Chapter 22:

XXII | Somewhere Familiar

Something's Not Right


How many days has it been?

My bedroom

is curtained
on three walls,

blank
on the fourth

so I can't tell the time.

They stop bringing food
after the third day

so I've lost track

of how long
it's been.

Tammie doesn't seem to leave
at regular intervals,

and I sleep a lot
because of the injections

so I can't tell

the time at all.

We don't talk much—
Tammie and I—

when I'm awake and she's here.

After that first conversation,

there doesn't seem to be
anything else
worth discussing.

One day
(or night),

I open my eyes.

Tammie's not in her chair.
The movement

that made me open my eyes
was not hers.

A nurse,
familiar to me,

short bob hair,
plain passive face,

bends over the bed

and loosens
my leather straps.

Like a bird

caged for too long,

I'm...
not sure
what to do

with myself.

[Read the full story at novelconbini.com!]

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