Trill was waiting for me at the kitchen table when we arrived home. Rose and came to me, hugged me.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I wish we could have been there to help."

She was the first one I'd allowed to say such a thing to me. Hit me like a slap across the face.

Sorry. She was sorry. They all were. I could feel it now, a blanket trying to smother me and, for a moment, I fought against it with all the energy inside me.

Not much left to fight with. Their ...