Chapter 19 Frayed Threads

• Frayed Threads
• Two months. Two months since the last time Lucy had seen the foxes, since that strange encounter in the warehouse. The silence had deepened since then, her isolation now a constant companion, a presence that weighed down on her every thought and movement. The cold had only gotten worse. The snow kept falling, the city of Talawan growing emptier, quieter. Lucy had stopped counting the days—it had become pointless. It all blurred together, one cold, endless stretch of time.
• She was spiraling. Slowly, surely, like a leaf caught in an unrelenting wind. Her mind felt like it was unspooling, each thought unraveling, slipping away into the emptiness that surrounded her. The loneliness gnawed at her, making it harder to focus, harder to breathe without feeling the oppressive weight of the void that seemed to swallow up everything.