Dark Matter

Chapter 4 switches to third-person present-tense narration. It recounts Jason coming home from the bar that night as if the abduction never happened.

Daniela is washing the dishes in the sink, and she is mildly upset that Jason has been gone for nearly three hours: Not even the ice cream makes up for it. Jason is passionately attracted to her, but when he kisses her, she pushes him away. She assumes he flirted with a girl at the bar and got aroused. He tells her that he walked into the street and almost got hit by a cab. It was a wake-up call, and now he realizes how thankful he is for his life, especially for her and Charlie.

They go to the bedroom and passionately make love. Jason cries, telling Daniela: “I felt like I’d lost you” (67). Daniela realizes she has not felt this kind of giddy love in a long time.

Chapter 5 is a long, action-filled chapter that switches back to Jason’s first-person present tense narration.

It is morning at Mercy Hospital, and a new doctor discusses the brain scan results with Jason. She tells him the results were normal, but they found ketamine and an unidentified psychoactive drug in his toxicology screen.