The Outsider

(After)

Samuels has decided to go into private practice as a defense attorney. He has cut his hair, and the cowlick is gone. The story Ralph, Samuels, and the other survivors told at the inquest was that Hoskins and the killer were working together. At a press conference, Samuels claims that if the DA’s office had had more time to examine the evidence, they would have dropped the case, and that if Terry had gone to trial, he would have been found innocent. Samuels says that the DNA was inconclusive but doesn’t mention that the samples have actually disintegrated. Most of the witnesses who testified to Terry’s guilt recanted their testimony after adroit questioning.

Ralph and Holly have both been having bad dreams. Ralph dreams about red worms under his skin—something to do with maggots in a cantaloupe. He is absolutely sure none of the red worms touched him, but some of Ralph’s certainty in the real world has been shaken. Holly dreams that the outsider is in her closet. She tells Ralph that what they’re both feeling is normal: They have broken through the thin surface of reality, and they are still helping each other climb back out into the ordinary world. When the call ends, Ralph looks in the mirror at his own face and tells himself it will always be his face.