Page 140 of The Last Session

“See what?” I responded out loud. Now I was straight-up hallucinating.

“Look.”

Lines glowed above me on the ceiling, outlining a square.

“Is that the way out?” I whispered.

“In a sense.” Something scaly and cold slid past my arm. “You need to go through if you want to see.”

Was I asleep? I shifted, feeling the rough surface underneath me. The door disappeared.

“Not your body,” the snake hissed. “Your spirit.”

“But how…” I went still and the door came back. I closed my eyes, and it remained. It took a while to figure it out, how to get up without moving my body. It was like looking at a magic eye illustration; you had to relax into it. Finally, I was sitting up and pushing the door, my body lying below me like a discarded skin.

A laugh bubbled up deep inside.Now I’mreallylosing it.

But I pushed it away. Hallucinatory or not, it was better than lying there, cold and terrified. I pressed upwards, and the door swung up as if on a hinge. I peered into the empty space. Pitch-black here, too, but the air felt different, heavy and viscous. A pressure against my skin, so increasingly intense I cried out.

Then: nothing.

55

Faint beeping noises, hushed voices. I blinked open my eyes. Dom was sitting on the plastic chair near the hospital bed, on her phone.

“Dom?” I croaked.

She lifted her head. “Oh my god, Thea!” She jumped up and paused, hovering above me. “You’re awake. Let me get a nurse—”

“No.” I sat up, the blue sheets falling to my lap. “Wait. Tell me what’s going on.”

“Do you remember?” Dom gripped the metal bar of the bed. “Do you remember what happened?”

“Uh…” I actuallycouldn’tremember. I’d been in a cold, dark, awful space. But where? What had been happening?

“Don’t worry about it.” Dom waved her hand. “Do you feel okay?”

“I think so.” We were in a curtained-off area. Someone on the other side was whispering urgently, presumably into their phone.

We were at the hospital. I felt a pure, sweet relief. I was okay. I was safe.

“Amani called me, and I came as soon as I could. Your parents are flying in.” Dom exhaled. “I’m so glad you’re okay. I was worried.”

“Where’s Catherine?” I asked.

She looked at me blankly. “Who?”

The woman in the next room raised her voice. “You don’t know what I’ve been through!”

The back of my neck prickled. Something felt off. I started sliding my legs over the side of the bed.

“Just calm down.” Dom leaned over me, hissing into my ear. “Stay there. Don’t let them hear you.”

“Who?”

Her eyes widened, her mouth stretched into a frightening grimace. “I don’t know. But this hospital—it’s weird. I tried to talk to a doctor, but…” She stared past me, suddenly mute, mouth hanging open. Itwisted around to see what she was looking at: a laminated pain assessment scale with cartoon happy faces ranging from ecstatic to anguished.

“They all died.” Now the woman in the next bed sounded mournful. “My brother. My boyfriend. Didn’t you know that?”