The silence between Linda and Thomas was the kind of silence where neither of them needed to say anything, because both of them already understood that this was the only path left in front of them. It was not the type of silence filled with confusion, panic, or anger. It was the type of silence that came when people finally accepted a truth they had been trying to avoid for far too long, when they had spent so much time pretending there were still other choices left that they almost forgot what reality looked like.
More than anything, the silence itself felt like proof to Linda that what Thomas had just said was the reality they could no longer escape from.
It was a reality so huge, so terrible, and so impossible that it almost felt unreal, yet at the same time it was the only true way out of everything, even if it sounded outrageous, insane, and completely impossible to the people outside of the room. Linda had always known that one day something like this could happen.
