The world seemed to spin and twist for a few moments in my mind, time slowing to a crawl and every object in my view becoming nothing more than a blur. Bile rose by its own accord into my throat and I felt like gagging. No, I was gagging. Choking not only on this horrible taste but also on the lie Sebastian had said. Covering my mouth I felt myself stumble backwards, collapsing to my knees on the floor. My body shuddered violently as the nausea overtook me, leaving my weak and terribly sore, a bitter aftertaste in my mouth. When the carpet's design floated back into view I gasped for breath; I could see every fibre at this moment, every thread.

"You're lying," I whispered. "You are lying!" I slowly pushed myself back to my feet, staring at Sebastian and willing him to admit that what his said was a joke, no matter how tasteless it might be. "You would never say anything like that. Stop making these horrible lies!"

"Do I look like the type to lie, Ria? Would I want to cause you more pain and agony?"

My hands curled into fists. I wanted to pound them against his armoured chest, shriek in his face to take back the lie. My mother could not be dead; she was not dead! Sebastian would want to harm me since I threw his apology back at him, but this was too vindictive, even for him. No, was it? Looking into those ever changing eyes to see the dishonesty underneath his statement I once again felt my stomach heave. It was no lie. It was the truth. Sebastian had done nothing more than give me the truth and I, I had hoped for it to be false.

Deep down I had known it to be a fact but I never wanted to come to terms with it. My mother had been ill and close to death, yet as every child supposes, the parent is invincible. They are a rock against the storm, someone who can never crumble. How cruel reality can be when it hits home. What had it been like for my mother when she had passed? Had she been hoping that she would be reunited with me in the next life as she had surely thought I had been taken too early from this one? Had it been painful for? Was anyone there to be with her in the final hours, or had she died alone and frightened? What had she been thinking?

"How did - did she die, Sebastian? You must know. Please tell me so I can have some peace of mind with that small comfort. If you would be kind enough to give it to me." I was practically begging Sebastian, hoping that his heart would soften and he would tell me. I quickly turned to one of the few chairs in the room to sit down in. Bracing myself for his account, I was surprised with myself that no tears came. I had cried myself dry over the past week and could not work up one tear for the woman who had devoted her whole life to me. Was I an ungrateful child for this?

"Peace of mind," the vampire mused. "How everyone wishes for such a thing and not so many receive it." Sebastian's voice had taken on a haughty tone at first, then had softened by the time he had finished speaking. I felt his hand on my shoulder; giving me a semblance of comfort I suppose. His flesh was cold, cold as the grave that my mother must be in by now. "She died in her sleep, with her friends around her Ria. As one of my servants overheard from the neighbours, it was peaceful and without pain. Up until the end they said that your mother believed you to not be dead, but alive somewhere." Placing his forefinger under my chin the vampire lifted my face up to meet his gaze. "Does this give you the peace of mind that you seek, little Ria?"

Slowly I nodded. The nausea was gone and the room no longer spun in my vision. There was no grief inside of me, none that I could feel, and while my heart still beat it seemed to be following a rhythm unlike anything before. I did feel like an ungrateful child, one that I could not cry over the death of my mother, but perhaps later the tears would come unbidden. I rose from the chair and quickly looked into Sebastian's eyes, trying to give a small smile and failing at that. "Thank you Sebastian, for telling me this."

He gave a slight nod but said nothing. Gathering my skirts around me I turned to leave, catching the reflection of Sebastian in the mirror on the opposite wall. The vampire was looking at me with something akin to pity; his shoulders drooped as if weighted down by more than just the armour he wore. And he also seemed to be thinking something, debating in his mind. Opening the door and stepping out into the dark hall, a brief flash of lightning brought everything into bleak view. The paintings seemed white, the floor and walls black and the shadows twisted souls who would know no rest.

It was then that the tears came.

~ ~ ~

The world was washed out; vibrant greens were a pale grey, deep blues and fiery reds did not register in my mind. Lying on my side in my bed, holding a pillow in my arms and rocking back and forth I looked at the wall and saw nothing. My eyes burned from all my crying; the lids puffy and my cheeks wet. It had been like this for the past two days, filled with sorrow over the knowledge of my mother. I tried to call up memories of my mother and of my life with her.

She had been everything in my life. My father or so she had told me when I was little, had one day gone off in his fishing boat and had never returned. Lost at sea, she sighed mournfully. Images of that powerful woman came slowly; I recalled her sitting at the table in the small kitchen shelling peas, hanging the clothing on the cloth line while conversing good-naturedly with the neighbours. And whenever I came home from work, up until she had fallen ill, she was always there to greet me and wrap her arms around me. Children long for the embrace of their parents, the comfort and security that they received from that one act did wonders.

But instead it was Sebastian who wrapped his arms around me.

Damn him and all vampires for being so quiet. He must have opened the door and come into my bedchamber like a thief in the night. He had removed his armour or else I would have heard him with the telltale sounds of metal hitting metal. I was silently weeping when I felt a hand brush over my shoulder, and then the weight of an arm draped over my waist. Snaking his other arm around Sebastian interlocked his fingers, making it impossible for me to move away as he curled up behind me. "How long have you been crying, little Ria," he questioned. Sebastian pressed his lips up against the back of my head.

"Too long to remember, Sebastian." Digging my fingers deeper into the pillow, feeling the feathers underneath the cloth bunch up, I closed my eyes and tried to think of nothing. Tranquillity filled the chamber. It was not the type of silence that was awkward, that seemed ready to shatter at any moment. This silence was peaceful, almost content. With Sebastian holding me, for once not with any desire or lust coursing through his body, I found I could enjoy his touch. The vampire ran a hand gently over my abdomen and kissed me lightly on my earlobe, and I could feel the strain that the grief had brought on me drain away. No, it was still there but not as strongly as before.

In the quiet, I had time to think. Was this the way it was going to be now, until I died? Sebastian would keep me here and I would never be able to visit my mother's grave. How stupid of me; I tried to lighten the mood of my beautiful prison only to have misery and grief come flooding in. It appeared that this life of mine was nothing more than grief. Self-pity was not something I enjoyed, but how could no one sink to this? Perhaps I would go insane.

"I release you from your promise, Ria."

Sebastian spoke the words quickly, sharply. I felt his hands clench against my stomach as he finished, the words filling my ears. I could not believe them. Twisting my head around slightly to try and catch his gaze the vampire looked off in the other direction. For a few moments I was elated and then the emotion left me. Sebastian, I thought, would never say anything like that. A promise was a promise and he would hold me to it. "Sebastian-"

Releasing me from his grasp Sebastian rolled over on top of me. I cringed, ready to feel those talons against my face, but all Sebastian did was look at me quietly. "Like I said Ria," he whispered to me, those ebony lips filling my vision, "I release you from your promise. Go to your mother's grave; make peace with her and yourself. Place flowers next to her marker."

"But, but you said that-"

"'But, but you said that-'. Please Ria," Sebastian mocked at me, "you continue like this and there will be nothing left of you. Withering away to absolutely nothing, my precious Ria. I say you are free, and so you are free. You have been craving the freedom that I have taken from you and now you do not want it?" Sebastian rolled off of me and onto his back, staring up at the ceiling. "At times I wonder what you think."

Quickly I sat up, holding the pillow in my arms with a frantic look on my face. "No I want to - what I mean is that...I always wanted to be free but-" I trailed off, unable to finish my sentence. If I did it would be just one more cutting blow to the vampire lord, one more dagger thrown at him. It must have greatly hurt Sebastian to say something like this to me, although I do not know how I came to that conclusion in my mind. It just came to me. There was nothing that I could say to thank him for this gift. It was one of those moments where nothing had to be said. An indescribable joy filled me, something that I suppose lovemaking would be like. For a moment I was ready to wake up, believing that this was all some dream that had been created from my grief. But a quick pinch made me realize otherwise. I could leave. I could finally leave this place, be free of all this pain, this darkness that the monster beside me had caused.

"My carriage will take you to the Lower City."

"I would rather walk, Sebastian. I know my way home from the Industrial Quarter well enough," I answered quickly. "Before I came here. I thank you for the offer anyways."

Sebastian gave a cynical smile. "Your first true walk of freedom; that is what you want is it not, Ria?" He spread his arms dramatically and leaned his head back. "To walk away unchallenged from the monster's home."

A quick smile, rare to see since I had come here, flashed across my face. I tried to hide it before Sebastian saw it, but he did. Getting up from the bed, the Lord of the Industrial Quarter smoothed his black hair that had become rumpled and fixed his tunic. I watched Sebastian intently as he did these simple motions, knowing that this would be the last time I would ever see him.

"Are you afraid?"

The vampire turned to look at me with a puzzled face. "What do you mean?"

I wiped the last of the tears from my cheeks. "That I would tell someone what you really are, your true nature?" Maybe it was not such a good idea to bring up that little point, I started. Sebastian could suddenly snatch back what he had said and lock me back up in this prison. Stupid Ria, I cursed myself, why did you have to bring up that little bit of logic?

Sebastian looked out the window but did not see the factories looming on the horizon. "I trust that you will hold your peace, Ria. I have already told Lutee that you are to be going away for a while, that your memory has come back to you. The woman is insufferable, beginning to cry like she was a child. Already she is packing your possessions."

"But I have none, Sebastian."

He gave a disdainful sneer. "Would I send you out with nothing? Do not think so little of me, Ria. I told you once that my house is now yours and everything within. So if you have anything you wish to take with you, make sure that Lutee packs it." Sebastian cocked a pointed ear towards the drawing room, from where I could hear sniffles and a choked sob. It was followed in turn by something heavy hitting the floor. "Dumb woman," the vampire hissed. "Why does she have to be so melodramatic, crying over your leaving? I wonder, though, if you will cry over my absence once you have left Ria?"

Sebastian turned to face me as he said those few words, waiting for my immediate reaction. I stared back at him, not uttering a word. Another clatter came from the adjoining chamber. Giving an exaggerated sigh, Sebastian walked over to the door to reprimand Lutee. "Say your good byes then, Ria, and go see your mother's grave." He pulled the door open with more force that was needed; before it closed behind Sebastian I saw Lutee in the gap. She had been folding dresses into a small suitcase, a sombre look plastered to her features. The door closed and Lutee was gone from my view.

And soon to be gone from my life forever.

Rising from the bed and fixing my dress, smoothing out the wrinkles and straightening the collar, I moved towards the window. Pressing my forehead up against the glass panes, my fingertips resting lightly on the cool surface, I viewed Meridian with new eyes. Once I had thought when I was young that the whole city was a prison, the high walls surrounding Meridian the bars that held a cage together. But now, after living here, I knew that once I walked the streets of this city once more I would no longer be viewing it as a prison for thousands of people.

Life had changed that view for me.

I looked at my bandaged hand. Unwrapping the muslin cloth and letting it flutter to the ground, I saw that the marks on my flesh had finally vanished. There was no scarring, and besides the flesh just looking like a newborn's, there was no way anyone would have known that a vampire had once bitten into my flesh. It was the same with the bite marks along my neck and shoulder. Thankfully they had vanished as well, for it would be one less reminder of my time here.

~ ~ ~

The streets of the Industrial Quarter were as busy as always. I could hear the sheer noise just beyond the mansion's walls; the new horseless carriages blaring their horns, the steam whistles from the factories shrilly calling the hours, people walking along the street, talking; even smell the food from the vendors stalls. Once I hated all of this noise but as I walked away from the mansion, holding a single black suitcase in my two hands, I was looking forwards to immersing myself in this sea of commotion. I was dressed modestly in a black gown that covered everything by my hands and feet, a delicate black veil covering my face.

Turning around I waved back to Lutee, who was standing in the doorway of the mansion and smiling at me. Sebastian had fed her another story and she had taken it like a hungry dog. My 'memory' having returned to me, Sebastian having found my family, Lutee was overjoyed that I would be reunited with them. Crying on my shoulder for a moment or two the old woman had confided in me that she looked at me like I had been one of her own children. I would have liked to think of her as a mother to me - she reminded me of my own in so many ways - but some things are better left unsaid.

My eye caught movement above me; one of the heavy drapes on the second floor had been pulled back from the window so someone could look down at my departure. Without looking up I knew it was Sebastian. Turning away from the mansion for the last time so that my back would be the last thing that the vampire would see, I began to walk away. At first my stride was slow, perhaps even hesitant, but soon I began to walk faster. Already I could taste my freedom. Soon I would be gone from the Industrial Quarter, away from this section of Meridian, leaving Sebastian behind. A part of me wanted to whirl around and look up at that window where he stood, to look at him one last time.

Squashing such thoughts and knowing that it would look weak to do such a thing, I passed beyond the gates of the mansion, saying a fond farewell to the servant who opened up the prison door for me, and walked out into the streets of Meridian. Soon the crowd swallowed me up; becoming just another face like so many others, but it wasn't until after I had left the Industrial Quarter for good that I no longer felt Sebastian's presence or eyes upon me.

~ ~ ~

The Lower City had never seemed more welcoming. As my feet connected with the platform of the subway in the Lower City, a smile crossed my face. Twilight had come down on this part of Meridian, making everything seem a little less real and more like a dream to me. I had never bothered to look at the iron gates before as I walked under them, heading into the crowded open market. But now I did, and this time instead of finding them dull and ugly to look at, I found them to be nothing less than stunning. Walking down the cobblestone streets, holding my suitcase close, I breathed in deeply. The air here was not as polluted as the Industrial Quarter was; I could smell familiar scents that had once filled my younger life. Passing by the local smithy, I felt my feet begin to pick up the pace a bit faster. I wanted to get home. I wanted to go back to the place that was –

I came to a sudden stop, bumping into an older man in front of me. Muttering an apology quickly, not looking at him, I stepped out of the main flow of traffic and leaned up against the wall of the smithies. Inside I could hear the hammer pounding down on the metal, the hiss of steam escaping the forges, and it jarred me into thinking. What did I have to go home to? My mother was no longer there. Did any of the neighbours think I was truly dead? How much would it surprise them to know that I wasn't?

"When you get to that bridge Ria, then you can deal with it." I told myself, trying to calm my nerves. Pushing off the wall, listening to the loud rhythm of the hammer pounding against the anvil, I continued to walk, but this time with less speed than before. My feet led me home, down the many roads and side streets, over bridges that looked down at the canals and pass shops that I use to buy from. My eyes were fastened to the cobblestones, gazing at people's feet as they marched past me. And then as my own feet stopped at the end of a small road, instinct having taken over, I looked up and saw my home.

One of the many townhouses in the Lower City, with a drooping tiled roof and warped wooden steps, it seemed like an unwelcoming place. But for me it was home. The door was ajar, and there was no light coming from within. Why would there be, my mother was dead! The windows of the townhouse no longer had any curtains and the glass panes seemed to look at me with contempt, as if saying that the wayward child had come home, only too late. There were lights in the other townhouses, curtains hiding what went on indoors. My neighbours, if they had gone to their doors or windows, would have seen me walk up the steps to what had once been my home. Perhaps they would have taken me as a ghost or a distant memory in their minds. But no one came to his or her doors or windows, and I walked into my home without any fanfare.

Inside, everything was deathly still. As I crossed over the threshold and into the main hall, my feet making light impressions in the dust on the floor, I went from room to room to see if anything had changed since my mother had passed. Everything had changed. The furniture was gone, either taken by my late mother's friends or by thieves. I hoped that it had been friends that had taken the meagre valuables that my mother had owned. It would be more bearable than knowing some common thief owned them now. I climbed up the stairs to the second floor, the floorboards creaking under my weight. As I reached the landing, I was not surprised to find that anything of importance or value up here had been taken as well. My mother's room, located at the back of the house, was as empty as the day she and my father had moved in, or so I thought. I could see an imprint on the floorboards where her bed had once rested, the wood underneath not as worn with feet having never walked across it.

In my small room, located at the front of the house and with a small window that looked out onto the street below, only my lumpy mattress remained. "Take the bed frame but not the mattress," I muttered in disgust. Setting my suitcase down, I pulled the mattress over to the wall and sat down on it. My feet were tired from all that walking and at this moment, it felt good to ever sit down on a mattress that was full of lumps and hard springs. Kicking off my shoes I gave a content sigh, gazing at the white plaster walls, tracing a finger over the spider web cracks that had come and grown as the house had aged. There were stains on the walls where once pictures had been hung and dust balls on the floor that rolled around aimlessly. The effect was depressing. Sighing, I leaned my head up against the wall and closed my eyes, the shadows in the room growing longer and longer, making me want to doze. I nearly did sleep, but a voice from the other side of the wall caused me to start and wake. Pressing my ear up against the thin plaster, I could make out two women talking. It sounded like Frieda and Lizzie, old friends of my mother.

"Such a shame," I heard Lizzie sigh deeply. "It should always be that the parents go before the children, never the other way around."

Something scraped the floor, a chair being moved. "But at least now Melissa will see Ria again. I believe that was what made her heart fail, in those last few days." Frieda, no mistake about that. Her voice was almost as deep as a man's, and just as powerful. "That grave does seem lonely all by itself. Melissa lost her husband to the sea and there was no body to bury, and now the same thing has happened with her daughter. The woman did not lead a charmed life, Lizzie."

"I still say the priest is a dolt. We could at least place a marker for Ria," Lizzie spoke with conviction, "so that even if her body is never found, then at least her soul might rest a little better knowing that some people remember her by a gravestone."

"It's the way with the church. No body, no grave. No grave, no gravestone. Pass me the tea, Lizzie." There was a long pause between the two women, and in that time it gave me a chance to go over their words. At least they wanted to remember me by a tombstone, I thought. But how would they react to know that I am alive and not dead?

"Whatever do you think happened to Ria? She was always such a sweet child, Frieda, one that you would think nothing wrong could happen to her."

Frieda's voice dropped down into a low whisper, almost too quiet for me to hear at first. "I believe Lizzie, and not that it does any good to say bad things about the dead, that Ria just fell into bad luck."

"Like what?"

"Well, there are many men out there who like to look at pretty girls," Frieda uttered with disgust. "And you know how some of them can..." She shifted in her chair, but that alone spoke more than the words Frieda could ever have said. Lizzie gave a gasp; I imagined that on her wizened face she had clamped a hand over her mouth. It would be just like her. "And then the body is disposed of elsewhere," Frieda continued, "down to the Slums or the wharves."

I bowed my head, my hands balled tightly. Frieda had no idea just how right she was, but at the same time she was still very wrong. "Did you ever say such a thing to Melissa?" The way Lizzie made the question sound, it was as if she knew full well that Frieda would do something like that to my mother, tell her one of the possible situations. Suddenly I was disgusted. Turning away from the wall, no longer wanting to listen in on their muted conversation, I lay back on the mattress and looked up at the ceiling.

And then it hit me.

My mother was truly dead. This house was no longer hers and it would never be mine. Her neighbours – not mine – were firmly rooted in their belief that I was dead. Everyone thought me to be dead. I could never come back here, never make a life for myself here anymore. But then I would not want to. This house was full of memories, more good than bad, but if I was to life next to neighbours who were nothing more than ugly gossips, people who were no better than thieves...

I didn't bother to finish the thought. Closing my eyes and muffling my sniffling in the sleeves of my dress, I finally went off into a fitful sleep.

I dreamed that night; it wasn't a nightmare but at the same time it wasn't one of those dreams that you wish to remember. I was in a forest, the trees all-dead and the leaves collecting about my feet. I was standing on grey dirt road that was covered in a light mist, the only light coming from the moon high above. Looking behind me I saw that the path stretched so far back that I could not even see where it had begun. And ahead, the pathway split off in two different directions. Squinting my eyes, I tried to peer through the mist to see what lay along either of the paths, but could see nothing. It was clear to me that if I wanted to find out what lay beyond, then I would have to start walking.

But which one?

There were two paths, and I had the feeling that if I chose one of the two, then I would have to continue walking that path, even if at the end I did not like what I saw. I would not be allowed to turn back to see what the other one held, left only to wonder and maybe regret. Before I could chose the right split or the left, the dream ended and I awoke.

It was early morning, and I was laying half-on, half-off of the mattress. Groaning as my sore muscles protested to me moving, I stood slowly and wiped the sleep from my eyes. Stumbling towards the washroom and turning on the faucet, I splashed lukewarm water in my face to help me wake up. Staring into the cracked mirror, the one thing in the house that, surprisingly, no one had bothered to take, the Ria staring back at me seemed different.

It was as if she had aged in the short time that she had been away from home. Like a person starting out on a journey: at the beginning they go away with one idea and when they return, they come back with more than they had started out with. From the murky depths of half-sleep my dream rose up again. I shook my head, making it vanish again.

"Time to get moving," I told myself. "To see mother's grave."

My dress was rumpled and lined from being slept in, and I quickly took it off and replaced it with another one from the many that Lutee had packed me. As the simple maroon gown covered my body, the material feeling lovely over my skin, I realized that it would look out of place with the cotton and wool that the women in the Lower City wore, that I had once worn and loved. Perhaps I had changed more than I would ever realize. I was no longer meant for the Lower City.

Hurriedly I placed my shoes back on and grabbed my suitcase. Walking down the creaking staircase and out the front door, I gave one last look to the place that had been my home. Perhaps some other people would move in here, a large family with more than enough children. Or maybe a single person would come to live here and in time start a life with someone else. Either way, the neighbours would soon forget that a girl called Ria had once lived her life here and had come into a set of problems that others would have found perhaps, in my shoes, to be overwhelming.

I started walking.

As the sun came up over the rooftops of the Lower City, the shadows slipping away until night came around again, storefronts opened and people began to move around, ready to start their lives over again. I stopped by a flower vendor, or vendors I should say. Two children who couldn't have been much older than twelve were running the shop for their mother, who as they explained, was at home at the moment with their new sibling.

"Ma'am," the young boy spoke up as he swung his legs back and forth on the stool from which he sat, "who are the flowers for?"

"Shush, be quiet! Mama says you never ask a customer that," his sister answered, waving her arms around while trying to act like he hadn't said anything at all. "It's personal, personal! You don't ask someone about their lives unless they want to give something out." She turned back towards me with an exaggerated look. "Don't mind my brother. He's just stupid."

I couldn't help but laugh at this display of sibling affection. After choosing a small bouquet of yellow tulips, the colour that my mother loved the most, I handed the money over to the young boy and answered his question. "They are for my mother."

"Oh, my mom likes tulips as well," he offered. "Have a nice day then, lady!" He gave me a friendly wave as I walked away from the flower cart. My mood, which had been dark, improved after meeting the children. I wondered then, quickly, if the vampires would ever attack them that Meridian held. And I hoped that they would not.

The graveyard of the Lower City is shared with the people of the Slums. Both quarters come to bury their dead here. I do not know about the Upper City's graveyard, but knowing the nobles they had their own special crypts to house the remains of their family, elaborate tombs and coffins that no one here could ever hope to afford. My mother's tombstone was not elaborate, but at the same time it was not simple either. Near the far north end of the graveyard, under the shade of a weeping willow, the white marker showed where my mother had been buried. Her name was carved out in a simple yet fine script and showed her date of birth and death.

I was alone in the graveyard as I knelt by the tombstone, placing the flowers at the base of the grave. "Mother, it's Ria. I guess you have figured it out by now. I'm not dead." Perhaps it was silly talking to a gravestone, but for me this would be the last time I would ever say goodbye to my mother. "I guess you really want to know what has happened, so I'll tell you. Just to let you know, it was not easy for me." And so I told my mother exactly what had happened, from the day that I had not returned home from work, about Sebastian, Lutee, my escape only to be caught again, and then finally how I was set free. I told her how Sebastian had treated me.

As I spoke it was as if there had been a weight lifted on my shoulders. It was comforting. I felt as if my mother finally understood, and that if in any way she had been clinging to this world until she had heard the truth from me, she was gone now. Not once did I cry as I told my tale; it all came matter-of-factly. She was at peace, but more importantly, I was.

Now it was done. I stood, wiping the dirt from my dress. Now what to do, that was the question that loomed in my mind. I had no life left in the Lower City. People I had once known, or thought I had once known, were gone now. I had no friends in Meridian; I was free to go where I pleased and when I wished. Nothing was keeping me down here anymore. But something is, I heard a voice whisper, a voice that sounded like my mother's.

And I knew it was Sebastian. He had let me go and how much must that of hurt him? He said that he was possessive over me; the way Sebastian treated me that much was obvious. That I was an unwilling lover, which was a fact. He had hurt me, but by the same token he had also made sure that the wounds he had given me were healed. Sebastian had even gone to great lengths to try and ease the pain he had given me inside, to no avail. The 'monster' had tried to show another side of himself to me, one that I was sure he never let anyone else see. And what had I done? Lashed out. Yet, Sebastian had let me go. The thoughts whirled around in my head like a windstorm; I couldn't make any sense of them or what I was feeling.

Then the dream that I had had last night made perfect sense to me. Why did I not think of it before? I could choose my path, right here and now without being pressured to do something I might feel sorry for later. On the one hand, I had the choice to leave Meridian forever and start my life somewhere else. But on the other hand, I could stay and return to Sebastian, perhaps see if anything could become better. Nodding to myself, and looking once more at the grave of my mother, I knew I had made my choice.

I began to walk back to the subway. From there, I could go back to the Industrial Quarter.