Dear Emily,

Thora and I have resolved to help the animals of the island. We didn’t have much else to offer and honestly, the fucking world ended, why toil at a “job” that has no meaning? So we cleared out a shop and using what I learned as a boy and what I could glean from some books I found, we’ve created an animal clinic of sorts. We ‘hired’ Skip to watch the stables and help with the horses. We’re gonna make sure they’re fed, have water, get their hooves filed and that they are shoed regularly.  On the clinic side we’re gonna give basic care for the working animals and pets of the island. Thora wants to save all the strays, too, but I don’t think we have the resources.

There was a get together, a sort of block party. It was miserable. All the people were so happy and everyone was having fun and I have never in my life felt so alone. I sat there chainsmoking like a moody teenager. I spent nearly three years alone with Thora, only ever briefly meeting or speaking to anyone else and sometimes, honestly, I wasn’t sure Thora was even real. Now I see all of these people and they all love each other and I just don’t know how to be a part of that.

It’s like something inside me broke. And who knows, maybe it did.

As Ever,

Jubal