The lingering scent of aged paper and dust filled Cylvia’s small room, a familiar comfort that did little to soothe the turmoil in her heart. Rain lashed against the windowpane, each drop a percussive beat against the rhythm of her melancholy. The old lullaby, 'Rock-a-bye, Baby,' played an unending loop in her mind, a cruel echo of a promise broken a year ago today.

Her mother. Gone. A year of absence, a year of raw, unyielding pain that still felt as fresh as the day she found her. The tears came, unbidden, tracing paths down her cheeks, mingling with the phantom touch of old regrets. She remembered her mother’s desperate plea, 'I love you, Cylvia. Please forgive Mom. I will never do it again.' Cylvia had turned away, a monster in her own right, leaving her mother to a fate she couldn’t bear to recount.

Then, a gentle tap on her shoulder. Samantha. Cylvia wiped her eyes furiously, trying to hide the evidence of her grief, but it was useless. Samantha, with her calm demeanor and knowing eyes, settled beside her. The silence stretched, filled only by the thumping of Cylvia’s heart and the distant howl of the wind. Samantha’s warm hands cupped Cylvia’s face, a silent battery charging her depleted spirit.

"Regrets will always be in the end, Cylvia," Samantha murmured, her voice a balm. "But there’s nothing we can do about it. The past is already done." A faint smile touched Samantha’s lips, a curve that promised a future beyond the shadows of Hamlet Creek. It was then that a sharp, urgent voice cut through the air, Ms. Dolor’s, requesting Samantha’s presence. Samantha, with a reluctant nod, excused herself, leaving Cylvia alone once more, yet, this time, a fragile smile played on her lips.