“I suppose for me, part of the thought—and I’m going to attempt to articulate it, but it might not come out right, so be patient with me—is that I want to know what returning will or would look like. Do we retain our memories of existing here? If so, the person who returns will not really be the one who died. And that scares me. And in my case, do I return fully to life, or just the afterlife I came here from?”

River’s hand is taken anyway. Held. Stroked gently.