Page 156 of Sweet Nightmare

“Is that…?”

She smiles, her eyes shining, but there’s something behind them, too.

Something painfully close to sadness.

“The lonely wanderer.”

I blink.

“The lonely what?”

Her smile softens. “The lonely wanderer boy.”

I stare at her, waiting for an explanation.

But it doesn’t come.

“I don’t understand,” I whisper.

“He sings to the moon.”

She steps closer, lowering her voice as though she’s about to share something sacred.

“In Korea, there’s an old tale about a lonely wanderer who has no place to belong. He travels beneath the moon during the coldest winter, carrying his sadness with him. When the world becomes too heavy, he sings to the moon because she listens without asking questions.”

Her gaze drifts toward the kitchen exit.

“She also guides him through the night, so he can find his way to where he belongs.”

She stops there, as though there's more to the story.

I wait.

Mrs. Han says nothing else.

Odd.

She’s not usually capable of keeping a thought to herself for more than thirty seconds.

The piano sounds louder now.

One note.

Then another.

And suddenly, the words begin beating inside my skull.

Lonely.

Thud.

No place to belong.

Thud.

The moon listens.

Thud.