you don’t know how to talk about this. or anything. all of this settles around you like snow, except it’s falling ash, dotting your skin black, smearing unkindly on porcelain. sometimes you almost see it. sometimes you almost look down and there are the smudges of red, all over you. you hate this wheelchair, frankly, and your jaw works with a resounding click. the television’s soft glow illuminates the room– your photosensitvity hasn’t been stricken yet, that chord unplayed, and there’s a sound in the background you can’t distinguish. you put the sound on to drown out the silence. sometimes, the quiet is laced with what sounds like voices, like a snake slithering through your ears, between them.
there’s a pot on the floor between you. it’s full of the only thing you can eat, now– glue-looking, fake macaroni and cheese. it feels like a slap in han– dr. lecter’s face. it’s disgusting and generic and comforting. it’s just oozing orange. you can eat maybe three forkfuls before you can only consider it. your legs aren’t useless– but they’d said you wouldn’t walk ever again. fuck them. they thought you were dead, too, so.
“do you ever wonder what would have been different?”
your head, still fuzzy, almost always, still foggy, makes you feel like you explained this whole trajectory of thought. (you did not.)
Lisa’s words are blurring together before her, now, in the thin scrawl from her fountain pen’s ink. It’s late. She is sitting on her couch, her black, leather - bound notebook resting upon her lap as she writes, notating, annotating -- marking down practicality after practicality -- as was her duty. Things like medical procedure market costs, competitive insurance negotiations, and insurance policies lay before her in a neat comfort; evidence that she is, in fact, in charge; she is the first gear, the top. She is the foundation of this hospital.
And yet, this evening is different. The energy of her home’s living room is heavier with the vibration of company; of someone’s presence. This is not usual. And it is someone Lisa knows well -- Alana Bloom -- an old flame, a past girlfriend -- an even older friend. She feels warmer, somehow; she always does with someone here. Especially when it is someone she can ensure is safe. But Alana is not really okay; not yet. She is safe and here, with Lisa, and that is comfort enough -- the least she can do. But she is not okay. Her energy is not warm. But it is here, and that is enough for now.
“ do you ever wonder what would have been different? ”
Lisa looks up from writing. She wonders what Alana means? Different about her experience? Different about their life paths? Different about their relationship? Lifting her chin a bit, indicating she is listening, she sets her pen flat against her notebook, ceasing her work. She looks at Alana, brows furrowed in slight confusion -- but gentle curiosity. ❛ Uh -- , ❜ Lisa takes a small pause, leans forward more. ❛ What do you mean? About what? ❜