A funeral was held for Ms. Margaret Plum, but barely anyone attended. Matthew was placed in the care of Mayor Crawford. The bruises healed soon, and all was well. The headstones of Mr. and Mrs. Pellis were replaced with newer ones, and one month passed. The unease of waiting for the Rift to tear apart reality settled down. People could sleep at night without having nightmares of large, gaping holes swallowing up their neighbors and family. However, a few were still ever so anxious, looking behind their backs. Every time someone would look at the graves of those who had been destroyed by the Rift, they would shudder and walk in the other direction, not out of disrespect or rudeness, but because the headstones were reminders of what damage the Emptiness could cause.

Many had taken a serious mental toll from this entire incident. Several had moved far away from Upper Harmony as quickly as possible. However, this was a hometown and sacred place to so many people. They weren't budging, even if it meant dealing with an eldritch vacuum that could swallow up entire villages. One of those people was Nancy Pellis, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Pellis. She had developed horrible, aching thoughts of taking her own life, but she was stopped most of the time. Nancy would barely walk outside of the house, in an uneasy mix of apathy and fear. Her children were sent to live with neighbors, taking the last part of her happiness away. However, tonight, she would meet back with her children. She had regained confidence and emotional strength. She was ready to care for them. However, this too would end in sadness. As Nancy chopped up the carrots with a sharp, gleaming knife, she answered a phone call that would affect her life in unknowable ways. Her children didn't want to return home to their mother. Mancy had been distant and mean ti the children as a way to cope with grief. And the children barely did visit from that point on. So, Nancy dropped the knife and sobbed for minutes. Then, an hour. Then, two hours.

Nancy finally decided to walk outside and bask in the sun. She had grown paler skin, so if she wanted to win her kids back, she would have to become more social and forthcoming. So, she took a swift jog at the start of every morning. However, as much as she went out into the sun, Nancy could never get rid of her pale skin, or, for that matter, get warmer. She was always so cold and her skin was frozen.

And then, one day, she was walking outside and there it was: the biggest Rift she had seen so far.

She screamed in utter terror, but no one seemed to hear. It was gargantuan, at least one hundred feet tall, slim and narrow. This time, the nothingness did not stay still, it started to pull small objects in close proximity towards its mouth, as if the Rift now had some sort of weak magnetic pull.

But, Nancy was done being afraid. Her life had been a downward spiral since the 2nd of May. Her father died at the hands of a force she couldn't explain. Then, only one month later, her mother was not only dissolved into the Rift, but pushed in by the savage tourists. She began to become depressed, lashing out at her children and drifting from reality. It was like the Rift had created another version of itself in Nancy's mind, but instead of a lack of matter, there was a deep and solemn lack of emotion. "Listen up... I'm done with being afraid of you. You've ruined EVERYTHING I had! I don't care if you can hear me. I'm going to end you once and for all!" she screamed. Yet strangely, no one was around, not even a wandering young child or a car driving down the road. No one seemed to notice this looming rip in space. They all must have been missing.

Tears in her eyes, Nancy jumped into the Rift, welcoming it's cold, dark depths with rage filled eyes. However, nothing happened. Any moment now, she should have been gruesomely killed, but no. Nothing happened. Nancy looked at her hands in teary confusion. They were transparent. Her body looked as if it were made of water vapor. And the realization hit Nancy with one swoop.

She was dead.

She had been so distraught by the deaths of her parents and the loss of her children that she took that knife she had been cutting carrots with and released herself. She was a ghost, stuck in a realm between Emptiness and Reality. That was why the Rift could not seem to swallow her. Her physical form was tangible enough to be thought if as matter by the Rift, but it wasn't materialized enough.

The town's citizens had not vanished. They were at the Upper Harmony Cemetery, about a mile away, mourning the loss of Namcy Pellis. Nancy shouted out, yet no words emerged. She was in the Rift now. There was no matter for the sound to travel through. She shook her head wildly, trying to convince herself that this was a dream, that this all was some horrible nightmare conjured up by her twisted psyche, but no. This was chillingly real. Nancy had realized she was not alive anymore. She gulped. She tried to take a breath, but there was no air. Nancy was simply a wandering ghost now. No one could hear or see her. By anyone's account, Nancy Pellis had perished. Her body was in a coffin, next to her parent's graves. Her spirit would be trapped in the Rift.

And as she tried to get out of the Rift before it collapsed on her, she thought about this all. The Rift would continue to gnaw away at her, trying to dissolve her matter, but it wouldn't be able to. The Rift's hunger would be fulfilled at the cost of her own suffering. The Rift would close for an eternity, trying futilely to make Nancy disappear. Nancy thought of her children. They would have a better life if she sacrificed herself. Everyone in Upper Harmony would. So, Nancy stopped herself from trying to escape. The Rift closed for final time. Reality went back to functioning as it did. And Nancy looked deep into the infinite expanses of the abyss. It would never be explained, for things like these cannot be explained. She knew that everyone would think she was gone forever. She knew the people would never know of her life-changing sacrifice, but that was perfectly fine. Forever and ever and ever, she would stay, not knowing how fast time was spending in reality. She could blink and a millenia could pass. Not even the end of the world would set Nancy free.

Nancy Pellis smiled. It was the first time she had smiled since the 2nd of May. And, in an odd, satisfying sort of way, Nancy was actually happy. She would have to live through this silent hellscape for all of the years to come. She might even go insane from the isolation and cold, but even if her mind was shattered, she could rest well knowing her children were safe. And, the future did indeed move on without Nancy. The sun set and rose. The roses withered in the fall and blossomed in the spring. Some people aged and new people were born. Soon, Nancy's children would age and perish peacefully as well. Their mother wouldn't even know it. She would simply stay the same age in the Rift: time didn't exist there.

However, if there was one thing that stood still, it was the little town of Upper Harmony. Soon, the town became larger, as more people flocked to see the landmarks made by the Upper Harmony Rift Sightings, as they were classified. However, no matter how much Upper Harmony grew, it never lost its prime sense of classic serenity or familiarity. No one would know that where they were standing lied a deep abyss known as the Rift, where the only thing stopping global crisis was the spirit of a desperate mother. Everyone lived in ignorance, yes, but with bliss.

And every time Nancy felt like giving up, she thought back to children, hoping, wishing, praying that they were safe. And they would be.