Page 28 of Breaking the Dark

“Yeah. Seriously. You might have noticed that I do not have any shelves. And I also have things that need to go on shelves. So I am putting up shelves.”

“And where are you going to get the shelves from?”

“I already have the shelves. I got them last weekend from IKEA.”

“You went to IKEA?”

“Er, yeah. Where else do you think I’d get shelves from?”

“I really can’t say I’ve ever thought about it. Maybe I just thought you’d hack down a tree and carve it into slices with your bare hands.”

“Really?” He laughs. “You think that?”

“No. I don’t think that. But you know, self-assembly hell, even you might need some help with that. Would you like my assistance? I could use one of those things with the thing in it?”

“One of those things with the thing in it?”

“Yeah. For straight lines. It has like a little blob of oil in the middle? I think?”

“A spirit level?”

“Yeah! A spirit level! I can do that if you need me to?”

Luke smiles lazily at her and finds her hands. He picks them up and squeezes them gently. “Jessica Jones. I would love to put up shelves with you today. Thank you.”

“No. Thank you. It’s nice to have someone to spend time with. I’ve just been feeling…since I gave up drinking…just so…”

“Bored?”

“Yeah. Bored. Time goes slowly, doesn’t it?”

Luke laughs. “It can.”

“Just so slowly. And rooms feel so…hollow. And my mind. It goes places. And plays tricks on me. And I keep seeing this girl….”

She pauses, unsure for a moment, but then she glances up and sees Luke’s soft gaze on her, so she continues. “A little girl. She looks about five. And at first, I thought she was real? But now I’m not sure. And it feels like maybe my brain made her up? I can’t…I can’t explain it.”

“What makes you think she’s not real?”

“I don’t know. Because she sure as hell looks real to me. But whenever I see her, she is always alone, and what sort of five-year-old is always alone? Like no five-year-old, that’s who. I dunno. Maybe I’m losing my mind a little.”

“We’re all losing our minds a little.”

“Are you losing your mind, Luke?”

“Of course I am. Every minute of every day.”

“Like, right now?”

“No, not right now. But the rest of the time.”

“Why not right now?”

Luke rolls his eyes. “Duh,” he says. “Because you’re here.”

Jessica’s stomach reacts to this with a sickly sweet lurch. “Ha,” she says. “Interesting.”

“In what way interesting?”