Andrew looked at Kate. She was on her side, her back to them. Buttons slept on the floor beside the bed as usual. Andrew stared hard at her, waiting to see the gentle rise and fall of her side. He couldn’t count the number of times he’d done that, waiting with held breath for his wife to take one, worst-case scenarios playing through his head. Only when he saw the sheet move oh-so-slightly did he resume his own breathing. She wasn’t as bad as she had been at times in the past, especially that year in the hospital when they were told numerous times she wouldn’t make it out. But with a bad heart, things could take a turn for the worse on a dime.

“Sure, it’ll be fine. I’m going to wake her up soon to see if she can eat anyway.”

Nikki found a station playing eighties hits and started an awkward dance while she cooked. Ryker asked Andrew about his job (had he ever had a job? Absence did not make the heart grow fonder) and they fell into easy conversation. The impaled crow drifted further and further from his mind as the sun grew paler, the shadows starting to creep along the back deck.

* * *

Kate was aware that Andrew, Ryker, and Nikki were in the house, making dinner. At one point, she lay still, listening, wanting to get up and join them, but her body wasn’t going to allow it. She drifted in and out of sleep, unsure what was real or imagined. If the pain started to really creep in, she’d know she’d been awake for a spell, allowing her mind to float back into the darkness.

Sliding between microwave feels (her body stiffening when her back went nuclear, but only for a few moments), bad feels, and the comfort of having her family around, Kate felt like a woman at the edge of a cliff, grasping for a handhold, but none was to be found.

At one point, she was running through the woods, the air sharp as razor blades against her flesh (bad feels).

Then she was in the kitchen, listening to Nikki order Ryker and Andrew around to get dinner ready (comfort).

A bolt of flame shot from the base of her spine to the top of her head, waking her instantly (microwave feels).

Something watched her from the window, whispering to her in an alien language. She knew it wanted her to come outside. It had a secret to tell her. The sound of its voice turned her bowels to water. She shit the bed, preferring to sit in the acidic stink than take one step toward the window (bad feels).

Eyes closed, she felt Andrew’s hand press down on her forehead. He caressed her cheek with the back of his fingers. His lips kissed the tip of her nose (comfort).