#daphne 18

[delfindakila]

POPO SAN PASCUAL Daphne 18, oleo sa kambas, 2010 #artPH

[dohnjawlish]

when: april 17, 1980 where: st. mungo’s who: @daphnedavenport​‘s comatose body xx

It had taken a great deal of mental shoring-up for John to bring himself here. And even now — outside the ward where Daphne lay, in a coma — he couldn’t quite believe the truth of it. I am going to see my comatose ex-girlfriend, John said to himself, just to try out the words, and they sounded surreal. Like something out of a soap his mum was watching, and not at all like something that applied to his life. 

But he couldn’t just stand at the door and walk off. Emma would call him a coward. Amelia would — well, she might not say it to him, but she’d think it. And Frank would reserve verbal judgment, but he’d get that look on his face, the look when he was sure that the person he was speaking to ought to do better. John should have done better by Daphne, he’d come to admit. How could he have just seen her off after she’d shown him the photos and told him about the Minister? How could he not have said he’d help her?

In another life he’d have had to bring those regrets to her grave. John flinched from the thought, and, bitterness sharp on his tongue, he pushed into the ward.