Chap­ter 42 is a grip­ping and emo­tion­al­ly charged chap­ter titled “Step Four: Make the World Believe You’re Crazy,” where Nina, the pro­tag­o­nist, is caught in a har­row­ing and dan­ger­ous sit­u­a­tion that high­lights her strength and deter­mi­na­tion. She wakes up in a state of dis­ar­ray, still feel­ing the after­math of pro­longed neglect, her body weak from dehy­dra­tion and exhaus­tion. As she strug­gles to clear her head, she becomes aware of the dis­tant sound of run­ning water from the mas­ter bath­room, height­en­ing her anx­i­ety. At first, Nina believes that Andy, her abuser, may still be in the house, but upon fur­ther real­iza­tion, she comes to under­stand that he is not present. Despite this, Nina’s thoughts instant­ly turn to her daugh­ter, Cecelia, and she is con­sumed by an over­whelm­ing fear for her safe­ty. The sit­u­a­tion is fraught with ten­sion, as Nina faces the ter­ri­fy­ing pos­si­bil­i­ty of her daugh­ter being in dan­ger, push­ing her into action despite her weak­ened state.

Even though Nina is phys­i­cal­ly deplet­ed and men­tal­ly drained, her innate mater­nal instincts take over, pro­pelling her to inves­ti­gate the source of the run­ning water. Every step is a strug­gle, and Nina feels her body fight­ing against her, remind­ing her of how vul­ner­a­ble she is. Her mind, how­ev­er, sharp­ens with the urgency of the moment, and she press­es for­ward, deter­mined to reach Cecelia no mat­ter the phys­i­cal cost. The jour­ney to the bath­room is not just a phys­i­cal one; it is a reflec­tion of Nina’s inter­nal battle—her body exhaust­ed but her will to pro­tect her daugh­ter stronger than ever. The emo­tion­al and phys­i­cal toll of her cap­tiv­i­ty is evi­dent as Nina bat­tles the painful truth of how far she has been pushed, yet the mater­nal love she feels for Cecelia allows her to endure.

When Nina final­ly reach­es the bath­room, the sight that greets her shat­ters her every expec­ta­tion of relief. There, in the bath­tub, lies her daugh­ter, uncon­scious, sub­merged in ris­ing water. The sight of her child in such a per­ilous sit­u­a­tion fuels a deep, vis­cer­al pan­ic with­in Nina, but it also ignites a pow­er­ful surge of deter­mi­na­tion. Despite her frail state, Nina does not fal­ter in her efforts to save Cecelia. The sit­u­a­tion ampli­fies Nina’s sense of urgency and deter­mi­na­tion, as the love she holds for her daugh­ter far out­weighs her phys­i­cal lim­i­ta­tions. This moment is a stark reminder of the dan­ger­ous real­i­ty Nina has been liv­ing in and the sac­ri­fices she is will­ing to make to pro­tect the only thing that mat­ters to her—her daugh­ter.

The chap­ter reach­es its emo­tion­al and dra­mat­ic peak as Nina, still grap­pling with the phys­i­cal effects of her ordeal, strug­gles to keep her­self from pass­ing out while attempt­ing to res­cue Cecelia from the ris­ing water. Her symptoms—extreme fatigue, trem­bling hands, and shal­low breathing—underscore just how dire her con­di­tion is. Yet, in the face of over­whelm­ing phys­i­cal pain and fear, Nina’s mind remains focused sole­ly on Cecelia, her moth­er­ly instincts kick­ing into full gear. The chap­ter ends in sus­pense, with Nina crawl­ing toward her daugh­ter, a mother’s love dri­ving her actions, despite all the odds stacked against her. The emo­tion­al depth of the chap­ter is intense, as Nina’s jour­ney exem­pli­fies the pow­er of uncon­di­tion­al love and resilience in the face of seem­ing­ly insur­mount­able adver­si­ty. The read­er is left hang­ing in antic­i­pa­tion, eager to see if Nina’s deter­mi­na­tion will lead her to the vic­to­ry of sav­ing her daugh­ter from the clutch­es of dan­ger. The sus­pense lingers, and the emo­tion­al stakes are raised even high­er, mak­ing this chap­ter a deeply poignant explo­ration of the strength that comes from a mother’s love and the des­per­ate mea­sures she will take to pro­tect her child.