[CW: Mother rejecting her child.]

Alice looked up when Iris entered. She was sitting up in bed, leaning one side of her body against the wall. She was in her nightgown and the blanket was pulled up to her chest. Her red hair was down in a braid.

She turned her eyes down, to avoid looking at the woman and the babe. "Please..." she began weakly.

I think she would like it.

Her fists clenched around the blanket. She put her head against the wall. How did she go on existing, when she had already been extinguished?

"It's better if you look after her," she muttered quietly. "I'll be gone soon."