It's a bad idea, he knows, letting himself get attached, but he seems to keep doing it and so when Nina asks if he wants to feel the baby, he holds his hand out toward her. She can place it where she likes, where he's most likely to feel movement, and all the while he thinks he ought to get out of here.

But that remains the obstacle at the end of each day. There's nowhere for him to go. He can't get out of Darrow itself and so, no matter how many flats he leaves, no matter how many conversations he refuses to have, he's still here. And no one can live without any human connection.