Avie thinks he doesn't know, but he does.  He's crazy, not stupid. 

Back in Oliver's apple orchard dream-not-dream world, Oliver saw the changes his pregnant sister-in-law went through in the months before he left.  He couldn't help but notice how shiny her hair grew, how full her breasts became.  It's the same with Avie.  Oliver doesn't say anything, because the part of him who knows and understands what's going on is the part of him that isn't speaking much these days.  He figures, she'll tell him when she's ready.  Besides, with everything that's happening, the existence of their baby feels like a secret they need to guard closely.

Avie says nothing directly, but she does inadvertently confirm it for him.  After being gone for several hours one day, Avie returns with a surprise for him.  With a sly look, she places a red apple in his palm and closes his hand around it.  The apple should remind him of his orchard, but it doesn't.  Instead, it feels like something new, like the impossible has been made possible.

"See, Oliver, life can flourish when the realms are crossed."

Oliver smiles for the first time in a long time.  He grasps the apple in one hand and places his other under Avie's chin, drawing her lips up to his.

Some things are worth the terrible price we pay.  Perhaps Avie doesn't realize this, but now Oliver does.

Marcella won't let him see the news, but a few days after Avie brings him the apple, she forgets to take her tablet with her when she leaves to pick up dinner.  Between the two of them, either Marcella or Avie are always with him.  Avie is working at the reception desk, so for the few minutes that Marcella is gone, Oliver is alone.  He grabs the tablet, thankful that Avie taught him how to use one when he first moved here.  He opens one of Marcella's news apps and scans the headlines. 

It takes less than a minute to discover that the authorities are planning to sweep the town this week.  Marcella and Avie must be aware of this.  That means Marcella will have to have the pocket realm ready for them very soon.  He will live there with Avie, of course, and the baby once it arrives.  Marcella will visit frequently and he's sure they'll find a way to see his family from time to time.  They only come to the orchard for a few weeks each year, but that will have to be enough for them.  He's sure his mother will want to meet her grandchild.  If it's a girl, maybe they can name the baby after her.  That would be nice.

Oliver pauses, his finger still hovering over the touch screen.  A second later, he scowls at the tablet and tosses it onto the bedside table.  Do they have computers in the orchard?  He can't remember.  Their clothes aren't as shiny there, he knows that.  The orchard is a world of hard work and sweat and unforgiving sunlight.  Is that where Marcella is bringing him?  He thought so a minute ago, but before that, he could have sworn he'd imagined a realm where he and Avie would live and there would be no apples.  But that makes no sense.  What the hell are realms anyways?

Oliver starts to breathe fast.  His heart races as he pulls his knees to his chest.  He rests his head on his knees.  This has to be a dream.

The door opens.  "I ended up ordering out from The Noodle Hut.  I got you --" Marcella's voice stops when she sees him rocking gently, his fists clenched over his knees. "Oliver?"

She drops the bags of food on the floor and rushes over to him, folding him in her arms.  "It's okay. It's going to be okay."

Oliver wants to believe her but his life is not about things being okay.  That's not the way it's ever worked for him. She holds him in silence long enough for him to collect his thoughts.  "Will you wake me up, Marcella?"

"What?"

"In the Fold, that—pocket realm.  I want to be awake.  Please!"  He begs her over and over again until she finally promises him.  Yes, he will be awake.

"That will be good."  His hands unclench and he wipes the sweat from his palms onto his jeans.  "I have to be okay there." 

A bird twitters.  Oliver glances in its direction.  It calls out once more before fluttering away from its perch on a low lying branch, a gray blur reaching out into the cloudy sky.  "There are trees everywhere."

Marcella grabs the bags of food from the floor and hands him one of them.  "Just eat, Oliver.  I'll get you somewhere safe as soon as I can."

The sky grows dark and menacing.  Red apples turn rusty orange and fall, puckered and rotting, to the damp ground below.  Oliver takes out a plastic bowl filled with spiral noodles and delivers tiny forkfuls to his mouth with mechanical precision.  He is in two places at once, yet he feels like he is in neither.  His life is a void.  Maybe that's what the pocket realm will really be like—like some kind of nothing. 

If that's the case, then Marcella is wrong.  She will never get him someplace safe, because for him, safe doesn't exist.

A/N:  You thought I'd forgotten about the apple tree, didn't you?  No way!  There was a lot of speculation early on amongst readers regarding the tree's significance.  Have your thoughts on the tree changed because of this chapter?  And are you happy that Oliver knows about the baby after all?

Today's dedication is for my Wattpad friend, @Godhand, otherwise known as Emily.  Emily is the author of the FANTASTIC supernatural horror story, Fear of the Dark.  If you like dark thrillers and undead private investigators, this story is for you!

Thanks again for your reads, votes, comments, and love.