“Samuel’s father came to visit, saw that Samuel was obviously his child, did a little arithmetic to make sure, then he took Samuel away. We’re battling in court. I spent so much money on lawyers that I had to work two jobs, and I didn’t do either of them very well, I was so worried about Samuel. I got fired from both. Now I can’t pay the attorneys, and they won’t work for me anymore. Samuel is in San Francisco, and Victor says if I want him, I have to move there. He said I had no right to keep knowledge of his son from him. Christ, I hardly even knew Victor. He was just a one-night stand.” Tears flooded Sarah’s eyes and overflowed down her cheeks. She silently continued to pick at her cuticles.

I was dumbfounded.

Sarah jumped up and went into the bathroom. I heard her blow her nose, then she turned the water on in the sink. When she returned, her face was pink from the splashing and she was rubbing hand cream into her cuticles.

“So,” she said. “Enough of my sad story. Back to you. The first thing you have to do is get straight with the doctor. He knows more than you do, Angelina.”

“He knows nothing, Sarah. I was not in a coma. I sleep all day, and am awake at night. That’s one of the things I need to change.”

“That’s easy to change. You just change.”

She didn’t understand. She couldn’t understand. I looked at her, saw how she’d changed, and felt reluctant to talk to her. This was not the Sarah of my memory. Rosemary’s words came to mind. “A life raft. Someone to save you. You will find that it won’t work.” I began to be afraid. Sarah had to help me. I had to at least try. “No,” I said. “You don’t understand. I’m afraid.”

“Of?”

“The light.” I rubbed the sparse flesh of my arm where the shot had been administered.

“What do you think might happen?”

“Well, the voice tells me that I can no longer live in the light, and She seems to be right. I can’t stay awake toward dawn, and as you can see, I can’t be awakened until night.”

“The voice?”

“I think it’s the devil. A she-devil. But I’m not sure. She makes me do terrible things. Terrible things.”

“You hear voices?”