XLVII | Some Anger Issues

❦

I wake up
in a panic

but a comforting smell
surrounds me.

I relax,

open my dry mouth,

try to speak.

Tammie...

I'm in my own bed
when I finally open my eyes.

There's no one

in the room
with Tammie and me.

She's

sitting beside me on the bed,
one hand in mine.

(They're glued together with sweat.)

No...nurses?

She shakes her head.

Why?
There are usually nurses after
something like this.

That's right,
this means I didn't do anything wrong.

Asher?

I sit up.

Tammie leads me to the door
and we peek outside together,

her breath sour and warm
down my neck.

He's squatting on the landing,

like a little kid
lost in a mall,
eyes staring at

nothing in particular.

There are
also

no nurses with him.

They didn't... remove him?

There's no need

for her to reply

because we can both remember
and we can see him

sitting
right

there.

Maybe Fatima
didn't exist

to begin with?

[Read the full story at novelconbini.com!]