Aretha’s recollection of the plague’s first wave prompts the doctor to recall how the plague struck him and his family. So intense and vivid is his memory that he suffers severe nose bleeding. His eyes bulging, he is biting down on his bruised lower lip. To distract his mind from sensing empathy, he moves a few feet away from Aretha. “It wasn’t so easy for my family either. Actually, it was probably worse than yours. Anyway, that’s all in the past. Even in the best circumstances, I doubt Paradise is waiting for us out there. I’m not so sure I’m ready for a utopia, any more than you are Aretha. At least, neither of us will have to deal with the devil we know, right?”
Sighing, she replies that it has been difficult trying make the best of a bad life that Life Lords and Guardians imposed on
