68 pages 2 hours read

Sarah Pearse

The Sanatorium

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2021

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Chapters 77-90

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 77 Summary: “Day Five”

Elin awakens in a cot next to the bed where Will is still recovering from their encounter with Margot. She is relieved to see that Will is breathing, so she rolls over to go back to sleep, her head throbbing from the trauma of the previous day. When she falls asleep again, she has a full flashback about what happened with Sam.

She remembers Sam leaning over the rock pool and turning to say something to her. When he turns back towards the water, he loses his footing and makes a face that Elin thinks is funny before he falls. Elin realizes too late that he wasn’t trying to be funny, but he was afraid. He falls into the water with a single splash, no scream or movement afterwards. There’s only a splash and a crack.

Elin sees Sam in the water, his head cracked against a rock and bleeding. She is frozen with fear and shock and can’t seem to make herself move, either to help Sam or to go get help, and she can’t look away. The bucket that she was holding to collect crabs falls from her hand. Elin remembers that Margot had dropped something, too, during her fight with Will.