Ellie saw food popped into existence in front of her . She looked at it longingly . As with anything that was Wong made, it was a delicious fried dumpling food platter with everything she should have been dying to eat at this moment . It was comfort food she would have made herself, if she had been hosting this gathering at her apartment, instead of at her husband's home . All of her friends ate quickly until there was none left for her . They asked her if she wanted some but Ellie shook her head . Even though her mouth wanted to savor the plate, her stomach felt oddly full such that she felt strange . The previous night she had been positively ravenous .

Advertis.e.m.e.ntSeeing their satisfied faces, made Ellie feel strangely calm . She looked at the time and turned to her smiling friends, "I hope you can excuse me now ladies . I think it's time for me to head back to bed for now . " The Monopoly money dripped from her fingers as it fell from her grip . All of the ladies stood up concerned as she held up a hand to gather what she could salvage . She laid down what money she had with a sigh . "I think I've had enough for today . Olga, I'm afraid you'll have to take Wong Enterprises from me another time . "

"You keep it . I'm sure from what I've seen it's going to be a hard company to keep . I really doubt I could handle or would want to for too long . " Olga's voice was soft as Ellie felt a warm touch on her head as she bent down to clean up whatever money Ellie had not . Ellie wasn't too sure what happened after that . The hands that gripped her next were stronger . Maybe it was Michael? She knew the women had left before she had gone on to the cloud of a bed . She couldn't let Katie or Olga or Heather or Emmie see her like this . Ellie knew also that Henry shared this feeling to make their guests feel unbothered by the problems in the house . The Wongs would only show the beauty and not the s.h.i.+fting shadows of their skeletons hiding away .

On the bed, Ellie's white sheets quickly grew yellow with her body's sweat . She wished to be dunked in a cool bath as she felt like she was burning inside, although Michael rea.s.sured her again and again that she didn't have a fever . She wished she was cool enough to be comfortable in the bed .

She tossed and turned as her limbs never felt comfortable in every position she tried to sleep in . When Ellie did finally did get to sleep, her dreams were odder than madness . In mirrors she could view several different possibilities of the future and past . Her veil was crocked on her as she danced off the edge of a balcony at five years old . In another was her college formal, but instead of her friends she was alone . As an aged woman, she opened a coffin to find both of her parents alive, but young, staring at her in alarm . They both rea.s.sured her that getting married in his hurry would not have dire consequences . Then she was pulled back down somewhere deep into the present where Henry sat with a bottle of whiskey that he had smashed against a dressed the painted clown face paint on him as he grinned . His laughed echoed throughout the manor as she ran to find a way out .

She pounded on the elevator doors . . . "Please . . . Please . . . I don't want to be stuck like this . I don't even know him . I am sorry for making a decision like this . . . I didn't know I would be alive still to feel the pain of it . "

Finally she collapsed into bl.u.s.tering broken sobs . There was no one to comfort her . . . alone in the mad asylum of her dream .