Kristy stared in disbelief at the doctor. This had to be some kind of joke. It made no sense.

  “Can you clarify what you just said? I think I misheard you.” Kristy said.

  “You are completely cancer free.” The doctor said, shaking his head in disbelief, “I’m not sure how, but you blew past the remission stage and there are no signs of the cancer whatsoever. It’s the strangest thing.”

  “Just like that?” Kristy whispered while rubbing her temple. After Colin went missing, Kristy started to wonder what would be next to go wrong. She was terrified to take care of Jenny while slowly dying, but now this? She was cured. She had hope. It felt so strange, like a friend she hadn’t seen in years. She wasn’t quite sure what to do with the feeling, almost like it was a paper-thin, fleeting thing that could be torn away at any second.

  The doctor nodded, “Just like that. Of course, we still need you to come in for follow-up exams. Machines tend to make errors, but we re-ran the scans several times. I’m not sure what happened, but something miraculous since the last time you were here made every single scrap of cancer disappear. You are cancer-free, Kristy. Congratulations.”

  The doctor extended a hand and Kristy reached out and shook it.

  “Thank you,” Kristy said in an almost numb way. The relief was unreal to her. It was so strange to feel. She wished she could tell Colin and at the thought a twist of pain gripped her heart. She pushed it down and promised herself she would double down on her efforts to find him now that she would have more energy.

  “Go get some rest and give yourself some time. This is not a moment that you can take process all at once.” The doctor said while leading Kristy out of the office.

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  Kristy nodded at that. The amount of overwhelming, conflicting feelings she had right now were too much. She would give herself time.

  On the car ride home, she wondered how it was possible to be cancer-free suddenly when it had been getting progressively worse recently. Then she remembered the crab-bug monster she had left at her house. Officer Higgins had texted that they caught the monster while she was at the appointment. It had done something to her that made her black out for a bit. It kept shouting ‘No pain’ before she blacked out.

  Was it possible that The monster took her cancer away?

  That was impossible, right? but no less impossible than a transforming monster talking to her in the first place. If the monster truly took her cancer away and she had tricked it into being captured, she would feel horrible.

  Kristy snorted out a laugh at the absurdity of the situation. She truly didn’t know what to think anymore.

  All of a sudden, her eyes went wide.

  The monster called itself ‘Colin’.

  What were the odds? Colin disappears while undergoing mysterious experiments that paid more than reasonably should be possible. The payments were still coming in even. Then her daughter makes friends with a monster that won’t leave them alone. That same monster calls itself ‘Colin’ and can transform.

  Kristy banked a right at the next intersection and stepped on the gas. She headed towards the police station and shook her head frantically. She dialed officer Higgins, but he didn’t answer.

  Kristy thought back to the last words Colin had spoken to her: “I promise. There’s nothing that will stop me from coming back to you.”

  She felt crazy, but the more she thought about it, the more she grew increasingly concerned that she had just tricked her own husband into being captured by the authorities. Kristy Flew through a red light and sped up more. She had to get to them before they did anything to her Colin.