Preparation For The Next Life

Erin is Mrs. Murphy’s daughter, a practicing Wiccan with dreams of attending art school. She reveals that she has attempted suicide in the past and believes in another dimension. Patrick, her biological father, is physically abusive, and Erin avoids him constantly. However, the domestic violence that occurs regularly between her mother and father takes a large toll on her mental health and fuels her desire to leave.

While she was in high school, Erin’s older brother Jimmy was accused of sexually assaulting one of Erin’s friends. Erin believes that the girl was lying, and after news of the sexual assault spread through the community, Erin found herself socially isolated.

One day after work, Jimmy and several of his coworkers drink beer and smoke marijuana. They discuss how much money they could make by stealing and selling a Bobcat forklift from work. The group ultimately does not go through with the idea, but Jimmy is later arrested twice—for DUI and theft. His public defender advises him to quietly accept the fact that he won’t be acquitted because he is guilty. After Jimmy’s third arrest, he is sent to an intensive boot camp for five months of behavioral rehabilitation rather than being forced to carry out his full 15-month sentence. The boot camp is extremely restrictive. After multiple violations of the rules, Jimmy is sent to prison to serve out his complete sentence. Later, Jimmy is incarcerated again at a prison in Krayville, Indiana, where he becomes involved with the Aryan mob and regularly uses drugs.

Zou Lei purchases a fake ID from a Latino man in a store that sells soccer jerseys. The ID costs her $150 and identifies her as Suzy Hong from Nebraska. A week after getting her ID, a mass arrest of migrant workers by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) makes national headlines. Zou Lei tries to improve her English by purchasing a Chinese-to-English dictionary, but she finds the definitions confusing and convoluted.

Zou Lei begins to have nightmares about being arrested and deported. She decides to go visit Skinner, who seems to be upset and quiet. Zou Lei takes him to an Asian market, hoping to cheer him up, but Skinner continues to behave oddly. Back at Skinner's house, she worries that she has upset him somehow, and he reassures her that she has done nothing wrong. Zou Lei tells Skinner that she will not leave him easily; he is stuck with her.

Later that week, Skinner goes to visit Zou Lei at the food court where she works, but the restaurant is very busy and he doesn’t see her, so he walks away. Outside, he finds men looking at several pictures of a dismembered and mutilated woman under the highway; the photography exhibit is run by a young woman collecting signatures for a petition for a human rights organization. Skinner becomes angry with the woman and claims that he has “two hundred” similar photos on his personal camera. He decides to return to Zou Lei’s work, and the pair promise to meet up after her shift. Skinner then goes to a nearby restaurant and orders some food. Once he sits down with his meal, the smell and texture of the food bring back violent memories from the war, and he vomits.

After Skinner begins to feel better, he makes his way to a bar, where the owner gives him several drinks on the house and asks him about his time in the war. Skinner becomes extremely inebriated and forgets about his promise to Zou Lei until she calls him and tells him that she decided to go home because he never showed up.

Soon after, Skinner begins to act recklessly and abuse alcohol. He goes bar hopping and becomes increasingly distressed as he experiences PTSD flashbacks. At home, Skinner watches some news interviews with military wives and veterans about the war and its psychological aftermath. Many of the soldiers have been experiencing symptoms similar to Skinner’s—panic attacks, anxiety, depression, PTSD, etc.—and many have “snapped” and ended up committing acts of violence or becoming incarcerated for crimes like possession of controlled substances and murder.

As Skinner walks out of the bar later that evening, he runs into a pair of police officers. They ask Skinner if he is a veteran and talk about their own deployments. They discuss how difficult it was for them to transition back into civilian life, and they urge Skinner to seek help from the VA when he feels any PTSD symptoms rather than using alcohol as a coping mechanism. Skinner avoids answering and leaves to catch a bus on the other side of the street.

When Skinner goes upstairs to pay his rent to Mrs. Murphy, he finds the house full of people having some kind of party. Mrs. Murphy invites Skinner to stay, and one of the guests—a woman named Vicky—states that the old tenant used to cause trouble. Skinner begins to drink beer, and after several bottles, he approaches Mrs. Murphy’s stepson John—a football player for the New York Jets—and begins to interrogate him about his training regimen. John is put off by Skinner’s behavior and entertains him for a while, but he quickly becomes uncomfortable and tries to leave the conversation. Skinner’s persistence is noticed by the other party guests, who begin to look at him strangely.

Suddenly, Mrs. Murphy receives a call from Jimmy, who is incarcerated. Jimmy speaks to Vicky briefly, and he tells Mrs. Murphy that he is having trouble with one of the guards. Skinner questions who Jimmy is and where he is calling from, making the atmosphere of the party awkward, and John alludes to the fact that Jimmy is incarcerated. Afterward, Skinner asks John if he wants to see his workout regimen, but John dismisses him.

One night, Skinner—who is heavily intoxicated—watches a recording of an execution on his laptop; it reminds him of his tour in Iraq. He thinks he is slowly losing his ability to feel love for Zou Lei, and this horrifies him, as the hope of falling in love with a woman was the only thing that comforted him during his time in the military. Skinner continues to take his medication, although with alcohol, which is highly dangerous and amplifies its effects. After having an especially intense nightmare about his time in Iraq, he finds himself unable to leave the house and considers suicide. He ultimately forces himself to leave the house and go to Dunkin’ Donuts.

Zou Lei begins to feel lonely after she has not seen or heard from Skinner in over four days. Her work begins to be impacted by her loneliness, and to keep herself busy, she begins selling pirated DVDs again. She is extremely happy when Skinner suddenly reaches out to her.

As Skinner’s PTSD symptoms become more severe, he struggles with daily activities. However, on one of the days that he feels “normal,” he invites Zou Lei to the small gym he attends to work out together. The pair look at the “Ms. Fitness” exercise routine from the page Zou Lei took out of Skinner’s Ironman magazine, and they complete the routine together. After working out, they drink protein drinks on the stairs, and Zou Lei comments on how much Skinner’s hair has grown out. He claims that he doesn’t want to be a soldier anymore. He also makes several Islamophobic remarks using harmful stereotypes, but Zou Lei jokes around with him.

Zou Lei goes home with Skinner and sleeps over for the first time. In the middle of the night, she is awoken by Skinner having a nightmare and sobbing in his sleep. When she wakes him up, he continues to cry and is incoherent. In the morning, she tells him about this, and Skinner denies ever crying. Zou Lei tells Skinner that there must be something wrong with his mind. He relents and tells her about some of his PTSD symptoms; together, they try to research “sick soldiers” on the internet, but Skinner’s laptop is old and broken.

The next day, Zou Lei convinces one of her coworkers to let her work up front instead of in the kitchen so she can continue to learn the restaurant's menu. Skinner calls her in the middle of the night and asks to meet her at a McDonald’s. She agrees, and the pair begin to talk over coffee. Skinner tells Zou Lei about his time in Iraq, and his experience trying to save Jake after they were hit with a mortar. He asks about Zou Lei’s job, and she tells him that Sassoon keeps yelling at her, but she refuses to let it impact her. Zou Lei tells Skinner that he must remain hopeful and something good will happen to them.

Jimmy is released from prison. He takes a bus to Manhattan and shows up at Mrs. Murphy’s house. Erin sees him first and leads him to their mother, who is excited to see him. However, it quickly becomes apparent that his family has moved on without him, and he feels like a stranger in his own home. Jimmy tells his mother that he doesn’t feel like he is ready to be out of prison. Mrs. Murphy tells him that he should either rejoin the union and get his old job back or work with Patrick, his stepfather. In the meantime, he begins to do odd jobs around the house fixing things, but he feels resentful of the unpaid work. One day, Mrs. Murphy sends Jimmy to the store with $20 to buy her cigarettes, and he returns home with a carton of cigarettes worth much more than the money he was given.

Zou Lei decides to tell Skinner about the time she spent incarcerated and the fact that she is an undocumented immigrant. While Skinner is surprised, he is more angered and shocked by the fact that Zou Lei was not told how long she would be incarcerated; he compares it to being “stop-lossed” by the military and is sympathetic toward her. Skinner promises not to allow her to be deported. Zou Lei proposes that they help each other: Zou Lei promises to help Skinner with his mental health if he promises to make sure she does not get deported.