When he woke up from his drugged sleep he found himself in a wheelchair. He realized that she was very strong: she had lifted him up and put him in the wheelchair so gently that he had not woken up. It hurt to sit in the wheelchair, but it was nice to be able to see out of the window; he could only see a little when he was sitting up in bed. The wheelchair was in front of a table by the window of his room. He looked out on to a small snow-covered farm with a barn for the animals and equipment. The snow was still deep and there was no sign that it was going to melt yet. Beyond the farm was a narrow road and then the tree-covered mountains. He heard the sound of a key in the lock. She came and fed him some soup. 14 So he burned his book - a few pages, enough to please her, to show her that he was good. 'I think you re going to get better, she said. 'Yes, if we don't have any more of those arguments, I think you'll get healthy and strong.' But Paul knew she was lying. One day his car would be found. One day someone — a policeman perhaps - would come and ask her questions. One day something would happen which would make Annie Wilkes frightened and angry. She was going to understand that you can't kidnap people and escape. She was going to have to go to court again, and this time she might not leave the court a free woman. She was going to realize all this and be afraid — and so she was going to have to kill Paul. How long was it before the snow melted? How long before his car was found? How long did he have to live? 'I bought you another present, as well as the wheelchair,' she was saying. 'I'll go and get it for you.' She came back with an old black typewriter. 'Well?' she said. 'What do you think?' 'It's great,' he said. 'A real antique.' Her face clouded over. 'I didn't get it as an antique,' she said. 'I got it second-hand, it was a bargain, too. She wanted fortyfive dollars for it, but 1 got it for forty because it has no "n".' She looked pleased with herself. Paul could hardly believe it: she was pleased at buying a broken old typewriter! 'You did really well,' he said, discovering that flattery was easy. Her smile became even wider. 'I told her that "n" was one of the letters in my favourite writer's name.' 'It's two of the letters in my favourite nurse's name,' replied Paul, hating himself. 'But what will I write on this typewriter, do you think?' 'Oh, Paul! I don't think - I know! You're going to write a new novel. It'll be the best yet. Misery's Return!' Paul felt nothing, said nothing; he was too surprised. But her face was shining with great joy and she was saying: 'It'll be a book just for me. It'll be my payment for nursing you back to health. The only copy in the whole world of the newest Misery book!' 16 'But Annie, Misery's dead.' 'No, she's not. Even when I was angry at you I knew she wasn't really dead. I knew you couldn't really kill her, because you're good.' 'Annie, will you tell me one thing?' 'Of course, dear.' 'If I write this book for you, will you let me go when I've finished?' For a moment she seemed uncomfortable, and then she looked at him carefully. 'You talk as if I was keeping you prisoner, Paul.' He didn't reply. 'I think,' she said, 'that when you've finished you should be ready to meet other people again.' But she was lying. She knew that she was lying, and Paul knew she was lying too. The day he finished this new novel would be the day of his death. She started locking the door of his room whenever she left it. Two mornings later she helped him into his wheelchair and fed him a bigger breakfast than usual. 'You'll need your strength now, Paul. I'm so excited about the new novel.' He rolled over to the table by the window - and to the waiting typewriter. Thick snow was falling and it was difficult to recognize objects outside. Even the barn was just a snow-covered lump. She came into the room carrying several packets of typingpaper. He saw straight away that the paper was Corrasable Bond and his face fell. 'What's the matter?' she asked. 'Nothing,' he said quickly. 'Something is the matter,' she said. 'Tell me what it is.' 'I'd like some different paper if you could get it.' 'Different from this? But this is the most expensive paper there is. I asked for the most expensive paper.' 'Didn't your mother ever tell you that the most expensive things are not always the best?' 17 'No, she did not. What she told me, Mister Clever, is that when you buy cheap things you get cheap things.' She was defensive now and Paul guessed that she would get angry next. Paul was frightened, but he knew that he had to try to control her a little. If she always won, without any resistance from him, she would get the habit of being angry with him, and that would be worse. But his need for her and for the drug made him want to keep her happy; it look away all his courage to attack her. Annie was beginning to breathe more rapidly now, and her hands were pumping faster and faster, opening and closing. 'And you'd better stop that too.' he said. 'Getting angry won't change a thing.' She froze as if he had slapped her, and looked at him, wounded. 'This is a trick,' she said. 'You don't want to write my book and so you're finding excuses not to start. I knew you would.' 'That's silly,' he replied. 'Did I say that I was not going to start?' 'No, but . . .' 'I am going to start. Come here and I'll show you the problem.' 'What?' 'Watch.' He put a piece of the paper into the typewriter and wrote: 'Misery's Return' by Paul Shcldon'. He took the paper out and rubbed his finger over the words. The words immediately became indistinct and faint. 'Do you see?' 'Were you going to rub every page of your typescript with your finger?' The pages rubbing against one another would be enough.' 'All right, Mister Man,' she said in a complaining voice. 'I'll get your stupid paper. Just tell me what to get and I'll get it.' 'But you must understand that we're on the same side.' 18 'Don't make me laugh.' she said sarcastically. 'No one has been on my side since my mother died twenty years ago.' 'You can think what you like,' he said. 'At any rate you must believe that I'm on the book's side. If I type it on Corrasable Bond, in ten years' time there'll be nothing left for you to read.' 'All right, all right,' she said. 'I'll go now.' Paul suddenly remembered that it was time for his medicine soon and he began to get nervous. Had he gone too far? Would she disappear for hours and hours? He needed his medicine. 'Tell me what kind of paper to get,' she said. Her face had turned to stone. He told her the names of some good kinds of paper. She smiled then - a horrible smile. 'I'll go and get your paper,' she said. 'I know you want to start as soon as you can, since you're on my side -' These last words were spoken with terrible sarcasm. 'So I'm not even going to put you back into your bed. Of course it will hurt you to sit in the wheelchair for so long at first. Perhaps the pain will be so great that you have to delay starting to write. But that's too bad. I have to go. because you want your precious, stupid, Mister-Clever special paper.' Suddenly her stony face seemed to break into pieces. She was standing at the door on her way out, and she rushed across the room at him. She screamed and punched her fist down on to the swollen lump which was Paul's left knee. He threw his head back and screamed too; the pain streamed out from his knee to every part of his body. 'So you just sit there.' she said, her lips still pulled back in that horrible grin, 'and think about who is in charge here, and all the things I can do to hurt you if you behave badly or try to trick mc. You seem to think I'm stupid, out I'm not. And you can cry and shout all you want while I'm away, because no one will hear you. No one comes here because they all think Annie Wilkes is crazy. They all know what I did, although the court did say that I was innocent. There wasn't enough evidence, you see.' 19 She walked back to the door and turned again. He screamed again because he expected another rush and more pain. That made her grin more widely. She left the room, locking the door behind her. A few minutes later he heard the roar of her car engine. He was left with his tears and his pain.