12/05/2026
One of the things that stayed with me most was how deeply routine mattered to Amy.
She followed the people she trusted, returned to the same spaces, and waited in the same places she had always felt welcome.
But while she continued living inside those routines, the people around her were already beginning to disappear one by one.
At the time, I do not think she understood what moving away meant.
She only understood presence.
Who still came back.
Who still spoke gently to her.
Who still allowed her to stay close.
And maybe that is why this stayed with me so heavily afterward.
Because animals do not prepare emotionally for instability the way humans do.
They simply keep trusting the rhythm they know — until suddenly it is gone.