Emily: "Did you quit smoking?"
Jacob: "No. They won't let me bring lighters or matches to the meetings anymore after last time."
Emily: "I see."

The tension slowly began to ease out of Jacob's shoulders, his breathing becoming easier. He was aware of Emily's presence nearby, but didn't feel overwhelmed by it. Unlike Linda Boyer, she seemed to appreciate the value of silence.

After a few minutes, he finally felt more in control.

Jacob: "How did you come back?"
Emily: "Excuse me?"
Jacob: "From being dead."
Emily: "Oh. Well. I'm not quite sure how to explain it."

Jacob: "It can't have been purely medical. No one comes back from brain death."
Emily: "Maybe I wasn't totally brain dead."
Jacob: "Brain death is like pregnancy -- you either are or you aren't, there aren't varying degrees."

Emily: "OK. All I know is there was a voodoo spell, lots of ice water, and a vacation in the Underworld for Mary and Tristan. It's a bit complicated."
Jacob: "I'm more than able to process complex ideas; I'm not a retarded five year old."
Emily: "I didn't mean to imply that you were. Honestly, I don't really understand what happened myself."
Jacob: "So they played the role of Orpheus, only with more success. Wicked. What was it like to be dead?"

Emily: "I honestly don't remember. None of us do."
Jacob: "How did your friend Tristan get into the Underworld if he's already the Walking Undead?"
Emily: "How do you know about that?"
Jacob: "I can just tell."
Emily: "That's a handy trick. Anyway, from what I understand it was all done with magic, which now that I've said it out loud sounds completely ridiculous. Sorry I can't be any more specific; I was the Not Walking Completely Dead at the time. Anything else you want to know?"
Jacob: "Not at the moment, no."

Emily: "Do you mind if I ask my own question?"
Jacob: "No."
Emily: "Why were you even in the hospital that night?"

Jacob tensed at the memory of running through empty hospital corridors, pursued by orderlies floor after floor. He desperately wanted a cigarette.

Jacob: "Yet another bad night. Aunt Lois wouldn't take her medication, our phone service had been cut off because the bill didn't get paid, and then Mr. Twinkles got out so I had to go looking for her. I just wanted a Slurpee. These kids from my school were at the 7-11 ... they didn't like me much even before I had to drop out. One second I was being pushed down in the parking lot, the next thing I knew I was being dragged into the hospital."
Emily: "Was it like what happened to you tonight?"
Jacob: "Worse."
Emily: "Kids can be really mean. I'm sorry."

Jacob: "Age has little to do with one's propensity for cruelty. Human beings instinctively fear things that are different from themselves -- it's a basic survival tactic that goes back millennia. In modern times that fear often gets twisted into brutality."
Emily: "So what you're saying is that people aren't any different now than they were in the stone ages."
Jacob: "More or less."
Emily: "When you think of it that way, a lot of things start making more sense. So is that how you became …"

Jacob looked up curiously as Emily stopped mid-sentence.

Emily: "I'm really sorry -- I seem to keep slipping up. I'm sure that's the last thing you want to think about."
Jacob: "It's a part of my existence now, I can't exactly deny the experience. But no, that happened last summer."
Emily: "I'm not going to make you relive something like that, Jacob. I get the impression that it's not a pleasant thing to go through at the best of times."

Jacob nodded silently, relieved that the conversation had ended.

Emily: "I suppose we should head back inside now if you're feeling better. I don't want Mary thinking we've run off together or something."
Jacob: "Why would she think that?"
Emily: "She has a skewed perspective of my social life. I'm never quite sure what's going on in her head."