Liz was trapped in Hell, that's all there was to it. An elevator had fallen on top of her at the office. Or Jenna ate her still-beating heart in some quest for eternal youth. Or her plane had dropped from the sky like a rock, straight into the icy embrace of the Atlantic. Whatever had happened, she was dead and this was Hell.

"Did you kill a gypsy?"

"I'm not speaking to you."

"I don't think it's from the buildings," Sheldon said. His voice sounded flat and dead, and it startled her so much she jammed on the brakes. Hysterical Sheldon she could handle. Blowing everything out of proportion, no problem. But defeated, lifeless, dead-sounding Sheldon threw shivers up and down her spine and an icy pressure into her stomach. "Sheldon?"

Penny checked her reflection and pulled back her hair in one hand. A new elongated ring of teethmarks was just visible at the base of her neck, the skin unbroken but reddened and likely to bruise.

She picks up her phone and goes inside, into the bathroom. She turns on the overhead light and studies her face in the mirror. She punches in a number on the phone without needing to look at the buttons. It's a number she's never forgotten, one she's wanted to call a thousand times. She can barely hear the ringing on the other end. Her heart mimics the roar of the waves only a few dozen feet outside the doors, thrums in her ears and throat. She feels the wind shift again.

"And that's obviously not it or I wouldn't have bruises all over my knees." | For some reason, that makes him flush an even deeper red.

"Hey, it wasn't every day you made me wear an old bathrobe and an Easter basket for a crown."

"They have hot apple cider, the kind with the cinnamon sticks." | "Beverages of unknown provenance with potentially non-existent quality controls? Please."

Penny gave her a broad smile and reached over to pat Sheldon's knee, asking him, "Do you want to play the elements name game? I've been studying in the shower."

From behind him, Raj called, "What about mangoes?"   Sheldon's jaw set and he shook his head sharply. "Definitely not, and not while I'm still alive."

"You're too pretty, and warm, and friendly, and you smell like Meemaw's cookies, and you don't wear enough clothing, and Leonard thinks he's been in love with you all this time, and you make me want to know what feelings are, and you can't know comics."