Chapter 49

• The news hit me hard. I wanted to get outside, to breathe fresh air, but I didn’t understand myself anymore. My mind was tangled with endless what ifs and so many happy memories in this dreamlike world I’d built around myself. I couldn’t just leave it behind. But my father needed me.
• “I’ve got some news for you, Kass. Can I call you Kass?” a warm voice said. “I heard that after a week, your father finally got better. He’s now under your uncle’s care.”
• A week? I hadn’t even noticed it had been that long. Relief and joy welled up inside me. Slowly, I returned to the small routines I’d fallen into. It was like I was watching everything through a window—detached but observing. Sometimes the nurses helped me out, their kindness like little lifelines.