Julian stopped groveling.

The frantic, broken sobbing that had filled the room a moment before simply ceased, replaced by an eerie, sudden, complete stillness.

“Julian?” Dr.

Reed’s voice cut through the dark, sharp and suddenly wary.

I heard him fumbling for something, and then a small click, and a thin beam of light from a pocket penlight illuminated the room.

And Julian was no longer kneeling at the foot of my bed, where the sobbing husband had been.

He was standing, silently, right beside my head.