Chapter 14

No one tried to stop him as he navigated the dark stretch of blacktop. The derelict cabin stood empty, almost as though he imagined the whole mess. Soon he was on the interstate heading back to his apartment, his job.

Normalcy.12

At least, he’d hoped.

When he woke Monday morning, Keston stated at the ceiling contemplating the fact it was little more than a crazy dream brought on by too much stress and bad food, perhaps even a bout of food poisoning. But when he shuffled into the office and his boss asked him how his time away went, and also why he returned so soon, panic bubbled in his stomach, and by lunch led to unpleasant cramping in his gut.

He requested to be allowed to leave, putting in for sick time, half-heartedly joking he must have caught a bug when he fell asleep on the shoreline reading. Of course, he kept the near drowning and meeting Ness a secret.