Chap­ter II opens with Addie LaRue, lost in thought as she strolls the vibrant streets of New York City on the evening of March 12, 2014. The city’s heart­beat puls­es around her as she immers­es her­self in the words of The Odyssey, her mind wan­der­ing through the ancient text while her body drifts along the mod­ern world. Amidst the busy crowd, she heads toward the Bax­ter, a place that holds mem­o­ries but also feels dis­tant and fleet­ing, just like every­thing in her life. Her plans for a qui­et night—one she has often enjoyed—are quick­ly derailed when she unex­pect­ed­ly runs into James St. Clair, a famil­iar face that dis­rupts her soli­tude. Radi­at­ing a care­free ener­gy from a day of film­ing, James unknow­ing­ly changes the course of her evening, push­ing her towards the East Vil­lage and away from her intend­ed path.

As the night con­tin­ues to unfold, Addie encoun­ters a food deliv­ery cyclist and, dri­ven by an ever-present hunger, steals a meal from him. This small yet sig­nif­i­cant act—born from her con­stant yearn­ing for both sus­te­nance and a sem­blance of normalcy—reminds her of the every­day com­pro­mis­es she has been forced to accept through­out her long life. Her theft, while minor, reflects the ongo­ing sur­vival tac­tics Addie has learned in the cen­turies of her cursed exis­tence. Each stolen moment, each fleet­ing con­nec­tion, becomes a means of ground­ing her­self in a world where she is per­pet­u­al­ly erased from mem­o­ry. Her actions, though seem­ing­ly insignif­i­cant, under­score the real­i­ty of liv­ing with­out the abil­i­ty to make last­ing impres­sions, a dai­ly strug­gle to feel seen in a world that for­gets her as soon as she leaves.

As Addie wan­ders through the famil­iar streets of the East Vil­lage, she arrives at a build­ing with a green door—one she rec­og­nizes as a tem­po­rary shel­ter in her life of con­stant change. The key she retrieves from its hid­den spot serves as a tan­gi­ble reminder of a past rela­tion­ship, one she shared with Sam, a lover who, like all oth­ers, would ulti­mate­ly for­get her. Their con­nec­tion, filled with pas­sion and inten­si­ty, exists only as a fleet­ing mem­o­ry for Addie, an expe­ri­ence that will van­ish the moment she steps away. Up on the rooftop, a seclud­ed place that offers a moment of peace amidst the chaos of the city, Addie sits alone, con­tem­plat­ing her place in a world where noth­ing stays con­stant. The moment of soli­tude, how­ev­er, is short-lived as Sam arrives unex­pect­ed­ly with a group of friends, reignit­ing mem­o­ries of their past inti­ma­cy.

Sam, vibrant and full of life, sparks a brief rekin­dling of their con­nec­tion with noth­ing more than a glance. In the brief exchange that fol­lows, Addie is remind­ed of the com­pli­cat­ed and bit­ter­sweet nature of their rela­tion­ship, one that can nev­er tru­ly be revis­it­ed. Despite the shared cig­a­rette and the qui­et under­stand­ing between them, Addie knows that this moment will fade, just as all the oth­ers have. Sam’s remark, com­par­ing Addie to the stars she once longed to see again, stirs a deep long­ing with­in Addie, a reminder of what she can nev­er ful­ly expe­ri­ence. But as quick­ly as their con­nec­tion is reignit­ed, Sam and her friends depart, leav­ing Addie to once again face the soli­tude that defines her exis­tence.

As the chap­ter draws to a close, Addie reflects on the brief­ness of her encoun­ters with oth­ers, and the lone­li­ness that accom­pa­nies her cursed immor­tal­i­ty. The emo­tion­al highs and lows she experiences—like the fleet­ing con­nec­tion with Sam—are always fol­lowed by the crush­ing real­i­ty that she will soon be for­got­ten. The com­par­i­son Addie makes between this eter­nal soli­tude and mad­ness under­scores the depth of her despair, as she is caught in a nev­er-end­ing cycle of long­ing for recog­ni­tion while know­ing that it can nev­er be hers. This inter­nal strug­gle is some­thing she has grap­pled with for cen­turies, and the chap­ter leaves read­ers with a poignant under­stand­ing of Addie’s exis­ten­tial plight, her quest for belong­ing, and the pro­found lone­li­ness that accom­pa­nies liv­ing with­out a trace in a world that for­gets you the moment you’re out of sight.