When he finally woke up for good, he realized he had been happy here, before everything went wrong. His childhood had been a contented one, despite everything. It was a shocking, sun-washed realization to have; he had so thoroughly convinced himself otherwise. He’d told himself his father was hateful, his mother invisible, the Barns dreadful, the dreaming frightful. It had been the only way to bear losing it all. Declan Lynch had become such a liar.
