[It would be so easy to seal his mouth with her hands and her anger, but it's draining from her the way it always does, leaving her with a heavy hollow feeling in her throat.]

When I couldn't find you, I thought... [ she is being cautious with choosing her words, and the illness is fond of taking her breath even now ] I thought that maybe the building had swallowed you. I've seen it happen before, to other people.

[Comrades. Some of them fast or strong enough to emerge put-together rather and not in pieces. But not always.]