Page 83 - SurprisingTruthFinal
P. 83
Nicholas Boothman
Chapter 9:
The Paradox of Inaction
The silence of the city had become a physical thing,
a heavy blanket pressing down on the community
center. It wasn't the silence of peace, but the quiet of
something deeply, irrevocably broken. The air was
frigid. Lina, huddled inside a sleeping bag beneath the
blinking monitors, had jerry-rigged a localized heating
unit, but it only managed to stave off the worst of the
cold, humming faintly like a dying insect.
Henry had not slept. He paced the floorboards, the
echoes emphasizing his isolation. The previous night's
desperate plea to Lina and Vincent, to help him
construct a "functional illusion," had met with cold,
absolute rejection.
Lina had simply turned her back, her blue hair
visible only as a dark shadow against the sleeping bag.
“I won’t help you build another lie, Henry. I gave them
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