Chapter 53

ZOE sat in the hospital waiting room. She looked around and saw that everyone else had been turned into ivory statues.

The door opened and Keith stepped inside.

She stood to greet him.

He took her hand. "I need you to wake up."

She nodded.

"You and Arthur need to get to the hospital."

She opened her eyes and climbed out of bed.

She went into the living room and stepped over Jessica and Frankie.

Jessica opened her eyes, groaning a bit.

Zoe put her finger to her lips. "Sssshhh. Go back to sleep."

Arthur opened his eyes.

"We need to get to the hospital," she told him.

 *** 

They left the college kids in the apartment with the uneaten bags and boxes of goodies.

Zoe drove to the hospital with Arthur.

Her phone rang.

"Get that please," she said to Arthur.

She expected it to be Keith, but it was Jesse. They talked to him via FaceTime. He was a mess; seemed close to catatonic himself.

"There's been no change," he said. "And they won't let me talk to her." He started to cry.

"It's going to be okay," Zoe said, but she worried it wouldn't be.

Arthur's phone made a noise. He looked at it.

"Bernard," he said. "He just bought plane tickets." His voice cracked with emotion.

"He's a good guy," Zoe said.

Arthur nodded.

 ***

 When they got to the hospital, they went to the ICU.

Their mother was waiting for them. She didn’t look scared or devastated. She looked happy and triumphant.

"Mom?" Zoe said.

 "Hi, Zoe," She didn’t even look at Arthur as if she was pretending he wasn’t there.

"Hi mom." He tried.

She continued to ignore him. "I just wanted to give you a chance to say good-bye to your father." She laughed. "Well, good-bye to your father the way he is now."

Zoe's heart pounded. Oh shit. She and Arthur looked at each other.

"He's dead?"

"Not yet," Jennifer said. "Not officially. But we're going to…well, there's no point in letting this go on."

Oh no. How was she going to tell her mother?

Arthur started the process, which probably wasn't the best choice. "He can't die," he said.

"Shut up," their mother said to him. "I don't want to hear from you."

"You're going to have to hear it from somebody," Zoe said. She then told her mother about the Arcide. She told her mother that their father could never die or the world as they knew it would be destroyed. She told her mother that yes, their father was  going to have to live in this limbo state.

How long?

As long as it was possible.

When she finished the whole explanation, her mother slapped her hard across the face. "It's not fair," she said quietly.

Then she started screaming. "It's not fair! It's not fair!" She clawed at her own face, drawing blood.

Zoe watched helplessly.

Arthur took her hand.

She squeezed his.

"Get out of here," their mother hissed. "Both of you."

Continue to Epilogue

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