Lavender Jones

Portrait / 7x10inch / Oil on Oil Painting Paper

by Aaron Facey

As Lavender sips her usual order - black coffee with 3 large lumps of sugar. Somehow it doesn’t taste sweet enough, leaving an undesirable aftertaste that sends a shiver through her body. 

As she feels the caffeine corrupting her heartbeat. The quickened pace only amplified by her discomfort within her new environment. This is the first time she has been able to leave her home in days and she relentlessly tried to figure out how the fuck she ended up in Middle Hollow. And what even is Middle Hollow.

She remembers being rushed to the ER after being found passed out by her roommate. She woke up in an unfamiliar bed decorated with small memories that ranged from her childhood until her last moment. 

Her gaze lifts from her coffee cup and she notices another soul staring at her. She can’t read them as they stare blankly. Probably as confused as she is. Lavender has always been more on the introverted side. But in Middle Hollow, what did she have to lose? She chugged the rest of her bitter coffee and walks towards the stranger, holding their gaze until her body goes into autopilot. She breaks eye contact and races towards the door. 

Lavender pulls out a cigarette, leaning on the window of Cuppa Joe. As she attempts to catch her breath, the door jingles. The stranger approaches Lavender. 

“I hope that you’re alright- I apologize if I spooked you in there, earlier. I work at the hospital- shadowing the doctors to learn on rounds- it’s part of our co-op program.” She takes a sip. 

“I thought that I recognized you- I didn’t want to approach in public, of course, given concerns around patient privacy, but, well-” she takes a quick look around. It’s a far cry from the bustling interior of the shop, and she smiles at Lavender. “It seems we’ve the space to ourselves. You were the one whose roommate brought her in, right? I hope that you’ve been holding up alright.”

Alana brushes some of her white-blonde hair behind her ear. “I don’t normally follow up with patients when they’ve left the premises- but I suppose you were a little more memorable than most. I didn’t mean to impose,” she added contemplatively. 

Lavender places her pack back in her bag and takes another drag of her cigarette, being cautious where the smoke blows. 

She gazes up at Alana and smiles before blushing and quickly adverting her eyes.

“Yes, that was me. I don’t really know what happened to me. I guess it has been a stressful transition to admit that we are dead... yet alive. I don’t know, this is the first time I have been able to leave my house and as much as I feel normal, I just... don’t.” Lavender realizes she is rambling and begins to whisper until going into a comfortable silence. 

“So, you are shadowing doctors? That is super cool. I guess you hear all your patients give the same stressful speech that I did.” She tries to chuckle, but it ends up coming out as a cough. “Bad habit,” she says more to herself as she puts it out.