Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness

At work the following Tuesday, Steve calls Susannah and says that he wants her to interview John Walsh, the host of the show America's Most Wanted. Susannah agrees, but doesn't feel as enthusiastic as normal. She then calls the Post's librarian, Liz, to help her with initial research. Instead of asking for research, however, she asks Liz for a tarot reading. Susannah explains that Liz is a Wiccan priestess when she's not a librarian. Susannah desperately wants to believe in something with all the strange things happening.

Liz's tarot reading yields good omens. She reads that Susannah will have a job change and financial success. When Susannah returns to her desk, she finds Angela looking depressed and discovers that a fellow reporter had just died from melanoma. The funeral is scheduled for Friday. Though Susannah knows she needs to prepare for her interview with John Walsh, she can't stop fixating on the reporter's death.

The next morning, Susannah returns to work after not sleeping all night. Instead of preparing for her interview, she searches melanoma relapse rates. When she walks down the hallway to meet Walsh in an empty office, Susannah is shocked to discover that the framed front pages from the Post that line the walls seem to be closing in on her and breathing. Susannah feels as though the walls are caving in, while the ceiling appears to expand to the height of a cathedral. She isn't afraid, but her heart is racing.

In the office, Susannah introduces herself to Walsh and his publicist. Susannah is unable to maintain a train of thought and can barely follow Walsh as he talks about drug smuggling. She laughs uproariously at one comment that isn't actually funny, and the publicist insists that Walsh needs to go. Susannah offers to walk them out, but her balance is off and she bumps into the walls of the hallway. When she tries to open a door, she misses the handle by a foot. Susannah tells the reader that this story would never run, and this would be her last interview for seven months.