Page 233 of The Life of Anna-Tenth Anniversary Edition: Act 2

“How’s the birthday girl?” Hugo came to stand next to her at the railing.

She inhaled deeply. “I’m good. One of my better birthdays.”

“What do you usually do for your birthday?”

“Not much.” She thought for a minute. “I had a birthday dinner a couple of years ago. Last year, my fake boyfriend threw me a surprise party.” She shrugged. “That’s about it.”

“Fake boyfriend?”

“Someone I pretended to date because... someone else thought I needed some sort of stable relationship, even if it wasn’t real.”

“The same someone who wants to control you?”

Anna nodded, smiling about Peter. “It wasn’t so bad. He was a really nice guy after a while. Once he got to know me, I suppose.”

Hugo nodded. “Did Kurt call?”

“Briefly.” She looked up at the sky. “I still don’t understand what happened to him. He used to be so kind.”

Hugo put his hand on hers. “I’m so sorry, Katrina. I wish... I wish there was something I could do.”

“Me too.” She looked up into his eyes. One of the best things about dancing with him was the ability to show how much she still cared about him in an acceptable manner. Most of the time she was “over” him, but there were moments that her heart ached for him. Especially when she was feeling lonely. Like now.

He gazed into her eyes, his eyes darkening as their bodies moved closer together. “Katrina...”

Anna blinked and looked away. It wasn’t fair to him to encourage him. “I’m sorry...”

“I miss you, Kittycat.”

Despite every fiber of her being urging her to do so, Anna resisted the temptation to meet his gaze. She wanted to throw her arms around him and kiss him until she couldn’t breathe anymore. But she couldn’t. “I need something to drink.” She pulled her hand away and hurried back into the apartment.

The first week in June marked the last week of the spring season. A Midsummer Night’s Dream came together and ended out the season nicely. She’d received a standing ovation at every performance she’d danced and had become a favorite with the local critics.

The company had a couple of days off after closing out Sunday night, starting again on Thursday to get ready for their residency in upstate New York in July. Vincent had spoken to Tom, hoping something had changed and that Anna would be allowed to travel, but Tom apologetically told him there was nothing he could do. On the bright side, it would give Anna an opportunity to learn a bunch of the repertoire without the pressure of an upcoming performance.

Near the end of June, Anna woke up feeling a bit under the weather, but dismissed it as nothing serious. She hadn’t been feeling especially good for the last several weeks, but it was mostly just tired. That morning she felt like she had the flu—or was pregnant—but she knew she wasn’t pregnant. The only sex she’d had was with a vibrator Aaron had helped her pick out a while back.

But she didn’t get sick, so she shook it off and headed off to class. She was shaky and pale when class started, but she kept telling herself she didn’t get sick and tried to ignore it. A few steps into their center work, Aaron caught her before she collapsed.

“Why didn’t you stop, hon?” Aaron asked as she lay on Hugo’s office couch, her head in his lap. He wiped her face with a cool cloth.

“I don’t get sick.”

“Well, I think this proves you wrong.”

She shook her head. “I’m not supposed to get sick.”

“Maybe your humanity finally caught up with you.”

She gave a weak laugh. “Maybe.”

After she’d rested a bit, Aaron took her home and settled her in bed with the remote and a cooler full of drinks.

She remained in bed for the next week without getting any better or any worse. Aaron called Tom because he didn’t know if he could take her to the doctor.

Tom came over that afternoon. “No. It wouldn’t be a good idea to take her to a doctor. A doctor would do tests and find out she’s not fully human.”

“So what do we do?”

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