He kept the doll not because he liked it or anything, but simply because it had been Norris Moore's.
Just as he kept the room because it still held Norris Moore's presence.
—Perhaps that was also his delusion.
It had been over three years.
Any scent would have long since dissipated; how could her fragrance still linger in the room?
But it had become a habit.
Every night, he could only fall asleep here.
Long-standing insomnia, sleeplessness. Neurasthenia, necessitating regular visits to the hospital for psychological counseling.
He gradually became what she had once been.
*
He took Sam back from the windowsill, then picked it up and held it in his hands for a while.
The ugly shark doll, dressed in a little suit, looked sanctimoniously pompous.
"So ugly," he commented.
He was nowhere near that ugly. He didn't know what Norris's taste was.
Trenton Smith placed Sam beside the pillow, then turned and walked out of the room.
