III | Some People

❦

I turn to the woman
who brought me here

to give her
a piece of my mind

but she's not there

anymore.

The pretty nurse with long hair
leans close to me.
I can smell her perfume.

I raise one hand.

She catches it.
Her grip is cold.

I gather spit in my mouth
to spit at her

but she turns my hand over
and says,

'You haven't eaten, have you?'

Then she lets me go.

She doesn't grab me
or yell or lock me up
in a room the size of a coffin.

We just

stare blankly

at each other.

'Fiona,'
says the plain nurse,

after a few moments
of awkward silence.

'Come, we'll show you where's the kitchen.'

She doesn't grab me
or yell or lock me up
in a room the size of a coffin.

A kitchen?

What asylum
lets patients into a kitchen?

[Read the full story at novelconbini.com!]