Chapter 45 - CH 44 - The Crucible

The landscape after the storm was one of surreal, suspended animation. The voracious 24/7 news cycle, having gorged itself to satiation on the sensational collapse of a billionaire and the Shakespearian family drama, eventually moved on, its attention captured by a political scandal and a natural disaster on the other side of the globe. The players in the Vale tragedy were left behind in the sudden, echoing quiet, like survivors on a lifeboat watching the wreck of the ocean liner slip beneath the waves, left to confront the vast, empty horizon and each other.