The sky was dark, and the stars had begun to poke through the blackness when I slowed to a stop, waiting on a red light to turn. I could see the top floors of St. Ann’s looming above the tree line, and then looked down when I felt Penny move inside me. When I realized where I was, I choked out a sob. The sign for Holly Road sat above the sign for Jackson Avenue, the intersection where it had all begun.

I could go back to Josh, but I couldn’t forgive him. I couldn’t trust him. That wasn’t a marriage I wanted Penny to witness. I had a responsibility to my daughter to show strength I would want her to have.

My head began to throb behind my eye, and I wondered if Josh had meant what he’d said about taking her away. I’d lost my parents, then Josh, and I could lose Penny, too. Letting go had been so easy for me, but in that moment, I recognized that I hadn’t let go of the people I loved. They were taken from me.

Josh’s theory about curses might not have been so farfetched after all.

“This isn’t happening,” I cried. The flashes, the hallucinations, the headaches—it had all started since the wedding. “This is just a bad dream,” I said, sucking in several breaths. A new cry ripped from my throat. “I just want to wake up.” I slumped over, touching my head to the steering wheel. “I just want to wake up.”

I closed my eyes, seeing flashes of the hospital room, and I blinked, looking around the Dodge. Maybe Josh was right. Maybe I was going crazy. Everything had felt off since the accident. Maybe I was imagining things. Crazy people didn’t know they were crazy.

My blurred vision came into focus, and I noticed a small copper circle at my feet. I reached down, picking up the dull penny and clenching it in my palm.

My breathing faltered, and a wail bubbled from my chest, piercing the night. Two bright lights came closer, and I held my breath, closing my eyes.

I woke up panting with fear, gripping handles on either side of my hospital bed. Beeps surrounded me on every side, and I looked down. My scrubs were gone, and I was dressed in a hospital gown. I reached down to feel my flat stomach. Penny was gone, too.

I cried out, covering my face, and Michaels ran in. “Avery?”

I could only cry.

Michaels called frantically down the hall. “She’s awake! Avery’s awake!” Michaels ran in, checking my vitals. “Do you know where you are?” she asked, her voice smooth and soothing.

“The hospital,” I said. “Is the baby okay?”

Michaels’ eyebrows pulled in, and my heart broke.

A female doctor rushed in, with shiny dark hair that barely brushed her shoulders and a large mole on one side of her chin.

She flashed a pen-sized light in my eyes, from one to the other, and then turned it off, plugging her stethoscope into her ear. “Can you tell me your name?”

“Avery … Avery,” I said, wincing from the light.

“It’s nice to finally meet you, Avery. I’m Dr. Weaver. You’ve been in a car accident.”

I frowned, confused.

“We’ve been waiting for you to come back to us.” She rubbed the diaphragm of the stethoscope on her white coat and slid it under my gown against my chest. “Can you take a deep breath for me?”

I did as she instructed.

“Is Penny … is the baby okay?” My voice faltered, afraid to even speak her name aloud.

Dr. Weaver pulled the stethoscope from her ears. “Avery, we still have some tests to do, but we need to have a conversation. It could be shocking.”

My bottom lip quivered, and then I covered my face, feeling tears slip between my fingers. “Can someone call my husband?”

Dr. Weaver glanced back at Michaels and then touched my shoulder. “Avery …” she said, her voice thick with concern. “You’re not married.”

I looked up and blinked. “Yes, I am.”

Michaels frowned and looked at Dr. Weaver.

I pointed to Michaels, the IV tugging on my hand. “Call my husband. Please. He’s probably worried sick. I have to tell him about Penny. I have to tell him what I’ve done,” I said. I began to wail, and Dr. Weaver patted my leg.

“Give her a mild sedative. I need a full blood work-up and another CT. I want to see how the bruising has healed.”

“Bruising?” I asked as Michaels left the room. “Is that what’s been wrong with me?”

Dr. Weaver offered a comforting smile. “You’ve been asleep for quite a while, Avery. Your body has been healing.”

I looked at her, feeling something dark and frightening weighing on my chest. “Please find my husband.”

She pressed her lips together, empathetic to the fear in my eyes. “I’ll do my best.”

I sat in the dark room alone, the same room I’d seen so many times in the flashes. The same wallpaper that covered the rooms in Step-Down, the same room I’d woken in after the accident. I looked around for my phone, my purse, anything. All that surrounded me were monitors, machines, and ugly wallpaper.

Michaels stood in the doorway, her silhouette outlined on the floor. “Avery? Do you remember Deb?”

I wiped my face. “Yes, can you call her?”

“She’s here. Can she come in?”

I nodded, watching as Deb stepped into the room. She covered her mouth and then rushed to kneel next to me.

She grabbed my hand in both of hers. She had lost weight, and her hair was a bit longer.

“Jesus Christ, partner, you took the longest nap ever.”

“Please call Josh for me,” I said. “I don’t have my phone, and I know he’s worried sick.”

“Josh?” Deb asked, shaking her head.

“Yes, Josh. Why is everyone being so weird?”

“Josh Avery?” she asked, watching me with concern in her eyes.

“Deb, stop! I’m freaking out here.”

“Avery,” she said, her voice uncharacteristically soothing. “Josh is down the hall.”

I sat up. “Then tell him I’m awake! Why won’t anyone go get him?” I thought for a moment, and then sat back. “He doesn’t want to see me. He told me not to leave, and I lost the baby. He hates me, doesn’t he?”

“Honey,” she paused, clearly trying to find the right words. “Josh is in his own room, down the hall.”

I gripped her arm. “He’s hurt? Deb! Take me to him!”

Michaels injected my IV port with the sedative Dr. Weaver had prescribed.

“No!” I said, fighting her.

She finished pushing the meds and stepped back, looking both sad and confused.

“No!” I looked to Deb. “I need to see him.”

“Rest, honey,” she said, running her hand over my hair. “Rest. You can see him when you wake up.”

“I’ve been resting! I want to see my husband!”

Deb gasped and looked up at Michaels. Michaels shook her head and left the room.

My eyes grew heavy, and then I fell into darkness. I didn’t cry, I didn’t feel, I didn’t dream. I only slept.

When I awoke, I could only recall a moment of panic before I had been sedated. Deb was sitting in a chair, flipping through the pages of Cosmopolitan.

The sheets slid against the mattress when I sat up, and Deb dropped her magazine, hurrying to help.

“Morning, sunshine,” she said. “Want me to open the blinds?”

I nodded.

She walked over to the window and twisted a long, horizontal rod, letting in the bright sun and revealing a large billboard for J.C. Penney.

I squinted until my eyes adjusted, and reached for my necklace. “I left it.”

“What?” Deb said, sitting next to me on the bed.

“My penny necklace Josh gave me. We fought. I left it behind when I stormed out on him.”

Deb seemed uncomfortable and searched for something else to say. “Dr. Weaver was in this morning. All of your tests came back great. They’re going to move you to the second floor today.”

“To rehab?” I asked.

Deb pulled her mouth to the side. “You need to build back muscle in your legs, Avery. It won’t take long. Water?” she asked, pouring some into a large mug before I answered.