Stephen King: Sleeping Beauties

• Truman “Trume” Mayweather, 26, a meth cook

• Tiffany Jones, 28, Truman’s cousin

• Linny Mars, 40, dispatcher, Dooling Sheriff’s Department

• Sheriff Lila Norcross, 45, of the Dooling Sheriff’s Department

• Jared Norcross, 16, a junior at Dooling High School, son of Lila and Clint

• Anton Dubcek, 26, owner and operator of Anton the Pool Guy, LLC

• Magda Dubcek, 56, Anton’s mother

• Frank Geary, 38, animal control officer, Town of Dooling

• Elaine Geary, 35, a Goodwill volunteer and Frank’s spouse

• Nana Geary, 12, a sixth grader at Dooling Middle School

• Old Essie, 60, a homeless woman

• Terry Coombs, 45, of the Dooling Sheriff’s Department

• Rita Coombs, 42, Terry’s spouse

• Roger Elway, 28, of the Dooling Sheriff’s Department

• Jessica Elway, 28, Roger’s spouse

• Platinum Elway, 8 months old, daughter of Roger and Jessica

• Reed Barrows, 31, of the Dooling Sheriff’s Department

• Leanne Barrows, 32, Reed’s spouse

• Gary Barrows, 2, son of Reed and Leanne

• Drew T. Barry, 42, of Drew T. Barry Indemnity

• Vern Rangle, 48, of the Dooling Sheriff’s Department

• Elmore Pearl, 38, of the Dooling Sheriff’s Department

• Rupe Wittstock, 26, of the Dooling Sheriff’s Department

• Will Wittstock, 27, of the Dooling Sheriff’s Department

• Dan “Treater” Treat, 27, of the Dooling Sheriff’s Department

• Jack Albertson, 61, of the Dooling Sheriff’s Department (ret.)

• Mick Napolitano, 58, of the Dooling Sheriff’s Department (ret.)

• Nate McGee, 60, of the Dooling Sheriff’s Department (ret.)

• Carson “Country Strong” Struthers, 32, an ex–Golden Gloves boxer

• Coach JT Wittstock, 64, Dooling High School Warriors varsity football team

• Dr. Garth Flickinger, 52, a plastic surgeon

• Fritz Meshaum, 37, a mechanic

• Barry Holden, 47, a public defender

• Oscar Silver, 83, a judge

• Mary Pak, 16, a junior at Dooling High School

• Eric Blass, 17, a senior at Dooling High School

• Curt McLeod, 17, a senior at Dooling High School

• Kent Daley, 17, a senior at Dooling High School

• Willy Burke, 75, a volunteer

• Dorothy Harper, 80, retired

• Margaret O’Donnell, 72, sister of Gail, retired

• Gail Collins, 68, sister of Margaret, a secretary at a dentist’s office

• Mrs. Ransom, 77, a baker

• Molly Ransom, 10, the granddaughter of Mrs. Ransom

• Johnny Lee Kronsky, 41, a private investigator

• Jaime Howland, 44, a history professor

• Eve Black, appearing about 30 years of age, a stranger

• Janice Coates, 57, Warden, Dooling Correctional Facility for Women

• Lawrence “Lore” Hicks, 50, Vice-Warden, Dooling Correctional Facility for Women

• Rand Quigley, 30, Officer, Dooling Correctional Facility for Women

• Vanessa Lampley, 42, Officer, Dooling Correctional Facility for Women, and 2010 & 2011 Ohio Valley Arm-Wrestling Champion, 35–45 Age Group

• Millie Olson, 29, Officer, Dooling Correctional Facility for Women

• Don Peters, 35, Officer, Dooling Correctional Facility for Women

• Tig Murphy, 45, Officer, Dooling Correctional Facility for Women

• Billy Wettermore, 23, Officer, Dooling Correctional Facility for Women

• Scott Hughes, 19, Officer, Dooling Correctional Facility for Women

• Blanche McIntyre, 65, Secretary, Dooling Correctional Facility for Women

• Dr. Clinton Norcross, 48, Senior Psychiatric Officer, Dooling Correctional Facility for Women, and Lila’s spouse

• Jeanette Sorley, 36, Inmate #4582511-1, Dooling Correctional Facility for Women

• Ree Dempster, 24, Inmate #4602597-2, Dooling Correctional Facility for Women

• Kitty McDavid, 29, Inmate #4603241-2, Dooling Correctional Facility for Women

• Angel Fitzroy, 27, Inmate #4601959-3, Dooling Correctional Facility for Women

• Maura Dunbarton, 64, Inmate #4028200-1, Dooling Correctional Facility for Women

• Kayleigh Rawlings, 40, Inmate #4521131-2, Dooling Correctional Facility for Women

• Nell Seeger, 37, Inmate #4609198-1, Dooling Correctional Facility for Women

• Celia Frode, 30, Inmate #4633978-2, Dooling Correctional Facility for Women

• Claudia “the Dynamite Body-a” Stephenson, 38, Inmate #4659873-1, Dooling Correctional Facility for Women

• Lowell “Little Low” Griner, 35, an outlaw

• Maynard Griner, 35, an outlaw

• Michaela Morgan nee Coates, 26, National Reporter, NewsAmerica

• Kinsman Brightleaf (Scott David Winstead Jr.), 60, Pastor-General, the Bright Ones

• A common fox, between 4 and 6 years of age

The moth makes Evie laugh. It lands on her bare forearm and she brushes her index finger lightly across the brown and gray waves that color its wings. “Hello, gorgeous,” she tells the moth. It lifts away. Upward, upward, and upward the moth goes, and is swallowed by a slice of the sun tangled amid the glossy green leaves twenty feet above Evie’s place among the roots on the ground.

A coppery red rope leaks from a black socket at the center of the trunk and twists between plates of bark. Evie doesn’t trust the snake, obviously. She’s had trouble with him before.

Her moth and ten thousand others surge from the treetop in a crackling, dun-colored cloud. The swarm rolls across the sky in the direction of the sickly second-growth pines on the other side of the meadow. She rises to follow. Stalks crunch under her steps and the waist-high grass scrapes her bare skin. As she approaches the sad, mostly logged-over wood, she detects the first chemical smells—ammonia, benzene, petroleum, so many others, ten thousand nicks on a single patch of flesh—and relinquishes the hope she had not realized she harbored.

Webs spill from her footprints and sparkle in the morning light.

Ree asked Jeanette if she ever watched the square of light from the window. Jeanette said she didn’t. Ree was in the top bunk, Jeanette in the bottom. They were both waiting for the cells to unlock for breakfast. It was another morning.