When he shifted his weight to get off the bed, he winced.

“Maybe you should get your hand checked out.”

“It’ll be fine. Guess I’ll just have to give it a rest for a while. Lay off the…you know.”

He made a jerking motion, a lopsided grin on his face.

Kate could only muster a weak laugh. “Don’t look at me to bail you out.”

“Get some sleep. We’ll be right outside if you need us.”

Andrew went back onto the porch and took a sip from his coffee.

As Kate drifted off, she heard Ryker and Nikki walk past her, Nikki saying she had never been in a kayak before and Ryker telling her how easy it was to paddle. She heard the three of them clop down the wooden steps to the backyard, heading toward the dock.

Every part of her ached and her exhaustion was overwhelming, but that didn’t keep her from wishing she was with them. They were out there having fun at the lake (my lake!) while she was once again glued to the damn bed. Times like this, she would gladly trade her incurable diseases for something like cancer. At least with cancer, there was hope. The only way she’d be rid of the dark things that plagued her was to die and leave this broken body for them to feast on until there were no longer enough vital nutrients left for them to survive.

How long will they live after my soul leaves my body?

She relished the thought of leaving them a rotting, putrid carcass. She hoped the errant cells that made her life so miserable choked on it.

Buttons nestled close to her and licked her face.

She couldn’t keep her eyes open, Bogart’s voice fading…fading…

Kate whispered as she tumbled into a troubled sleep, “Just…choke on it.”

* * *

Andrew held the kayak steady while Nikki settled in. It really was a picture-perfect day. He could have enjoyed it if not for the avian mass murder around their cottage.

“Don’t go out too far,” Ryker said to his wife. “Since this is your first time, maybe it’s best if you stay where I can see you.”

Nikki rolled her eyes. “You swim like shite. It’s not like you can come out and save me if I cock up and tip the boat.”

“It’s a kayak, not a boat,” Ryker said good-naturedly.

“Whatever. Eat my waves, boys.”

She dug her paddle into the water and shoved off, the kayak gliding to the dead center of the lake.

Andrew watched her paddle away, her strokes strong and steady. It was hard to believe she’d never done it before. “At least someone’s having fun today.”

Ryker kept glancing back up at the cottage. “Man, you were right, there’s no way Katy could leave today. She looks…well, she looks…”