Chapter 39
Lily's
I walked into the unfinished building slowly. My footsteps made a dull, hollow sound against the bare concrete floors. There were no carpets to muffle the noise, and the sound seemed to bounce off the walls and travel up into the dark, open spaces above me. The walls were raw and grey, covered in long, dark stains where the rain had seeped through the cracks in the roof. High above, I could see pieces of metal rebar sticking out from the ceiling. They looked like the broken bones of some giant animal.
The air inside was heavy and still. Thick dust clung to my shoes and settled on my clothes. Every time I took a breath, I felt the dry taste of rust and damp ground in the back of my throat. The building felt like it had been forgotten by the rest of the world. It was a place where things were left to rot, which made it the perfect place for a meeting like this.
