She was a frightful sight, one that he had previously avoided as long as possible. He had no urge to watch her slowly deteriorate, so far lost in her mind that nothing registered. Screams around her fazed her no more than a fly on a wall fifty feet away would. She just sat there, arms hugging her knees, rocking back and forth.

Her hair, once a silky, beautiful red, had become a dirty knotted mess, hanging around her once happy face, framing the bony gray cheekbones.

He took a deep, calming breath before forcing himself to call out. "Gin-ginny?"

She made no indication that she even heard him, as she just continued to rock herself.

"Look… you don't understand."

She began to rock faster, still keeping the same back and forth movement.

"I-we… we didn't know. At the end, everything was so hard to understand, and I…"

She continued to rock back, and then rock forward, then back, then forward.

"They just found out that you were innocent, you know. I was sent immediately to bring you back."

She continued to rock, still silent.

"Look, I'm sorry, okay? We should've believed you, but you have to try to understand. Everything was so confusing and there was so much proof, and… I'm sorry." Having said that, he realized the futility of trying to convince her and turned to leave when he heard her mutter one phrase.

She sat in the cell, her rocking momentarily stilled. Her voice, cracked from disuse, broke the silence. "Never abandon family." She shut her mouth with an audible snap before returning to her rocking, back and forth, back and forth, back and forth…