Pursuit

Abby spent her childhood haunted by the same nightmare night after night, in which she walked through a field strewn with human skulls and bones. As an adult she believes she has left it behind. Then, on the evening before her wedding, the dream comes back and forces her to face the dark secrets of her past that she has hidden from her new husband, Willem.

Less than a day after the vows, Abby steps into traffic. While she drifts in and out of sleep in a hospital bed, Willem tries to work out whether it was a lapse of attention or a deliberate act. He begins to find odd clues to what his wife may be concealing. A rash-like red mark circles her wrist, and she wakes from sleep to the sound of her own screams. Gradually Abby begins to confide in him, telling what she has never told anyone: the story of a frightened mother, a jealous father addicted to drugs, and a daughter held captive.

Pursuit, also given as The Pursuit in the source, is a novel by Joyce Carol Oates. Its narrative alternates between the present, with Abby and Willem, and Abby's tormented childhood.