Amitola “Ami” Dexter

I rebelled against pretty much everything in my teens. I abandoned my roots, got married, moved to town. I don’t know what I was trying to prove, but I suppose I just wanted to get out from underneath all the history and tradition that I felt was weighing me down. The only thing I proved was that you can run away from everything around you, but you can’t run away from who you are. It’s just a matter of time until it catches up with you. I’d gotten married to the wrong man for all the wrong reasons. Bill didn’t take it well, and it got pretty bad. I had to take Kyra away from all that.

This “you have a destiny” business can be a heavy load to carry. You probably know that as well as anyone. All the expectations. It’s not an easy thing to live up to. You end up disappointing everyone, yourself included. It’s not like any of us ever asked for it, yet we get defined by how we live with it, what we do with it. Sometimes it seems unfair that you can’t just be, I don’t know, normal. I tried normal. It didn’t really work out for me.

My husband disappeared a few days before the fog hit. He always used to pull stunts like that, go on binges that lasted days, but I’m obviously more worried about him this time. We’re not together anymore, but I worry for Kyra. She loves her dad very much, and I know she misses him. Even if she doesn’t let on, she’s deathly worried. I can only hope that if we come out on the other side of this, he’ll be there waiting for her. It might be over between us, but I don’t want my daughter to grow up without her father. Whatever Bill’s faults – and there are many – he always treated Kyra right.