"Do you remember, my love," she murmured, her voice raw from crying, "how you used to come to me after a nightmare? You would climb into my bed, trembling like a leaf, and I would hold you close and sing to you until the fear melted away."
Her hand found James's, his long fingers cool and lifeless in her grasp. "I wish I could do that now. I wish I could chase away the demons that haunt you, and make everything right again with just a lullaby and a mother's embrace."
Evelyn lifted her head, studying James's face through tear-blurred eyes. Still, there was no change in his expression, no hint that he had heard or understood a word she had said. It was as if she were speaking to a void, her words echoing in an empty chamber where her son's spirit should have resided.
