Chapter Eight: The Final Chapter
Consciousness came back in the form of an earthquake of shaking that felt as if the world was coming apart. I rolled over, opened my eyes and stared at the ceiling. The shaking continued but now I realized that it was someone’s hand on my shoulder trying to rouse me.
“Jack, wake up, wake up,” I heard a voice say.
I didn’t want to wake up to the nightmare my life had become so I closed my eyes again. The shaking continued.
“Jack, please wake up, please,” the voice insisted.
I opened my eyes again and the ceiling was still there. A glimmer of the tiniest spark pricked at my brain. “The ceiling?” the spark questioned.
“Jack, are you okay,” said a voice that sounded like my wife’s.
Thinking returned at a snail's pace. It was as if I had been walking in a
