The Blonde

5:15 a.m.

Pennsylvania Hospital, Room 803

Ican understand why you’d do something like that, Vanessa— you being on a mission of vengeance and all that. But I miss your red hair. So beautiful, especially after sex. It always had this airy, wild look to it.”

Silence.

“Oh look. You did your eyebrows, too. Though they’re not perfect. Still, I’m impressed. You must have convinced someone to go shopping in a drugstore with you. Where on earth did you find a man to do that with you? Oh, I tease you.”

Silence.

“Did you dye everything? Let’s see.”

Silence.

“Interesting. See, I thought that kind of thing would give you away. Maybe you haven’t been quite the slut as I’d imagined. Did you talk them into staying with you? I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall for that one. You never were much of a talker.”

Silence.

“Thing is, I don’t know if you can even hear me. You could be a piece of broccoli lying here in this bed. Broccoli with red pubic hair. Ah, that would be a shame.”

Silence.

“We’ll find out soon enough, though. See, Vanessa, they’re bringing up a machine that will let me check out your brain waves. If they’re stable enough, I’ll bring you out. I’m not going to lie to you. It’ll probably hurt. Might even make things worse. But we’ll be able to talk for a little while at least.”

Silence.

“If you can hear me, let me ask a favor in advance. Spare me the cursing and the threats. You and I already know that you’d like to see me die screaming and all that. I get it. I’d want me to die screaming, too, if I were you. But we can save ourselves a lot of useless drama if you tell me a few simple things. Like who, exactly, you told about our work.”

Silence.

“So yeah, give that a little thought. Not like you have much else to do.”

Silence.

“Ah, here comes the machine I was waiting for.”

Silence.

Whispering now: “Brace yourself. This is going to be more painful than you can possibly imagine.”