Adulting is bullshit, let's all be mermaids.

*reluctant sigh*

*scrolls back up*

AND THEN THERE’S THIS ONE

✯ “How many times have I told you not to take hits like that?”        “I don't exactly have control over that.”

✯ “It’s just a scratch.”        “It’s a deep scratch. Sit down.”

✯ “I don’t want to make a mistake.”        “You will eventually. The important thing is not to let it break you when it happens.”

✯ “Leave me alone! I have patients-”        “No you don't. They are now my patients and you are one of them. Sit.”

✯ “You're still here?”        “I had a patient dying. Their family wasn't here, I couldn't leave them alone. Even if they weren't conscious…”      “Come here. It's okay.”

✯ “Why didn’t you tell me?”        “I didn’t want you to worry.”      “I always worry. That's part of my job, and your job is to tell me when you need help!”

✯ “If you complain one more time, I’ll make this hurt.”        “You wouldn’t.”      “Try me.”

✯ “Hey! No need to be this rough!”        “Yes, actually. I need you conscious.”

✧ Keeping a running list in their head of things to tell someone, even though there's no one to tell.

✧ Talking to the cat. Not in a playful way. In a confessional way.

✧ Lingering at the checkout counter a beat too long because the cashier made eye contact.

✧ Watching the clock on Friday evenings and feeling something they can't quite name drop in their chest.

✧ Answering "what did you do this weekend?" with something tidied up and social-sounding, leaving out the two days they saw no one.

✧ Muting their TV just to hear how loud the silence actually is.

✧ Ordering too much food and eating alone with the plates set out, taking up the whole table.

✧ Spending longer than necessary in public places (bookshops, grocery stores) because being around strangers is close enough.

✧ Re-reading old messages from people who don't talk to them anymore, not out of longing but out of proof they existed to someone.

✧ Getting very invested in strangers' lives online: their updates, their kids, their ordinary days.

✧ Starting conversations with service workers and then feeling ashamed of how much they wanted it to continue.

✧ Making plans they know won't happen just for the brief warmth of having something to look forward to.

✧ Dreaming about people they barely know.

✧ Waking grateful, then embarrassed.