Far Away

I hit the button on my phone to see it's 3:30 in the morning. The pain in my knee that's awakened me is throbbing, like I've got a stomach ache in the middle of my leg, deep inside the muscle.

I rub it and stretch, at first lying in bed, trying not to disturb Katie, then walking around the room, but to no avail. Finally, I walk over to her side of the room, and grab a few ibuprofen, hoping that will help, but the rattle of the pills tumbling around in the bottle wakes her, and she says, as if from a long way away: "What?"