It is February, and Jessie is now in Portland, Maine, where it is snowing. She laughs at the thought that it can always be snowing for people living in snow globes, and she claims that it is the first time she has laughed since escaping the house in October. She has gone to countless doctor’s appointments this winter, and she refers to the incident in October as her “hard time” to avoid discussing it in any depth. Still, she finds that a lot of people, even friends, are “stupid” or “tasteless” enough to ask her for specific details about being handcuffed to a bed for two days. Mirroring case studies, Jessie tells most people, and the police, that she does not remember much from those days, and they seem to believe her.

Jessie has lost weight since the incident, and she has also started smoking cigarettes again. She is not happy with the way she looks, and she has a pessimistic outlook on dating in the future. Jessie tried to reach Nora Callighan in November but found out that Nora died the previous year of leukemia. Jessie has only told one person about the majority of her experience: Brandon, one of Gerald’s former colleagues who became Jessie’s closest friend during her recovery.