Insomnia Trivia Quiz

Answer: The Red Apple Store

The story began shortly before Ralph Roberts' wife, Carolyn, died of a brain tumor. A few months before this event, Ralph was on a long walk from his house to the nearby airport to watch a plane come in for a landing. As he began to make his way home, he saw his neighbour, Ed Deepneau, coming out of a gate shouting, which seemed unlike him. As he turned the corner, he drove directly into the side of a flatbed truck. Ed uncharacteristically tried to fight the other driver, but Ralph stepped between them. Ralph tried to calm down his neighbour, who ranted about Susan Day and baby killings, even forcing the other driver to open the barrels on his truck to prove that they didn't contain dead babies. When he realized they contained fertilizer, he backed down to speak to the man. While he did this, Ralph spoke with an older gentleman, Dorrance Marstellar, who told him that he could 'no longer see his hands', a phrase which Ralph thought was a bit odd. Quickly, Ralph rushed home, having forgotten his wife's dinner. When he returned, she had a seizure and he began to hear what he called her deathwatch, slowly ticking her time away. A few months later, her death was unavoidable. Her deathwatch stopped ticking, and she passed away.
That's when the insomnia started.
Shortly after Carolyn's death, Ralph began having trouble sleeping- not with falling asleep, but waking prematurely. Every day, the gap would lessen, and although he wouldn't feel sleepy, he'd feel tired. One day, after staying awake all night to try and sleep longer (an unsuccessful plan), Ralph went to the Red Apple Store to pick up soup. This was when he saw Helen Deepneau walking to the storefront, beaten and battered, with her baby, Natalie, hanging at her side. He and the cashier, Sue, locked the doors and called the cops to try and help her. She explained that it was Ed's fault because she signed a petition to prevent the rezoning of a local womens' facility and abortion clinic. When the police arrived, Ralph decided to walk over and have a little word with Ed.

Answer: Try acupuncture

When Ralph went to speak with Ed, he was followed by his housemate, Bill McGovern, a retired college professor. Although Bill was nervous about going to see Ed, Ralph felt the need to stand up for Helen and her daughter. Ed was anything but all right though. The conversation consisted of his rantings of 'The Crimson King' and 'colours' and 'bald doctors'. Ralph didn't know what to make of the ordeal. After this, the cops (led by Leydecker) stopped by and took Ed to jail. Essentially, he told Ralph, Ed would have a $25 bail, but because of the evidence against him, he would not be able to return to his old house or be around Helen or Natalie. Ralph decides to give his statement later.
A few days later, Ralph spoke with Helen over the phone, learning that she was fine now that it was over with, and that she would be staying at a WomanCare facility outside of town.
Later that day, Ralph began seeing odd things, and he continued to recall Dorrance saying that he couldn't see his hands. He decided to go to the Rite-Aid across town to get some sleeping medication, but upon meeting Dr. Wyzer, he learned that none of them would work. Wyzer, a self-proclaimed expert on insomnia, gave a few other suggestions that he felt might work, the main one being acupuncture. After a quick lunch, he quickly called and got an appointment for Ralph, but not until October, about a month away. He also learned that political activist, Susan Day, had been asked to come to town to speak against the rezoning of the WomanCare facility (and abortion clinic) in Derry. He soon realized that some people were against the idea as well.
As Ralph left Rite-Aid, he was shocked to discover that his view of the world had changed. Instead of seeing things in natural form, he instead saw auras around the people on the street as well as long strands above their heads (which he called balloonstrings). The different colours, he later judged, related to what they were doing or feeling. Initially, he attributed this to the insomnia- hallucinations, as Dr. Wyzer earlier mentioned- but somehow, it was different.

Answer: The library

Ralph and Bill later speak with another neighbour, Lois Chasse, about the incidents on their street and the WomanCare facility, and they hear that something bad had happened there earlier that day. They later went to Lois' house to watch the news, and they discovered that many pro-life protesters had thrown realistic dolls (filled with nearly-real blood inside them) through the windows of the WomanCare facility in anger. The reporter on the scene, coincidentally, spoke with Ed Deepneau on camera, and he calmly stated his side of the story with another man, who seemed much angrier. Ralph went home and watched the story on TV until later that night. Before bed, he ended up receiving a call from Ed warning him to stay out of places he shouldn't be. He also asked if he'd seen 'the colours' yet.
In the following days, Ralph was visited by Helen, Natalie, and a woman from the WomanCare clinic, Gretchen. Although Ralph was delighted to see his old neighbour doing well, he was somewhat distracted at the time as the auras had returned. It was at this point that he discovered that baby Natalie could also see the auras around them. He learned from Gretchen and Helen that he was on a list of 'Centurions', which are essentially the enemies of the pro-lifers. They gave him a can of 'Bodyguard' spray, which they described as 'kind of like mace' before leaving.
A few days later, Ralph returned home from an errand to find Dorrance at his front door. The old man simply told him to 'cancel his appointment' with the acupuncturist before leaving and handing him a book of poems. Ralph didn't think twice about the incident and went to the library. Here, while reading a book about insomnia in an empty room, he was approached from behind by a man with a knife. The man was able to get a jab at Ralph's left ribs, but with quick thinking, and luck, Ralph found the bottle of Bodyguard inside his jacket pocket, despite the fact that he had not left it there earlier. The spray was effective, bringing down the attacker, who was later revealed to be Charlie Pickering. The man had been in institutions before, and now he had sided with the pro-lifers.
When Ralph returned home, he realized that it had all been Dorrance's doings that saved him. Dorrance, he hypothesized, must have placed the bottle in his pocket before he left. Ralph later canceled his appointment with the acupuncturist.

Answer: Scissors

That night, Ralph had a horrible dream. In it, he saw his wife, buried up to her head at a beach as the tide drew closer to her. As this occurred, black and green smoky auras oozed out of her head, and after telling Ralph to watch for the white footprints, her head cracked open to reveal large black beetles.
Ralph woke up earlier than ever at about 1:45am. Since sleep was out of the question for another 21 hours, he decided to stay up. While looking out the window, however, a sight caught his eye. Two bald men in doctor jackets stood by the doorway of Mary Locher's house. One of these two men had a pair of scissors in his hands. Quickly, Ralph rushed to the closet in order to find a set of binoculars kept on the top shelf. He caught the tail end of their visit, just barely noticing their faces through the lenses. When they left, he noticed two things. Firstly, the men had different auras, and they didn't have any balloonstrings over their heads. Secondly, the neighbourhood's stray dog, had noticed their departure and followed their footprints along the ground. Acting quickly, Ralph made an anonymous call to the police, telling them of the incident. When they arrived on the scene, they found that Mary Locher was dead in her bedroom.
The following day, Ralph was called in to Leydecker's office to give his statement regarding Charlie Pickering. During this conversation, he discovered that the police didn't know who called about Mary Locher. As well, Leydecker informed him that all of the doors and windows to Mary's house were locked. A chain had even been across the door on the inside. There was no physical way for anyone to enter.
The next day, Ralph decides to tell Bill everything in a 'Reader's Digest' version of the experience. Bill attributes these things to Ralph's insomnia, claiming them as hallucinations. He tells Ralph to see the doctor before Ralph decides to go for a walk.

Answer: Rosalie

During his walk, Ralph spoke with some of the older people near the airport and inquired about who would have access to the back exit of the airfield, like Ed Deepneau had in the summer of '92. He was immediately drawn to the idea of Solo-Tech, a flight training school on the grounds.
As he continued through town, Ralph found a stray dog, who he commonly knew from his street as Rosalie, cowering on the curb. When he fell into the world of auras again, he found a third doctor standing across the street calling the dog across and wearing Bill's panama hat. Ralph intervened, calling Rosalie back to him, and the third doctor was immediately irked by this, cursing Ralph. Ralph attempted to fight off the doctor, using his hand to shoot an aura at him. The doctor ran away after this. Rosalie quickly ran to the nearby park and lay down at the bottom of a hill. While Ralph tried to catch up, he found Lois sitting on a bench, crying.
He decided to console her, and although she resisted it at first, she later revealed to Ralph that she had been having insomnia too, though it hadn't shown. The situation led up to a recent occurrence in her life. After visiting her doctor about the sleepless nights, her son and daughter-in-law stopped by in order to persuade her to move to a senior's home. It was later revealed that they heard she was unwell through her doctor. She quickly sent them off after her daughter-in-law, Janet, accused Lois of losing a pair of earrings, though she somehow knew through the way she looked that Janet actually stole them. After this story, Ralph asked if she'd been seeing the colours, and he and Lois reflected on their abilities.
Shortly after this, however, doctor three reappeared at the bottom of the hill with Rosalie. Although Ralph saw this, Lois didn't until Ralph placed his hand over her eyes (in instinct). They attempted to yell for Rosalie to run away, but the doctor used a scalpel to slice off Rosalie's balloon-string aura. Slowly, a black aura surrounded Rosalie and the doctor departed. Although Ralph realized that this would ultimately lead to Rosalie's death, it wasn't immediate. Rosalie limped off to the bushes and Lois and Ralph returned home.
At Lois' house, Ralph told her the entire story over dinner. Ralph encouraged Lois to go out with her friends for a game of cards, feeling that she was safer out of town if the doctor returned. After dinner, he returned home to learn some new news.

Answer: Atropos

When Ralph picked up the phone that night, he discovered that Charlie Pickering had been let out on bail. He pondered this alone on the front porch before one of his neighbours stopped by to chat for a moment. It was at this time that the auras reappeared, and on instinct, Ralph managed to suck in some of his neighbour's aura without being noticed.

He realized that this worked in his favour, giving him energy. Later on that night, when Lois returned from her poker night, they talked about the whole situation some more, and their attention was taken from the topic to a car squealing out the window.

When they looked outside, they saw Joe Wyzer and his car at the side of the road. Rosalie, the dog that had been attacked, had been hit by his car. Ralph and Lois watched as a deathbag surrounded the dog. Ralph also noticed that he couldn't see Wyzer's hands as he held onto Rosalie through the black aura, and this caused him to remember something Dorrance had said a long time earlier. Soon, though, Lois and Ralph saw their third doctor behind Joe.

He ended up stealing a small black comb before leaving. Lois and Ralph decided to go to the hospital to find the two doctors from earlier, although this idea was based purely on instinct. When they arrived, they drifted back into the world of auras to find a couple of sets of white prints, leading them to their destination. Along the way, however, they found Bill McGovern on their floor, and although Lois went to talk to him, she was stopped when she fell partway into him, as though she were a ghost. Inside him, she found many black bugs eating away at him, and his black aura foreshadowed death. They carried on until they found their two doctors inside the room of one of Ralph's old friends, Jimmy V. The two doctors slowly used their scissors to cut Jimmy's balloonstring aura. After his quick passing, the doctors introduced themselves as Clotho and Lachesis (after a story Ralph had once been told). They also identified themselves as Physicians of the Last Resort, being the ones who are agents of Purpose, as opposed to the third doctor's meanings (following the path of the Random). As they spoke, they made their way up through the floors to the roof and continued on with an explanation. The world is controlled by Ka, a force that spins in a wheel of being to let life revolve on itself. This, in turn, is controlled by Life, Death, Purpose, and Random. Most things on Earth have Purpose, but Atropos, the third doctor, is an agent of the Random, killing people without Purpose to make the balance. All the while, while they learned of the true meaning behind their insomnia and their second-sight, Ralph and Lois noticed as time sped by. The doctors explained that time flew by faster on these 'higher levels' and noted the fact that their friend, Bill, had passed on since the start of their talk, having suffered a heart attack in the hospital.

Answer: Kamikaze

After having witnessed the death of their friend (and knowing it was an inevitability, Lois and Ralph tried to make sense of their 'reason d'etre', in a sense. The doctors explained that, like Ed Deepneau, they had no longer been part of the Purpose, and they weren't Random either. Instead, they were like chesspieces in a much bigger game. While Ed was used to harm people, Ralph and Lois had been a counter-attack, possibly by forces higher than themselves. The doctors encouraged Ralph and Lois to take whatever energy they could use from their friends and neighbours (comparing the energy they've taken to a small bucket from the ocean) because they'd need it to stop Atropos from his ultimate plan: to use his powers to assassinate Susan Day at the Derry Civic Centre. To do this, Ed Deepneau had been utilized. The doctors soon sent Ralph and Susan on their way in order to prevent the situation from occurring. Of course, by the time they left, they only had half a day to spare.
On the way out, the duo ran into Trigger Vachon, who slowly remembered a fact that he learned while driving with Ralph after Ed's first incident. The Chinese lettering on Ed's scarf as he left the airfield was actually Japanese, and it depicted the word 'Kamikaze'.
Ralph and Lois both realized that they needed to head to High Ridge, the women's retreat. To do this, they spoke with the receptionist at the WomanCare facility in town, and using their persuasive powers, they were able to extract the info from her. When the two arrived, they found that the building had been set on fire, and police had been in a shoot-out with someone inside.

Answer: Under a tree

While the battle between the police and the shooter, revealed to be Charlie Pickering, raged on at High Ridge, Ralph and Lois realized that they needed to use their powers to stop Pickering from killing the innocent women and children inside. They quickly shifted to another level and ran through the building to find two dead bodies inside an office, one of these being Gretchen Tillbury, the woman who they came to see.

They also found Charlie Pickering at the window, and, using his aura, Ralph stopped Charlie from attacking any longer, leaving him incapacitated.

The two then made their way to the basement, and using the last of their strength, opened the locked door to free the captives inside. One young boy ended up calling the saviors 'Angels' who appeared out of nowhere.

They were quickly rushed to the police while Natalie stayed behind to talk to Ralph. Although Ralph suggested that Susan Day not speak at the Derry Civic Center, Natalie strongly opposed the idea, saying that if that were to happen, 'they would win'. While Natalie ran to the protection of the cops, Lois and Ralph spotted Dorrance Marstellar near a field and quickly followed him through a forest to a car with Joe Wyzer at the wheel. With haste, they made their way back to Derry, and Dorrance explained what he could.

The four of them had been brought together by 'ka', and not by chance. Their path had been preset, just as they had been required to go to High Ridge. They made their way to the Community Center, and Joe and Dorrance left Ralph and Lois to their deed. The duo attempted to make their way to the center's entrance, but the deathbag surrounding the building was too much for them to handle. Instead, they powered themselves up by 'stealing' the aura of a drunk on the street and followed the light footprint auras of Atropos across town. The trail continued all the way to the airfield to a tree near the perimeter. Here, Lois and Ralph had no choice but to descend into the cavernous underground hollow, so they did.

Answer: A wedding band

As Ralph and Lois fumbled through the putrid, dark hole under the tree, they came across a dank, red cave filled with knick-knacks of times passed. The two made their way into a small crawlspace to find plenty of recent objects including Natalie's sneaker and the item they came for, locked inside a black deathbag: Ed Deepneau's wedding ring. Using most of Lois' powers, and most of his own, Ralph cut open the bag and retrieved the ring. Slowly, they made their way back out to find Atropos at the entrance, having just arrived 'home'.

Although Atropos grabbed Lois and held her at the point of his scalpel, Ralph was able to bargain with him to let her go. He then proceeded to turn the tables on Atropos, taking his scalpel and cutting him in various places to get the info he needed.

Although Ralph heard what he wanted to hear, Atropos also revealed something from the future that Ralph may have never wanted to see. Slowly, he followed Lois out of the hole. Having found what they needed, Ralph and Lois were unsure of what to do next.

They decided to make their way to Strawford Park, where not long earlier, Ralph found Lois crying over her lost earrings (which Ralph had taken back from the ears of Atropos during their battle). Here, he called upon Clotho and Lachesis for the final time. Ralph quickly decided to speak to them privately, while Lois recuperated on a nearby bench. The confirmed what Ralph had heard from Atropos: he was supposed to stop the Civic Center from being destroyed to save the life of one boy inside; the boy that was saved from the fire at High Ridge, who claimed that Ralph and Lois were like angels. This boy, named Patrick Danville, was part of the Purpose, and would later do his purposeful deeds to help someone save the most important world of all. However, Ralph would be unable to save Danville, in his current state. He quickly made a deal with the two doctors, which Lois was unable to overhear. Although they initially disagreed with it, they found it was the choice that Ralph wanted to make. Quickly, so as to lose as little time as possible, the doctors made their incisions in Ralph's arm, bestowing him with the tools necessary to stop Ed Deepneau from crashing his plane into Derry. Ralph used Lois' aura again, which had been recharged on their way to the park, and he made his way to the nearby portosans while the three stayed behind. Here, he made his way through teleportation to the cockpit of Deepneau's plane, less than a half hour from the community center. Before Ralph was able to do anything, however, he heard his mother calling behind him, and as the plane slowly shifted itself into Ralph's old, family kitchen, he discovered that he had entered the Court of the Crimson King.

Answer: His own

As the surroundings changed to his mother's kitchen, the figure Ralph once knew as his mother began to form into one of the manifestations of the Crimson King. In this case, to back off a childhood fear of Ralph's, the King took the form of a Kingfish. Ralph, knowing that time is short, thinks fast and plunges one of Lois' diamond earrings into the eye of the fish, and uses his imbued arm, shoving it into the fish's mouth to destroy it with its aura. After the king was incapacitated, Ralph found himself back inside the cockpit of Deepneau's plane, and minutes before reaching Derry, he dropped back to the physical level to pull a few wires out of the control panel. Ed, realizing that Ed had appeared on his plane, fought back to stop him from interfering, but when Ralph took a nearby picture of Natalie and Helen, Ed went berserk. Ralph attempted to use Lois' other earring, but it proved ineffective, simply puncturing Ed's cheek. Ralph punched Ed in the throat, slowly killing him, before turning the wheel of the plane and crashing it into the nearby parking lot. Ralph managed to leave the plane on another level, and he arrived back at the park.
The Community Center was saved, but the explosion caused its own chaos. The crash of the plane shattered the windows of the center, decapitating Susan Day during her big speech. Leydecker, on patrol during the speech, was nearly killed, but was instead knocked across the lobby during the explosion. Patrick Danville was saved. Along with his mother, they left shortly after the crowd was dispersed. The picture that he was drawing at the time depicted a large tower and a man with two guns holding a rose, foreshadowing the events that were to unfold as he grew older.
At Strawford Park, Lois and Ralph reunited and said their goodbyes to Clotho and Lachesis. When they made their way back to Harris Avenue, both of them went to Lois' house. After a few moments, they went to bed, and fell asleep. Twenty-two hours later, upon waking up, Ralph and Lois found that the auras had begun to disappear. A week later, they were gone.

Less than a year following these events, Lois and Ralph were married. Ralph sold his house to live with Lois. On their first Christmas together, Lois bought Ralph a puppy. He named it Rosalie. As the years went by, Ralph and Lois never remembered what happened to them during the events surrounding the Derry Community Center attack. The two lived in happiness, going through daily life and taking care of Natalie Deepneau while Helen worked at Derry's library. After five years, however, Ralph began to hear a deathwatch, much like he did when Carolyn had begun to pass away, only this time, it went to the beat of his own heart. It was at this time that Ralph had trouble sleeping again.
A few weeks later, the auras had returned, and Ralph began to have recollections of what had really happened. Knowing his the all-important day prophesized by Atropos would be coming, Ralph prepared for what needed to be done. On the day of the event, Ralph attempted to leave the house without Lois knowing, but somehow, she knew to come along with him. Although she only had faint recollections of what had been going on, Ralph quickly filled her in on what he had seen, and what he needed to do. Natalie Deepneau would be killed by the Random, Atropos, if he didn't intervene, but doing so would cost him his life.
Quickly, they made their way down Harris Avenue to the Red Apple Store where Ralph saw Natalie with Rosalie at the curb. With Helen inside, no one was watching Natalie as she attempted to bring Rosalie home to Ralph and Lois. As she began to cross the road, however, a student driver swerved out of the way to avoid hitting Rosalie. Unfortunately, this pointed him in the direction of Natalie. Ralph quickly threw himself into the way of the car to save the girl, foiling Atropos' plans and stopping the Random death. As he laid in the street, with his objective complete, Lois sat by his side. Clotho and Lachesis had also appeared on their level at his side, and as his last request, Ralph asked them to let Lois know that everything would be alright. As Lois discovers this, Ralph's deathwatch ceases to tick.