I thought of Ren, and of the hopelessness that had broken her. Of all these crawlers who’d been forced to confront their own personal nightmares on this floor. Of my mother, who’d drowned in her own sorrow. Of the stepmother I’d never met, and what she’d done. Of the goddamned river that was so loud it was the only thing I could hear. It was loneliness. It had always been loneliness.
