15. a howling bonfire where shadows betray you.
SILENCE PRECEDES THE VIOLENCE of a crackling fire, the remnants of a clearing now kindled with the russet light of flames / THE RE - ANIMATION OF SOMETHING ONCE IMMOBILE. she is propped askew like a mannequin, each limb disjointed and lolling, held up not by the stuttery support of her own legs but by an ominous force — what is the opposite of gravity, of logic and reason ?
she awakens as if from comatose slumber, first one shoulder drawing upward ( the effort in the motion is obvious, A DOLL WITH RUSTY HINGES ) then the next. her fingernails click one at a time upon the syringe she is holding, testing their hold once more, lifeless digits with no sensation, only a mechanic memory. the nurse has no mouth, but she breathes.
it hitches in a pallid throat, an effeminate sigh from hollow and frayed lungs, wistful and frantic as a frenzied pant. her chest expands melodramatic with the gesture, artificially timed with the tremulous steps she begins to take forward.
LEFT FOOT - BREATHE IN - RIGHT FOOT - BREATHE OUT.
none of her joints work as they should, a pathetic imitation of humanity’s gait, ankles inward, knees bent, heels stumping her already intermittent footsteps. all the while, as her pace quickens, so does that panicked respiration ( asthma ) in turn, an excited and terrified in - out - left - right - in - in - in - there’s - no - air - you - can’t - breathe - it’s - the - asthma - eddie - your - inhaler - the - asthma - in - your - left - delicate - right - lungs - in - OUT !
the syringe glints in the looming firelight, arm raised and ready to plunge.
THIS WILL FIX YOU RIGHT UP.
