Day 16 You’re still asleep. I like to read to you, even though I’m not sure if you’re still listening. I read a little bit from Snow White today. You’d probably call me silly, reading to you from such an optimistic fairy tale, but I like to think it could come true, you know? I’m naïve. I’m embarrassed by myself
Sonia was staring at his hands. She had read somewhere that people who were going to wake up used their hands a lot more. It was a sign that the neurons were firing in his brain… or something. While she had yet to see any real movement, she had taken the time to memorize the creases of his knuckles and
It felt like he had dunked his face in a bowl of ice water. People were sticking his arms and legs with needles. His throat was dry, itchy, but he couldn’t scratch it. He couldn’t find his hands, and then he couldn’t breathe. The world was black. Then it was blindingly white before it was black again. Someone was saying
‘Thank you both for coming today. Sonia, this is Fuyuhiko, Fuyuhiko, this is-‘ ‘I know who the hell she is. You don’t have to treat me like a child.’ He was sitting up straight, arms crossed, legs crossed. He was an impenetrable wall. Sonia couldn’t help admiring him for that, and she found herself crossing her arms, trying to match
Sonia tried to read more to Tanaka but found the day’s events too tiring. The words kept swimming across the page, bleeding into the illustrations until neither of them was legible. As much as she hated to, she said good night to Tanaka early. She collected her books before standing up. As she stood, she found herself standing over Tanaka.
Sonia and Fuyuhiko were silent as they entered the cafeteria. Just like the rest of the facility, the entire room was a stark, sterile white. Light reflected off every surface, giving Sonia a brief headache as they navigated the white lunchroom tables lining the main floor. Toward the back of the room was the lunch line, where there were display
Sonia didn’t see Fuyuhiko for at least a week, and even when she did see him after that, it was brief glimpses as he stomped by her in the hallway. No matter how often she tried to stop him to talk, he ignored her wordlessly, leaving her standing alone in the empty halls of the facility. Had it really been
“Sonia, wait-“ As Kazuichi reached out for her, Sonia jumped up and took off running toward the pod room. The alarms grew louder and louder with each step, but the blood rushing in Sonia’s ears drowned out every noise. Before she had even rounded the corner into the pod room, she was already coming up with a long-winded apology. ‘I’m
Pages were starting to appear in her journal. Pages she couldn’t recall writing herself. They were scribbled down hastily as if the person writing them might have been worried they wouldn’t have time. As if they were worried they might disappear or that the dream they might be trying to scribble down might fade away before they got a chance