I visit the storage area, enter my password, and begin to pull out my clothes and some practical boots. In my haste, my childhood doll falls out and lands at my feet. I can’t help but take a moment to marvel that it has stayed with me for so many years. I pick it up and turn it over, remembering being small and playing with it. By swiping its belly, I could make the doll laugh… such a bubbly, contagious laugh. I would swipe it over and over and over, just revelling in the joyous sound. It’s been a long time since I heard the doll laugh, myself laugh, Mum and Jem… I miss the sound and the sensation of it. I pine for it.
But the doll is broken. Everything feels broken. The darkness is broken, I say in my mind.
I hold this thought for a long time.
Many minutes later, I shake off the self-i
