583495793235
SPIRAL
THE END SOMEONE HAS PUT me in a hot oven and locked the door. Someone has doused me in kerosene and lit a match. I come awake slowly with my body on fire, consumed in flames. The sheets are cold and damp. I’m drowning in sweat. What’s happening to me? It takes a moment before I realize that there are many, many things wrong. I’m shivering. I’m more than shivering. I’m shaking uncontrollably and my head hurts. My brain is being squeezed in a vise. Pain radiates out and crashes into the nerves behind my eyes. My body is a fresh bruise. Even my skin hurts. At first I think I must be dreaming, but my dreams are never this lucid. I try to sit up, to pull the blankets closer, but I can’t. Olly’s still asleep and lying on top of them. I try again to sit up, but pain buries itself deep in my bones. The vise around my brain tightens and now there’s an ice pick stabbing indiscriminately at the soft flesh. I try to cry out but my throat is raw, as if I’d been screaming for days and days. I’m sick. I’m more than sick. I’m dying. Oh, God. Olly. This is going to break his heart. He awakes as soon as I think it. “Mad?” he asks into the dark. He turns on the bedside lamp and my eyes burn. I squeeze them shut and try to turn away. I don’t want him to see me like this, but it’s too late. I watch his face go from confusion, to recognition, to disbelief. Then terror. “I’m sorry,” I say, or try to say, but I don’t think the words make it past my lips. He touches my face, my neck, my forehead. “Jesus,” he says, over and over again. “Jesus.” He pulls the blanket off and I’m colder than I’d ever thought possible. “Jesus, Maddy, you’re burning up.” “Cold,” I croak, and he looks even more terrified. He covers me and cradles my head, kisses my wet brow, lips. “You’re fine,” he says. “You’re going to be fine.” I’m not, but it’s nice of him to say so. My body pulses with pain and my throat feels like
- Page 130 and 131: LATER, 9:08 P.M. OLLY’S ALREADY W
- Page 132 and 133: THE GLASS WALL A WEEK LATER, someth
- Page 134 and 135: HALF LIFE IT’S A STRANGE thing to
- Page 136 and 137: THE FIVE SENSES HEARING The alarm
- Page 138 and 139: “Maddy—” “I’ll explain ev
- Page 141 and 142: At first I’m not sure what I’m
- Page 143 and 144: HAPPY ALREADY “MADS, BE SERIOUS.
- Page 145 and 146: I reach over and take his hand. “
- Page 147 and 148: eyes. “I must’ve missed a lot o
- Page 149 and 150: TTYL
- Page 151 and 152: THE CAROUSEL “I’VE DECIDED BAGG
- Page 153 and 154: MADELINE’S DICTIONARY prom•ise
- Page 155 and 156: And, too, the world is in me.
- Page 157 and 158: REWARD IF FOUND OUR HOTEL SITS righ
- Page 159 and 160: three meals and two snacks exactly
- Page 161 and 162: eathed the same filtered air for so
- Page 163 and 164: GUIDE TO HAWAIIAN REEF FISH
- Page 165 and 166: I’m sure I don’t want him to. *
- Page 167 and 168: ZACH BACK AT THE hotel, Olly calls
- Page 169 and 170: Do you have my daughter? Is she OK?
- Page 171 and 172: THE MURPHY BED IT’S LATE AFTERNOO
- Page 173 and 174: ALL THE WORDS I COME AWAKE slowly,
- Page 175 and 176: MADELINE’S DICTIONARY in•fi•n
- Page 177 and 178: THIS TIME OLLY SMILES. HE will not
- Page 179: “Do you believe it?” he asks.
- Page 183 and 184: My. Heart. Stops.
- Page 185 and 186: RELEASED, PART ONE
- Page 187 and 188: READMITTED MY MOM HAS transformed m
- Page 189 and 190: RELEASED, PART TWO Wednesday, 6:56
- Page 191 and 192: Madeline: but mine isn’t
- Page 193 and 194: GEOGRAPHY I’M IN AN endless field
- Page 195 and 196: LIFE IS SHORT SPOILER REVIEWS BY MA
- Page 197 and 198: PRETENDING I’M STRONGER WITH each
- Page 199 and 200: I’m trying not to focus on Olly,
- Page 201 and 202: FIVE SYLLABLES A MONTH LATER, just
- Page 203 and 204: HIS LAST LETTER IS HAIKU From: gene
- Page 205 and 206: FOR MY EYES ONLY From: Dr. Melissa
- Page 207 and 208: question if I have spoken after all
- Page 209 and 210: IDENTITY CARLA’S BARELY IN the do
- Page 211 and 212: PROOF OF LIFE ALL I HAVE to do is g
- Page 213 and 214: have SCID?” Her concern morphs in
- Page 215 and 216: I should feel compassion. But that
- Page 217 and 218: THE VOID A UNIVERSE THAT can wink i
- Page 219 and 220: “But my heart stopped.” “Yes.
- Page 221 and 222: ONE WEEK A.D. I HAVE MY first weekl
- Page 223 and 224: THREE WEEKS A.D. MY MOM TRIES to en
- Page 225 and 226: FIVE WEEKS A.D. I ORDER REAL plants
- Page 227 and 228: MADELINE’S MOM
- Page 229 and 230: lot left.” We go back inside. I f
THE END<br />
SOMEONE HAS PUT me in a hot oven and locked the door.<br />
Someone has doused me in kerosene and lit a match.<br />
I come awake slowly with my body on fire, consumed in flames. The sheets are cold and<br />
damp. I’m drowning in sweat.<br />
What’s happening to me? It takes a moment before I realize that there are many, many<br />
things wrong.<br />
I’m shivering. I’m more than shivering. I’m shaking uncontrollably and my head hurts.<br />
My brain is being squeezed in a vise. Pain radiates out and crashes into the nerves behind<br />
my eyes.<br />
My body is a fresh bruise. Even my skin hurts.<br />
At first I think I must be dreaming, but my dreams are never this lucid. I try to sit up, to<br />
pull the blankets closer, but I can’t. Olly’s still asleep and lying on top of them.<br />
I try again to sit up, but pain buries itself deep in my bones.<br />
The vise around my brain tightens and now there’s an ice pick stabbing<br />
indiscriminately at the soft flesh.<br />
I try to cry out but my throat is raw, as if I’d been screaming for days and days.<br />
I’m sick.<br />
I’m more than sick. I’m dying.<br />
Oh, God. Olly.<br />
This is going to break his heart.<br />
He awakes as soon as I think it. “Mad?” he asks into the dark.<br />
He turns on the bedside lamp and my eyes burn. I squeeze them shut and try to turn<br />
away. I don’t want him to see me like this, but it’s too late. I watch his face go from<br />
confusion, to recognition, to disbelief. Then terror.<br />
“I’m sorry,” I say, or try to say, but I don’t think the words make it past my lips.<br />
He touches my face, my neck, my forehead.<br />
“Jesus,” he says, over and over again. “Jesus.”<br />
He pulls the blanket off and I’m colder than I’d ever thought possible.<br />
“Jesus, Maddy, you’re burning up.”<br />
“Cold,” I croak, and he looks even more terrified.<br />
He covers me and cradles my head, kisses my wet brow, lips.<br />
“You’re fine,” he says. “You’re going to be fine.”<br />
I’m not, but it’s nice of him to say so. My body pulses with pain and my throat feels like