Matteo just knew that something was going to happen, something that would change his whole view on life and every part of it.
He knew he was about to witness things that would reshape his understanding of life and death, and not in any good or meaningful way. Not the usual thoughts, not questions about what life is or why people exist. He had lived with those thoughts long enough. This was something else entirely.
This was about how easily life could be taken away.
About how much pain a human body could endure before it finally broke. About how slow suffering could be when it was done on purpose. About how cruel, messy it could become when someone decided to turn pain into a process instead of an end.
And the worst part was that all of this fear, all of these thoughts, came from one simple detail.
Arlo was whistling.
