The Only One Left

by Riley Sager

“You’re never alone when there’s a book nearby,”

Accurate!!!

“Why did he think your grandmother is Lenora?”

Your what now?

I can think of only one other way for the Walkman to have stopped playing. Lenora turned it off herself. With a hand she can’t use.

I just knew in my gut that you were a good person.”

Only later did I realize all men were alike. It didn’t matter if they were rich or poor, fat or thin, old or young. Their needs were so basic it was laughable.

“Miss Hope can be very charming when it suits her needs. But let me make one thing clear—you’re nothing to her. I know you think you are. That you share a bond unique to her nurses. It’s not. She’s done this kind of thing before, going back decades. She’s smarter than she appears, as I’m sure you know. Some would even call her wily.”

Someone is having big feelings.

My hands go numb as I read the single sentence typed across the page. “What is this?”

Winston Hope himself, looking like every other captain of industry from that period. Ruddy and smug and pudgy from too much food, too much wine, too much everything. Men like him gobbled up all they could, leaving nothing for everyone else.

Because what I see is…nothing. No ashes. No dust. The urn is completely empty.

I knew it!

“Please!” I screamed. “Please, Lenora!”

What. The. Fuck?!?! 😳