The Reincarnation

Laura was not exceptionally strong, but she didn’t need to be to push the machines around the bed away and pick David up. He was gaining weight, she thought, but slowly, thank God, or she would have had to put him in a wheelchair and then he surely would have woken up. She was happy to see that he was still asleep even after she laid him on the couch in his room, put two pillows under his blanket, picked him up again, carried him to the car, propped him up in the passenger seat, put Hannibal on his lap, got into the driver’s seat, and sped away. Must be having a good dream, she thought.

Meanwhile, Peggy too slept peacefully – from the sedatives Laura had dissolved in her coffee. It was for her own good, Laura had convinced herself. She was better off not knowing anything about it.

John’s mouth popped open as his jaw muscles slackened. He stared unabashedly at the empty bed. Gone. He had waited too long. Too long for what? He had to be around here somewhere. Jesus, he should have brought the tracker. Something is wrong here, he thought. He closed his mouth and darted into the hallway. The nurse was waking up. John panicked and fled.

Running past the guardpost, he reached his car in half the time it took him to leave it. He was still dumbfounded. What was going on? He didn’t know, but he didn’t feel safe trying to figure it out there.

He drove back to his motel quickly. As he held the driver’s wheel, he noticed that there were strange bright patches under his fingernails. John recognized the shape they made, but couldn’t place it. He turned his attention back to the road and noticed that his eyesight was failing – everything was becoming cloudy.

Just inside the door to his room, his legs gave out. He was too distracted to notice the fugue coming on.

It was his last thought before he passed out.