolatedPiece, ProcResult, Script, TextPiece, Word
+} from './words';
 
 /**
  * "Mode" of the environment a script runs in; determines access to mutability features and such.