Cold. Dark. Silent.
Joe found himself waking up floating in a void. He felt light as a feather, like a ghost. Where was he?
"Joseph?"
Joe turned around, and was absolutely shocked at what he saw. It was Heather, looking just the same as the night they spent together, right down to the lavender glitter on her face.
"Look at you, married with a nice house and nice job," said Heather, tweaking Joe's cheek.
"Heather?" Joe was coming down from the shock. "Je ne comprends pas, comment es-tu ici?" (I don't understand, how are you here?)
"Because you're in Dreamland," said Heather, "and now that you're here, I can tell you how grateful I am for looking after my baby girl. Five'll get you ten that if you didn't, they would have sent Katrina to my sister." She took Joe's hand. "And that would have been a disaster."
The void melted into a place. Joe recognized this; it was the mall. And there was Laura walking away with Katrina.
"You can't take me! Besides, Dad has the car keys."
Laura clamped a hand over Katrina's mouth. "Forget him; we're taking a cab. You need to be with your family."
She got Katrina out of the mall, into her car, and out of the parking lot. Only then did he see his dream self, who was just coming into the main area of the mall now. But it was too late; his daughter was gone.
Then the car came into focus. Katrina was in the back without a booster seat (which Joe knew she needed, because she didn't get out of them until she was nine), looking at everything out the window. Fear clouded her eyes; she obviously had no idea where they were going.
"Laura never liked me," said Heather. She gave her sister a disdainful look, then scrunched up her face, reached her hands out and wrapped them around Laura's throat, but because Laura was only a simulation, her hands went right through her.
Joe put a hand on his daughter's cheek, and jumped a bit when his fingers phased through her. "Heather, ceci c'est terrible." (Heather, this is terrible.)
"You think this is bad? You should see what would have happened if Part 2 went her way." The car disappeared, and suddenly they were in a middle school. But this wasn't Katrina's middle school; rather, they were in another district entirely. Joe spotted Katrina walking through the hallways and out of the building. But she didn't get on the school bus. Instead, she got onto the city bus and rode down to the courthouse.
She swung the courthouse doors open. "I demand a retrial."
The judge turned around, saw her, and sighed. "Miss Sanders, you've been in here every day this week."
"And I'll just keep coming until I get a retrial," said Katrina, giving the judge a defiant look.
"Look, sweetie, you really need therapy," said the judge, "all this denial isn't good for you. Your father is in prison because he murdered your mother. That's that."
"Fine," said Katrina, "then I'll get my own lawyer and sue you for false imprisonment. My dad didn't kill anyone, my grandma wasn't an accomplice, and if you leave me with Laura any longer, you just might have to lock me up!"
"Katrina!" Now Laura was at the doorway. "Pestering the courts is one thing, but taking money from my purse for bus fares?! Come on, young lady, you're grounded." She grabbed Katrina's shoulder.
"Don't touch me, bitch!" Katrina pushed Laura off of her.
Laura gasped and put on an indignant face. "Don't you dare talk to your mother like that!"
"Shut up!" Katrina shrieked. "You're not my mom, you'll never be my mom, and I am going to come here every day until they let Dad and Nana out because you put them there with your lies!"
Laura was turning red. "You're ruining my day!"
"You ruined my life!"
Katrina couldn't say anymore before Laura grabbed her and pushed her against the wall in a chokehold. "Listen to me, you worthless filth, my sister didn't give her life for you to grow up into an ungrateful little brat. You come here again and I will put you in the trunk of the car and take you somewhere where no one will ever find you again."
"Nice work," said Katrina with the smuggest smirk she could give while being deprived of oxygen, "you just assaulted a minor and admitted you lied in court in front of a judge."
True to Katrina's word, the judge was standing behind the two, looking absolutely horrified. Laura twisted up her face and slammed Katrina's head into the wall. "Go to hell!"
"I'll see you there!"
When the judge tried to pull Laura off of Katrina, Laura instead whirled around and tackled him to the ground. "You're not taking her! You can't take her!"
"Joseph?"
Joe jolted when he felt something on his shoulder. He looked up, and he was back in his bed. No Heather, no Laura, no judge. The sun was just barely rising. "Huh?"
"Joseph, Sie verbrennen," said Von Kaiser, with his hand on Joe's forehead. (Joseph, you're burning up.)
"Où est Katrina?" (Where's Katrina?)
"Im Bett, nehme ich an," said Von Kaiser. "Warum?" (In bed, I presume. Why?)
"Je besoin de se voir," said Joe, giving Von Kaiser a pleading look with his eyes. (I need to see her.)
Von Kaiser looked concerned, and got out of bed and left the room. He heard soft, muffled voices in the next room over, and while Von Kaiser went to get fever medicine from the cabinet, Katrina shuffled sleepily into the room. "Dad?"
"Oh, Katie," said Joe, a wave of relief crashing over him as he hugged his daughter, "j'ai un cauchemar terrible." (Oh, Katie, I had a terrible nightmare.)
"What happened in it?" Katrina sat down next to him.
"Je ne veux pas répéter," said Joe, "ce vais juste te contrarier. Nous sommes en sécurité, et ça c'est qu'est-ce que important." (I don't want to repeat it, it will just upset you. We're safe, and that's what's important.)
Von Kaiser came back with the medicine, which Joe took. "Komm, Joseph, du brauchst deinen Schlaf." (Come on, Joseph, you need your sleep.) He held Joe's hand until he fell back asleep.
Once Joe was back asleep, Von Kaiser and Katrina went downstairs for breakfast. "Did Dad tell you what his dream was about?" Katrina asked as she got Sofie-Miette out of her crate.
"Nein, hat er nicht," said Von Kaiser, "aber ich vermute, es hatte etwas mit deiner Tante zu tun." (No, he didn't, but I suspect it had something to do with your aunt.)
