After a moment of quiet, Janie gets up, unsteadily walks to the bathroom, throws up a few cans worth of cheap beer, and then some. “Never again,” she echoes.
Then she crawls into her room, closes the door, climbs into bed and sleeps.
2:12 a.m.
Janie’s running.
And running.
All night long.
She never gets there.
SATURDAY
August 5, 2006, 8:32 a.m.
“Yes,” croaks Janie into her cell phone. “What.” She’s still half-asleep.
“Janie, is everything all right?”
Janie’s silent. She should know this voice, but she doesn’t.
“Janie? It’s Captain. Are you there?”
“Oh!” Janie says. “God, I’m sorry, I—”
“Sorry I woke you. I normally wouldn’t call but I heard from Baker that you had a family emergency and you’re back in town. I’m calling to ask if everything is all right. And to find out more, if you’re willing to tell me. Which you’d better be.”
“I—ugh, it’s complicated,” Janie says. She rolls onto her back. Her mouth feels like it’s stuffed with toilet paper. “Everything’s fine, though. Well, I mean . . . it’s a long story.” Ugh.
“I have time.”
“Can I get back to you? Somebody’s buzzing me on the other line.”
“I’ll hold.”
Janie smiles through the dull pain in her head and switches over to the other call.
It’s Cabe. “Hey, baby, everything okay? What happened last night?”
“Yeah, let me call you back in a few.”
“Done.” He hangs up.
Janie switches back to Captain. “I’m back,” she says.
“Fine.”
“And, uh, I’d rather not go into all the details. So.” Janie’s feeling bold.
Captain pauses a split second. “Fair enough. You know where to find me, right?”
“Of course. Thank you, sir.”
“I’ll see you Monday for our meeting if not before. Take care, Janie.” Captain hangs up.
Janie flips her phone shut and groans. “What is with everybody calling me at eight-thirty in the freaking morning?”
9:24 a.m.
Showered, fed, brushed. Janie feels a tiny bit better after taking an ibuprofen and drinking three glasses of water. “Never again,” she mutters to the mirror. She calls Cabel back. “Sorry it took me so long.” Janie explains what happened last night as she walks across the yards, up his driveway, and in to his house.
“Hey,” she says, hanging up.
Cabel grins and hangs up too. “Did you get breakfast?”
“Yeah.”
“Wanna go for a drive?”
“I—sure. I was actually thinking about going to the hospital.”
Cabel nods. “Cool.”
“Not that I feel obligated, because I don’t.”
“Nor should you.”
Janie is lost in thought. Going over what her mother said last night, although much of it is fuzzy after all that beer. “I think,” she says slowly, “he’s probably not a good person.”
“What?”
“Just a feeling. Never mind. Let’s go.”
“Are you sure you want to go if he’s a bad person?”
“Yeah. I mean, I want to find out for sure. I just want to know, I guess. If he’s bad. Or not.”
Cabel shrugs, but he understands. They take off.
9:39 a.m.
At the hospital, Janie moves carefully through the hallways as usual, watching for open doors. She gets caught in a weak dream but only for a few seconds—she barely even has to pause in step. They stand outside Henry’s room, Janie’s hand tense on the handle.
Static and shockingly bright colors. Again, Janie nearly crumples to her knees, but this time she is more prepared. She steps blindly toward the bed and Cabel helps her safely to the floor as her head pounds with noise. It’s more intense than ever.
Just when Janie thinks her eardrums are going to burst, the static dulls and the scene flickers to a woman in the dark once again. It’s the same woman as the day before, Janie’s certain, though she can’t make out any distinguishing features. And then Janie sees that the man is there too. It’s Henry, of course. It’s his dream. He’s in the shadows, sitting on a chair, watching the woman. Henry turns, looks at Janie and blinks. His eyes widen and he sits up straighter in his chair. “Help me!” he pleads.
And then, like a broken filmstrip, the picture cuts out and the static is back, louder than ever, constant screamo in her ears. Janie struggles, head pounding. Tries pulling out of the dream, but she can’t focus—the static is messing up her ability to concentrate.
She’s flopping around on the floor now. Straining.
Thinks Cabel is there, holding her, but she can’t feel anything now.
The bright colors slam into her eyes, into her brain, into her body. The static is like pinpricks in every pore of her skin.
She’s trapped.
Trapped in the nightmare of a man who can’t wake up.
Janie struggles again, feeling like she’s suffocating now. Feeling like if she doesn’t get out of this mess, she might die here. Cabe! she screams in her head. Get me out of here!
But of course he can’t hear her.
She gathers up all her strength and pulls, groaning inwardly with such force that it hurts all the way through. When the nightmare flickers to the picture of the woman again, Janie is just barely able to burst from her confines.