She was chained in the narrow wooden box when she woke. She screamed and cried, sobbed and begged. “Father, it’s me, your Emilia! I promise, I won’t tell a soul about what I learned! Don’t let me die in the darkness! Don’t you love me?”
I showed not a hint of emotion, or so I thought, until I felt hot tears roll off my face. To hurry her demise, I told her that we had ended her lover, and he was now one of the Lost. She howled, lunging against her chains, and I nailed the box shut. The others bent to help, but I shoved them aside and lowered her coffin into the freshly dug grave. A father’s lonely burden.