Although Dave couldn't have sighed this single-syllable word with greater lack of enthusiasm or interest, it burned Ellie from the inside as if he had said it with an evil grin and gloating eyes while wringing his hands together as a ball of fire burst in the background.
"Great for him. I'm really... happy for him."
"Yeah," he sighed in his repetitive, flat intonation, the same manner in which he'd answered all of her questions.
Ellie's conviction was beginning to crumble like a house of cards. She'd been positive she carried no real feelings for her brother, but that pedestrian conversation she was having with Dave was crushing her spirit and immersing her in the exact same melancholy that had taken her down last Sunday. She could feel the energies she was fully charged with only minut
