Chief Nix drives Patch home from the hospital with Saint beside him in the backseat. Patch feels Saint studying him, trying to understand whether the boy who survived is still the same person she knew. He is haunted by the memory of screaming Grace's name while sedated, and the drugs have left his thoughts broken and unreliable.

During repeated police interviews over several days, Patch keeps asking the authorities to find Grace. He knows the officers suspect the girl who was with him is probably dead, but Patch insists she existed and that she saved him by dragging him out. His fragmented memory frustrates him because he can remember enough to feel her importance, but not enough to explain everything clearly.

The chapter also shows how badly Patch has been affected physically and mentally by captivity and recovery. He swings between wanting the medication stopped so he can think and wanting more so he can escape. Nurses monitor him closely after he pulls out his tubes, and a doctor explains that trauma has caused brain fog, low mood, and sensitivity to light, but Patch responds with bleak detachment.

As the car reaches his street, Patch sees news vans and curious neighbors waiting outside, turning his return into a public spectacle. Nix uses his badge to clear a path and brings Patch through the yard instead of the front. When Patch's mother embraces him, Patch notices first that the grass has been cut, and her devastated reaction shows how much his disappearance has broken her even as he remains emotionally numb.