Chapter 160. A Silent Night

Ellie's POV

We kiss goodnight and snuggle into an embrace.

We try to lose ourselves in sleep.

But the silence cuts so deep, and sleep is a distant luxury.

This is us.

Me, mostly.

I should be calm in his arms, but I am not. I am trying so hard to close my eyes and get even just a few winks, but all in vain. Everything is working against me tonight and I am finding myself tossing and turning in his arms. This must have been Crystal Gyle's exact feeling in The Sounds of Goodbye Jazz. And I am hating this feeling in as much as it is unbounded. It is killing me, and I weep for my father’s condition, I am also weeping because of this.

Finally, the lantern flickers again. I didn’t even have to adjust to the light because, deeply, I was longing for it. I had not closed my eyes even for a second. "You can't sleep?" He queries, sloping his head above me as he rests on his elbow.

I shake my head. "Don't worry about me. Go to