Nic and Zelda begin to argue more frequently. Zelda is furious when Nic’s mother notifies her father that they’ve relapsed. She has a number of drug-induced violent episodes during which she attacks and injures Nic. Zelda is especially angry and upset when Nic asks her to get rid of her ex-husband’s things. Despite the fact that all of these things disturb him, Nic assures Zelda that he forgives and loves her.  

Nic is distraught to learn that a close friend has died in a motorcycle accident. When he calls his mother about this, she confronts him about his addiction and his relationship with Zelda. The conversation turns into a screaming match between Nic, Zelda, and his mother. Later, in a drug-induced craze, Nic suggests that he and Zelda break into his mother’s car and steal his stepfather’s computer. Nic reasons that if he has a computer, he can write and earn money. After he leaves Zelda in a grocery store to wait for him, he breaks into his mother’s garage. In the garage, he loses all sense of time and purpose and goes into a drug-induced psychosis, “just totally tweaking out” (272).