Karen returned to the hospital. The next few hours were a blur. She talked with Franny. Told him her story, from the start.
She and Joshua had been out looking at stars.
They encountered Ross and Amber.
Ross had accidentally shot Amber and had forced Karen to take her to the hospital, threatening to harm Joshua if she mentioned him, then forced her to break Amber out of the hospital.
Then Shane showed up and things got out of control.
Franny had asked her questions. She’d answered them. From what she could tell, he believed her. At least, she thought he did. She thought he believed Joshua, too. As Franny talked to him she’d waited outside his hospital room, holding her breath, hoping that this was almost over and there’d be no more surprises. When Franny opened the door to Joshua’s room and told her he was leaving, she felt such a sense of relief that it nearly knocked her to the ground. It felt wrong to be relieved, like she didn’t deserve to feel anything positive right now, not after so much horror had occurred. But she couldn’t help it.
Once Franny was gone, she felt exhausted all of a sudden, so tired she could barely keep her eyes open. It was all finally catching up with her. She’d felt worn-out at times over the weekend, but that was nothing like the total exhaustion she felt now. Before, there’d always been her adrenaline to combat the sleepiness and keep her alert. But now, it was as though her body knew that it was all over and there was nothing left to keep her going.
She felt like she could sleep for days.
Karen hesitated for just a moment as she turned her house key and pushed open the front door. She knew she was being paranoid, but she had a brief, momentary feeling that someone was waiting on the other side, just waiting for an opportunity to snag her and Joshua, whisk them away, and begin everything all over again.
But there was no one behind the door. Just silence. The living room looked as it always had. There was no indication that anything out of the ordinary had recently happened.
She waved out to the police cruiser in which she and Joshua had been driven home from the hospital. The officer behind the wheel waved back and reversed down the driveway. He drove away on the road out front.
Finally, she let herself breathe.
She kicked off her shoes. Joshua did the same. She turned and looked at him. His arm was in a sling and his eyes were half-open. He looked so weary.
“Doing all right?” she asked him. A foolish question, but she felt like she should say something. It was the first question that came to mind.
“I think I’m going to lie down,” Joshua said.
“Yeah,” she said. “I almost dozed off a couple times on the drive home.”
Joshua walked across the living room and over to the hallway. It felt like something more meaningful should happen after all they’d been through, like they should sit down with each other. Discuss their feelings. Talk about everything that had occurred. But she didn’t think she’d be able to string together more than a few coherent sentences. Her mind was like a computer that had overheated—the only way to continue on was to rest and reboot.
Before Joshua disappeared into his room, she called out to him.
“Hey,” she said.
He turned to her.
“Wait a sec,” she said. “Come here.”
He walked back over to her. She reached out and hugged him. There was so much to say, but she didn’t have the energy to say any of it. She’d hugged him at the police station and the hospital, but this hug seemed as though it had more significance than those had. Like now that it was just the two of them and they were safely back home, everything truly was over.
She held him in her embrace. She felt one of his arms close around her back and squeeze tight. When she finally let go, she saw that he had tears in his eyes.
“Thanks,” he said.
He walked away from her. She watched him disappear down the hall. A moment later she heard the door to his room close.
She stayed in the living room for a moment after he’d gone, then walked to her bedroom. If she listened closely, she felt like she’d be able to hear the echoes of Shane’s footsteps thundering down the hallway.
She stopped outside her room. Paused for a moment and opened the door.
The cleaners were finished, she noticed. Franny had given her the number of a professional service to clean and disinfect her house once the police were done with the crime scene, and she’d called them from the hospital. They’d come to the hospital to get a key from her and told her they’d start on the house immediately.
The room had a faint smell of disinfectant. The carpet had been scrubbed clean—somewhat clean, at least. Splotches and stains were still visible. The bloody bedsheets had been taken by the police as evidence, but the mattress was left behind; it was stained with dried blood. She’d have to throw it out, get a new one.
She didn’t know how she would ever be able to sleep in this room. Would this room ever feel like her bedroom again, or would it simply serve as a reminder of everything that had happened?
It wasn’t just her bedroom, either—would she ever be able to look at the house in the same way again? She doubted it. There was something sad about that. The house where she’d lived for nearly all her life might never feel like home again.
It seemed like such a small thing, like something totally irrelevant in light of everything that had happened. And it was—there was so much else to be sad about—but it still left her feeling disappointed.
She shook her head. She’d have plenty of time to think about things like this later on, tomorrow, for the rest of the week, for the rest of her life, even. But not now.
She walked out to the living room and found a nice warm blanket in the closet. She lay down on the couch.
And she fell asleep instantly.