Survive the Night: A Novel

Charlie prepares to leave campus with a stranger named Josh, whom she met at the ride board. Since the murder two months ago of Maddy, Charlie’s best friend and roommate, Charlie has been overwhelmed by sadness. Now, unable to handle living in the dorm anymore, she’s ready to leave; however, she promises her boyfriend, Robbie, that she will return to the dorm if Josh seems at all suspicious. The chapter flashes back to Charlie’s first meeting with Josh at the ride board. She agrees to split the cost of gas if he drives her to Youngstown the following night. That following night at nine, she looks at her dorm room one last time, now cleared out. She imagines the dorm as it was when Maddy was alive, recalling Maddy and the scent of her perfume. Charlie then hears her name being called.

After Robbie calls her name, Charlie snaps back to reality, seeing the dorm as it is now, without Maddy’s presence. Robbie recognizes her daze as one of the many moments in which she plays movies in her mind. Robbie offers to drive her to Youngstown himself, but Charlie wants to leave that night. Robbie exits the dorm room with her as she takes all of her clothes and VHS tapes along. She also takes Maddy’s vintage red coat, which she found under Maddy’s bed and took as her own after her friend’s death.

On their way out of the dorm room, Robbie acts like Charlie’s leaving is temporary, and he promises to visit Youngstown on Christmas break. However, Charlie does not plan on returning to the university. She thinks their relationship will end soon, and although she cares about Robbie, she has to leave school after Maddy’s death. She is not sure yet if she will regret it.

While Charlie waits for Josh at the lampstand by the curb, she reflects on her decision to leave school due to her grief over Maddy’s death. She fondly recalls meeting her boyfriend, Robbie, a math graduate student, at the library. He called her special on their first encounter. He tells her to call him if anything is wrong, teasingly describing a code phrase she could use if she’s in danger, and they quote movies as they say farewell. After a hug and kiss goodbye, Robbie leaves her at the curb.

Charlie becomes unsettled as she realizes she is leaving and that Maddy’s killer is still out there, putting her in danger. In her grief, she isolated herself and remained mostly unbothered by the university’s fear of the killer. As she is about to leave, however, she becomes afraid. Her fear worsens when she sees the “Take Back the Night” poster on the lampstand, put there after Maddy’s death. She dumps the pills prescribed to help her stop playing movies in her mind; the pills leave her unable to sleep. Josh then arrives, and, noticing that his car is of good quality, Charlie feels more at ease. When he puts her suitcases in at an angle, though, she becomes slightly suspicious that he is hiding something. She considers returning to her dorm. She realizes, though, that she must leave. Her belief that she caused Maddy’s death by not saving her friend torments her. Charlie decides that she is being too distrustful and goes with Josh.

Charlie recalls her father teaching her to drive and celebrating with her after she passed her driver’s exam. She remembers her father telling her that sometimes she must speed in life. After she leaves, Josh tells her she can sleep during the drive, but Charlie decides to stay awake, remembering the advice from the “Take Back the Night” poster. In the following silence, she remembers her admiration for Maddy’s theatricality and outgoing personality. Wanting to leave behind her life at the university following Maddy’s death, Charlie decides not to engage with Josh. Nonetheless, he initiates a conversation by asking her who she has in Youngstown. She tells him that she lives there with her grandmother. When he expresses surprise that she is riding with him, she replies that she does not drive. Charlie’s parents died in a car accident; she stopped driving afterward because she was afraid of causing an accident and being responsible for the harm.

Josh then takes an interest in Charlie’s name, and she reveals that she was named Charlie after the protagonist of Alfred Hitchcock’s film Shadow of a Doubt. In the film, the protagonist learns that her uncle is a serial killer and must stop him. Charlie shares that movies are her passion and that film is her major at Olyphant University. She loves movies because they elevate the different aspects of life and, to her, are better than the real world. Charlie’s love of movies started after her parents died and her grandmother, Nana Norma, moved into the house. Nana Norma was an aspiring Hollywood actress who never managed to achieve stardom but always loved movies. After the deaths of Charlie’s parents, Charlie watched movies every night with Nana Norma; soon, Charlie began to see movies in her mind. Charlie experiences a wave of grief about Maddy’s death and her perceived guilt in it. Looking at her reflection in the car window, Charlie watches a movie in her mind until Josh calls her name.

Josh calling Charlie causes her to return to reality. He asks her what happened, and she explains that movies often play in her mind, which helps her cope with stressful and painful situations. He asks what kind of movie she saw in her mind just then, and she answers film noir. After talking about actors who would play each other in her movie, Josh asks if she has a boyfriend. This question prompts her to reflect on Robbie, and she explains their complicated relationship status. The two then swap movie quotes, only for Josh to quote the movie Psycho; the accuracy with which he says the quote unsettles Charlie. Despite loving the movie, Charlie has not seen Psycho since Maddy’s murder. The narrator says that she will likely never see it again.

Josh then asks Charlie why she is dropping out of college even though she loves her major. She replies that it is none of his business. She recalls her love of Olyphant University and her friendship with Maddy. Maddy, whose full name was Madeline Forrester, was a theater major who liked vintage fashion, imitating characters from old movies, and talking to her grandmother. Charlie says that she did something so bad that she will never forgive herself. She sees a darkness in Josh’s eyes that unsettles her, and she asks him for his story. He says that he is not a student, which confuses Charlie because he is wearing an Olyphant sweater. He explains that he worked at the university until that day and that he is now leaving to take care of his father in Toledo. This story contradicts his earlier statement that he was going to Akron. He explains that he is picking up his aunt from Toledo before he goes to Akron. This explanation satisfies Charlie, but she remains uneasy. Josh then recognizes her from reports on the story, and Charlie reveals that she let Maddy get murdered.

Charlie recalls the night of Maddy’s murder. Maddy dragged Charlie to a bar to see a cover band for The Cure but ignored her for much of the night. Angered by Maddy’s perceived self-interest, Charlie stormed out. Maddy followed her outside and told her to come back; Charlie replied that she doesn’t like how Maddy makes her go to these parties and other social events and then ignores her. Maddy explained that she was trying to get Charlie to open up to other people. Charlie accused Maddy of being a terrible friend and walked off, turning around only briefly to see a shadowy man behind Maddy. At the time, Charlie thought nothing of it. But the following day, Maddy did not appear. After a day-long search, Charlie reported her missing. Maddy was found dead the next morning, the third victim of Olyphant’s Campus Killer. Guilt-ridden, Charlie rejected everyone’s efforts to console her. The police asked for her help, but she did not know what the man looked like or even if he was the killer. Charlie was sent to a psychiatrist, who put her on medication to prevent movies from playing in her mind. Maddy’s mother blamed Charlie for leaving her friend outside the bar, and Charlie agreed with the woman. Charlie realized after seeing a movie in her mind starring herself as the Campus Killer that she had to leave Olyphant.

Josh tries to tell Charlie that Maddy’s death was not her fault, but Charlie tells him to stop talking about it. She apologizes, and Josh agrees to not talk about it. He drives to a 7-Eleven and buys them both coffees. In the parking lot, Charlie sees a drunk girl who reminds her of Maddy, and the song that played at the bar on the night of Maddy’s murder plays in the girl’s car. Once the girl and her friend leave and Josh returns with the coffees, Charlie looks briefly at Josh’s wallet and notices that his driver’s license is from Pennsylvania, not Ohio, and that the name on the license is Jake Collins. Josh is not who he says he is.