The underground space was deathly silent. Bruce stood before the mangled remains, his gaze heavy.
People often develop a false sense of security after enduring immense trauma: death is not so terrifying. But when that numbness collides with the harsh reality of true suffering, one realizes that what is more terrifying than death is having to open your eyes and accept all the inescapable hardships.
For example, now—
The man before him, once a father, hunched over, had been driven to the brink of madness by torture and toxins. Yet even so, he pleaded with Bruce to stop the dissection lesson, “even for a few minutes,” to let him tell the story of his daughter.
Bruce did not refuse. He had always been an executioner who understood human speech, especially when the target had lost all desir
