Roller Coaster 8

Continued from 6/5 post…

Wendy navigated her bike down the stairway, focusing on one stair at a time.  She felt numb, and that was okay.  She was tired of feeling, of thinking… anything.  She wheeled her bike past the disapproving lady at the front desk, ignoring the glare she felt emanating from that direction.

When she finally arrived outside the hospital, she took a deep breath.  She felt lighter and freer, as if she had just released from a dark musty closet.  She slowly mounted her bike and started to pedal home. 

When she arrived at her house, she left her bike on the front lawn.  Her dad would disapprove, but he wasn’t around right now.  She found her spot on the couch, the afghan still spilled unevenly over the cushions, the half empty bag of chips on the coffee table, the remote lying skewed on the floor.

Wendy suddenly felt very tired.  She kicked off her shoes, leaving them in the middle of the living room floor.  She pulled the blanket almost entirely over her head, wishing she could disappear under it completely.  She finally grabbed the remote, trying to find something to distract her from the drama of life.

She settled on a sit-com in syndication, not caring that she had already seen the episode before.  Before the show was half over, she had fallen asleep.

She awoke two hours later, hot, thirsty, and groggy.  She kicked off the afghan and tried to fall back asleep, but sleep wouldn’t return.  She finally got up and got a drink of water.  She knew she should think about lunch, but had no interest in food.

Wendy returned to her little cave and surfed the channels until she found a movie.  It was an old science fiction movie with bad special effects, but she didn’t care. 

Continued on Fiction Fridays…