Contents
Book Five: Save Yourself — 25.
Overview
Gwen wakes lucid as a nurse and then Dr. Lee react with shock to the condition of her tracheostomy, hinting at an unexpected change. While guarding Gwen, Tana reflects on her trauma, need for light, and cautious hope with Allie. The moment foreshadows rising stakes with Easter nineteen days away.
Summary
Tana keeps watch in Gwen’s hospital room as a nurse lifts the bandage on Gwen’s tracheostomy and shrieks. Gwen wakes groggy, jokes about spiders in the wound, and gauges Tana’s reaction, sensing something is unusual.
Tana, sitting by the window to keep the sky in view, recalls her years with Jayne—closed blinds, stashed drugs, coerced sex—and how those traumas left her unable to bear dark, enclosed rooms. She reflects on survival, love for her son, friendships, and the hope of not-terrible sex, especially her cautious, supportive closeness with Allie after Allie’s impulsive kiss.
Gwen presses Tana about what is wrong with her throat. Tana deflects, insisting they wait for the doctor. Dr. Lee arrives with the anxious nurse, begins a calm exam, then visibly recoils after seeing beneath the bandage, mirroring the nurse’s earlier reaction.
The chapter closes on the charged implication that something extraordinary is happening at Gwen’s tracheostomy as the narrative marks the countdown: nineteen days until Easter.
Who Appears
- GwenHospitalized and newly lucid; jokes through discomfort; presses Tana about her tracheostomy, which provokes shocked reactions.
- Tana NighswanderWatching over Gwen; recalls trauma and need for light; cautiously hopeful about Allie; deflects until a doctor examines Gwen.
- Dr. LeeAttending physician; examines Gwen’s tracheostomy and recoils, confirming something unexpected at the site.
- NurseRemoves Gwen’s bandage, shrieks at what she sees, and fetches the doctor; remains anxious during the exam.