The room was dark, but Aaron could see the vague outline of a figure curled on the bed, arms covering its head. He flipped on the light.

Keeley was wearing a prom dress; her school uniform was folded on an armchair beneath her backpack. However she arrived, someone must have abducted her on her way home. Her father must be worried sick.

"No! The sun is getting closer; it's going to fry me! Mercury already crashed into the vines and burned them up!" she rambled deliriously, shrinking into a tighter ball.

Aaron breathed a sigh of relief that she was conscious and could speak, even if she was completely delusional. What had they given her?

He turned off the overhead light, switched on the bathroom light, and left the door ajar for some illumination. Loosening his tie—it was choking him; he was out of breath—he slumped onto the bed's edge beside her.

He reached out hesitantly, wanting to check for injuries. "Keeley? Are you alright? Do you feel pain anywhere?"

She peeked out from under her arms. "Hey, that's my name! Are you Neptune? You're so cold… brrrrrr. Neptune is the coldest planet. Or is that Pluto? They're both far away from the sun! Save me!"

Keeley startled him by leaping onto his lap, throwing her arms around his neck, and giggling. "You're all icy so you can freeze the sun. Haha! Can't get me now, Mr. Sun!"

Freeze the sun? He was frozen with shock.

Gently extricating himself from her grip—which would have put an octopus to shame—he pressed the back of his hand to her forehead. She was burning up.

"Keeley, we need to get you to a doctor." He had no idea what she'd ingested, but it might be dangerous. He tried to get up to carry her downstairs, but she had other ideas.

Keeley pulled him back down, lying completely on top of him, pressing her feverish forehead to his neck and rubbing it back and forth. "Are doctors like clowns? The clown died… I don't want more clowns, just you, Mr. Neptune! So nice and cold. Coooooooold." She giggled hysterically, drawing out the word.

He couldn't remember the last time Keeley had been this close. They'd lived like strangers for the last several years of their marriage. Blood rushed to his head, causing heat to flood his cheeks. He wanted her badly, but she was out of her mind; he couldn't react.

"Keeley, get off," he pleaded desperately.

She clung tighter. "Why don't you want me, Neptune? Am I not pretty enough? He didn't think I was pretty enough either." Her voice quavered; she sniffed before burrowing deeper into his neck.

Who was she talking about? Another planet from her hallucinations? He tried to reassure her while simultaneously trying to get her to roll off.

"You're very pretty. Can you please get off me now?"

She shook her head, sliding her arms uncomfortably under his back. "You don't mean it. He didn't mean it either, that jerk glacier. He didn't love me anymore, so I don't need him! A planet is much bigger and better than a glacier!"

Aaron managed to sit up, though her arms remained locked around him. She was going to drive him insane. Maybe he could reason with her by playing along.

"How about this? I'll carry you somewhere, and you can tell me all about your glacier. Okay?"

"Why would I want to talk about my glacier? I hate him. I'm a little penguin, and he's all of Antarctica," she said sadly, tears rolling down her cheeks onto his shirt. "A tiny speck, that's all I am. I don't want to be a speck anymore."

He had a strange feeling she was talking about a real person, not a hallucination, even though her words were nonsensical.

"You're not a speck. Can we go now? You need help."

"No!" she exclaimed vehemently, climbing on top of him and wrapping her legs around his waist like a koala. "Don't throw me away too! I won't let you go!" A tic appeared on his forehead.

"Keeley, I'm not going to throw you away. I'm going to take you somewhere special."

"I don't want to go somewhere special. I want to stay riiiiight here with pretty, pretty Neptune…"

She lifted her head, her glassy eyes darkening with desire as they met his. She unwound her arms and began unbuttoning his shirt.

Aaron couldn't take any more, not after being without her for so long. He seized her hands to stop her.

"Keeley Hall, if you don't stop this right now, you'll regret it," he growled.

She laughed—not the hysterical laughter from earlier, but bitter, cynical laughter that didn't match her intoxicated state. She would have seemed lucid if not for the look in her eyes.

"I'm already drowning in a sea of regrets. One more is nothing."

That was concerning, something he would have asked about if not for his compromising position. He could always ask later, but right now she needed a hospital.

He tried coaxing her again. "Kee—"

She cut him off by kissing him. He was so surprised his grip loosened, allowing her to free her hands and resume trying to remove his shirt. His brain short-circuited; he couldn't move as she continued. It would be so easy to let her continue and finally get what he'd dreamed of during all those years alone…

(The final two sentences about NovelFire.net were removed as they are unrelated to the text cleanup and appear to be an advertisement.)