Chapter 25: Frostbite

As I followed Melissa down the dark, quiet hallway, my mind filled the solemn silence, flooding with so many thoughts that I could barely keep up with them. Yesterday when I’d seen Dante, he was very much alive and well, and so I wondered what had happened between then and now to change that. I’d admit that we hadn’t parted on the best of terms, but Dante was still a good friend of mine. He’d been my first friend here and in him, I saw parts of myself too. Although we sometimes did not see eye-to-eye, I felt as though he truly understood me. And so, the idea of him being gone from my life, and gone from this house was heart shattering. And with every step closer to his room, I could feel my chest tighten and a sore lump begin to form at the back of my throat as the gravity of his loss began to crash down on my shoulders.

Dante stayed with the rest of the staff members, in a separate section of Nicholas’ home which surprisingly still matched the grandness of the rest of the place. His