Chapter 47: DreamsI’M SURROUNDED BY corpses.
Rows of cots stretch in every direction. Floor 6: the Corrections dorm. A pallid body lies on each, some slack and peaceful, others twisted and ravaged by anguish. I walk between the rows, watching the way the low light caresses their stillness, waiting for tingling fascination to wash up over me and draw me in. I’ll be like them soon. I won’t be one of the peaceful ones, either.
But not a single one of the dead calls to me. I’ve been too close to pain and darkness without end, my fingers tangled up in emotion: love, longing, hope, despair, loneliness, lust, pride, fear. I’ve felt the brush of death for myself. It’s no longer alien, no longer fascinating.
I reach out to one of the bodies with trembling hands. The waiting darkness holds its br
