Chu Siwen struggled upright, haphazardly scrunched the quilt into a ball, and hugged it to her chest, trying to wring even a little warmth from the stuffing.
But a quilt was only meant to keep warmth in. If her body had no warmth, how could the quilt be warm?
Cold.
So cold.
Chu Siwen sighed softly. A wisp of white breath escaped her lips and quickly dissipated.
She leaned against the icy wall, her skin barely any warmer than its surface.
She felt like she'd become a lifeless object, too.
"I want to live... I don't want to die."
Her voice was as faint as a murmur in a dream. She curled up and buried her face deep in her knees.
Her parents had died in a car accident four years ago.
They'd left her a house with a mortgage she couldn't pay off.
She'd dropped out of college and gone back to West Mountain to work.
She'd drifted through life, never having enough money. Her days were as dark as a room where the lights had never been switched on.
A long time ago, she really had thought about just dying.
Sell the house, travel around the world, then die in some forgotten corner of nowhere. How romantic.
And what happened?
Housing prices had plummeted. The house she'd bought for over 1.1 million was now listed for 700,000, and she still wasn't sure anyone would even ask about it.
After paying off the mortgage, she'd have 150,000 left.
And there was no guarantee anyone would be willing to buy it.
So she could only give up on that impractical idea and keep enduring, like a pot of fish soup no one was watching, letting the days evaporate the last drops of moisture from her life.
Then, perhaps the heavens