The weight on her was so huge, Melpomene struggled to move, but move she did. Slowly she dug her elbow into the couch beneath her, and let her feet slide onto the floor so she could sit up. She was dizzy and weak, wrung out from tears and despair, but she let her head fall against Thalia, let the whole horrid weight of her body lean against her sister.
"Please understand," she croaked, her voice hoarse from crying, or disuse, or it was simply dying faster than the rest of her. "I can't."