Another incredible read, I daresay possibly even better than the first chapter, which means a lot. You have an incredible knack for believable and enthralling world-building and characterisation. I may just be overly emotional but I teared up a little bit after reading the Narrator's description of his childhood friendship with Amy, followed by that brilliant "Humans are finite" paragraph and the description of how things slowly fell apart. "We sort of made something out of the middle of nowhere" was a really poetic way of putting to words that kind of whimsical and indescribable friendship that can only exist in people's childhoods.

Although this chapter seemed much more serious in tone than the previous, I have to admit I laughed at the entire "Or rather, he bumped into me." paragraph.

The rantings and predictions of Ms. Daeth/Death were quite ominous. I admit I was quite confused as to where you were going with the first part of the story, until I read on and learned who she and Amy were. The cliffhanger at the end was quite ominous, and I can't wait to read what happens next. The whole "take care of my daughter" thing coupled with him having a conversation with Mr. Foster, makes James Aiken's sudden death seem even more unnerving (I'm guessing he saw it coming?)

It's a minor detail, but I LOVE the use of the word "nostalgic" in "I reached the house before anyone else, and entered its nostalgic interior to witness the scene." Really made it sink in how horrifying it was to witness such a macabre scene in the house of his beloved childhood friend and (later) surrogate father, and also served as a nice callback to how much less happy things were since the start of the story.

There were a few possible typos in this chapter: "mere attendance in the country was a great acheivement" (achievement), "What Aiken wanted was a Congressional committee or subcomittee" (subcommittee), and "taking inspiration from the Plains Indians that used to his own region" (used to live on his own region?).