Guiding Forces in ‘The Overstory’
After Olivia has her near-death experience and is revived, she slips out of the hospital unnoticed, goes home, and barricades herself in her room.
Her roommates are concerned. They knock on her door repeatedly, but eventually can only believe her when her only response is, “I’m fine!”
She is fine, in a sense, but profoundly confused.
“In those seconds while she had no pulse, large, powerful, but desperate shapes beckoned to her. They showed her something, pleading with her. But the moment she came back to life, everything vanished.”
“Someone spoke to her when she was dead. Used her head as a screen for disembodied thoughts.”
She lies in bed, dazed and trying to piece together what happened to her.
“… words move her speechless lips… What am I supposed to do, now? It takes a while before she realizes she’s praying.”
