“I found something,” he says. “There are no files on the name you mentioned, but I found an old personnel record that contained the name Arakit. It was for some guy who was fired from his job as an administrative assistant at Hero Pharm without severance for theft of company property. My uncle made a note to follow up with Arakit. There’s a résumé for the guy, too. It’s kind of weird. Says he was expelled from high school for breaking into their grading system. Only work experience prior to hire is at Fleischman’s Deli in Elizabeth, New Jersey, in “marketing strategy” and his name is Brandon Fleischman. Is he … related to you? I heard about your mom. Anyway. I hope you’re doing okay. And I hope that’s helpful.”

“It is,” I whisper to no one.

And I hang up, shivering.

TAI

As I swing the door of the teddy bear room shut behind me, the hall shimmers in dozens of shades of black. But I’m standing. I’m upright, on two legs I can half feel. I shuffle forward in slow motion, desperate not to make a sound because I’ll alert the men in black, lurking inside the shadowy folds. The first order of business is puking up this tea, I think to myself. Composing myself. Finding Noni. Noni? Not Noni. Saxim. She’s outside the maze of cement. But still. She’s Saxim: Saxim who smooths my hair; Saxim in her nubby white shirt embroidered with stars; Saxim with that vein that throbs scale-green. Saxim staring calmly into the forest dark.

I feel around my pocket, and it’s there—the blinging phone. A phone that works, a phone with battery, a phone that’s my salvation. I’ll text Nons, that’s what I’ll do. Tell her: I think there’s something dark inside Teddy. He tried to capture Mama. I have no hard proof that Teddy’s done anything wrong—not besides knowing he coded Mama into his creepy toys, as much as someone can do that. He hasn’t admitted to anything … illegal. But I … I can’t explain what’s wrong, not while the layers of reality split each time I breathe. It’s just a series of little shadows, multiplying, spreading like a stain, and it’s reaching me at last. I ask myself how he can claim to love Mama so much yet not understand this fundamental part of her personality.

Maybe I’m acting loony.

But then again, he fucking drugged me.

I look up and down the hallway, and that’s when I see a shadow. I freeze, thinking it’s Teddy come to find me. I paste a smile on my face, only for it to slip down my right cheek. I nudge my right shoulder up, as if it will send my smile back to its rightful place. The silhouette grows as it approaches.