Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness: Chapter 2 Summary & Analysis

Several days later, Susannah wakes up in her boyfriend Stephen's bed, feeling as though the bedbug scare and her pitch meeting are a distant memory. The night before, Susannah had taken Stephen to meet her father and stepmother, Giselle, for the first time. Susannah explains that though she and Stephen have only been dating for four months, they've known each other for six years.

Susannah has Stephen's apartment to herself, as Stephen has already left for band practice. As she lies in bed, she suddenly feels an overwhelming urge to read Stephen's emails. This jealousy is entirely unlike her, but she opens up Stephen's laptop and scrolls through his inbox. When Susannah finds an email from Stephen's ex-girlfriend, she opens it to find a seductive selfie. Stephen never replied, but Susannah keeps going through his emails until she finds all the emails from their yearlong relationship. Susannah is extremely angry, though she's not sure why, since she knows that Stephen hasn't spoken to this girl since they started dating.

The urge to continue digging for more incriminating evidence against Stephen persists, and Susannah tiptoes to his dresser. She wonders if he might have cameras going and if this is somehow a test, but she goes through his drawers anyway. She finds a box full of letters and photos from Stephen's exes. As Susannah goes through the letters, she catches a glimpse of herself in the mirror and doesn't recognize herself. She thinks that she never acts like this, and that something is wrong with her.

Susannah checks her phone and finds that she's been going through Stephen's things for two hours, even though it only felt like a few minutes. Then her head pain returns with nausea, and Susannah feels as though her left hand is tingling with pins and needles. She replaces Stephen's belongings in his dresser, and by the time she's done, her left hand is entirely numb.