It’s unnatural. Surreal. Like a dream. Only, she realizes, this is reality; it’s her past that was the fantasy. Her life-that-was, full of sounds and feelings and sensations. Full of people she cared about, people who cared about her. Full of promise, of joy. That was the dream. She’s awake now, in the cold, quiet, numb present. This is all existence will mean from here on out, until the day it’s finally, mercifully over.
