Stella was going to run after them, also, but reached down to hold Linda's arm, gazing at her with calm tranquility. "We have to be going, sweetie, but I wish you well." She ran off toward the crew members, who disappeared around the edges of the crowd.
Not knowing what else to do, Linda walked toward the swishing doors of the entrance.
She'd never seen so many people in a hospital waiting room before. Some wore casts on their limbs or held compresses to their heads, but most of them appeared to be concerned family and friends. There was the sound of an echo like whales mating on nature shows from public television, but Linda realized this was the chorus of wails.
She looked around and saw a sea of anguish on the faces of the people waiting there, with red eyes and noses and handkerchiefs dabbing. One voice rose above the others: "Lin….Lin….Lin…LINDA!" In a far corner of the room she saw Jeannie's mother, who looked so much older and more disheveled than she had two-and-a-half years earlier. A tall man stood next to her. Seth. In his tortured grief, Linda had not recognized him at first. She pushed past the swelling crowds at the door, and though welling tears obscured her vision, she made her way toward them.
Suddenly, a loud crescendo from the television woke her.
In her dazed state, she had to shake her head and lift herself from the pillow. She looked around at the cabinets, the floor, and the ceiling, finally realizing she was safe inside her little cottage. Out loud, she said "God, what a nightmare!"
But the nightmare was only beginning.