Dee tucks Jesse in on the air mattress in the bedroom and sits on the pretty couch she bought from Restoration Hardware. She’s proud of the front room. The surfboard makes her smile. Her brother, a surfer? Life is strange.
She considers turning on the television, but she doesn’t want to watch TV. She hasn’t wanted to do much of anything since Steve left. The constant ache of missing him makes her restless at night and hollowed out during the day. He called as they were leaving Independence. She reached to answer it, then pulled her hand away as she’s done every time for the last countless times. The message he left said, “I wish you’d talk to me. I love you, and I miss you.”
What bothers her is her patheticness. Before Steve came into her life, she was happy. Not euphoric over-the-moon giddy, but fine. She had Jesse, Janelle, her friends, her job. Why can’t she get back to that place of contentedness?
She looks at the closed door to the third bedroom. Dick’s made it clear the room is off-limits. He said it’s his lab and that it’s to remain locked. She stares a minute longer, then pushes to her feet, grabs his keys on the counter, and hurries down the hall.
It’s a lab. Exactly as Dick said. Sterile and white with the faint smell of a zoo from the mice that lived here until a week ago.
Dick’s laptop beeps, startling her, and she walks to the table to look at the screen. A small window pops up within the larger one. The image is dark, and it takes a minute for her to recognize what she’s looking at—a large bald guy with tattoos in a kitchen. He switches off the light, and the screen turns to shadow.
Her heart pounds, and she races from the room, hoping to forget what she saw.