Anna wakes up remembering the screams. She worries about Jane and Ethan, but she knows there is nothing she can do to help. Dr. Fielding calls to check to see if Anna is taking her new medication, warning her that the pills should not be taken with alcohol. Anna drinks wine, reflecting on the fact that she has been “mixing my medicines for almost a year” (129). She checks the Agora and looks briefly at the goings-on at the Russell house before focusing on Gaslight, which she watches before lunch. After lunch, Anna drinks wine as she sends messages to GrannyLizzie on the Agora; her typos reveal her intoxication, and Anna is uninhibited when Lizzie asks her what happened to her family.

Anna tells Lizzie what happened: last December, Anna, Ed, and Olivia pack the car and drive to Blue River, a ski resort in Vermont. Anna and Ed have decided to separate, but they haven’t told Olivia for fear of ruining her vacation. The winter weather intensifies as they enter the mountains, and Anna asks Ed to slow down the car. They arrive to the inn in Vermont, and the receptionist tells them that the snowstorm that has just begun is a “whopper.