Falling (repeatedly)

29- OH NO VANILLA CUPCAKE-

Madeleine puts his hand on the cover, but he doesn't open it.

"More importantly, why was I trying to eat it while I was sick?"

Espresso asks "Are you going to read it?"

"I.. I can't."

He gives the book back to Espresso. "I can't read it."

Espresso looks at the cover. "Were you considering it?"

"A little."

"Why?"

"I'm not sure.. Why did I feel like it would explain something?"

Espresso looks at his notebook, then at Madeleine. "It is strange that you can't remember a specific period of time."

"I agree."

Espresso opens the book, starting to read through it. Madeleine is tired, but not tired enough to fall asleep again.

After a few minutes, Espresso stops reading. "You said your head started to hurt, yes?"

Madeleine nods. "I think I dreamt a memory? I heard my parents talking, then one of them saw me. My head started hurting after that and I couldn't remember why I was there."

Espresso looks at the page, then at Madeleine. "How often has that happened?"

"I.. It's closer to all of the fuzzy memories? I can not remember accurately."

"It might be good for you to read this."

Madeleine leans away. "Why do you say that?"

"It should explain the fuzzy memories."

Espresso holds out the book for Madeleine to read, but Madeleine won't look at it.

"Madeleine.."

"No. I do not want to know."

Espresso gets up and starts looking for a bookmark. "It is not the whole book. It is just this page."

"It could start as just the page, but then I could continue reading and that scares me."

Espresso finds a bookmark. He sighs "I do not understand your faith in the Divine. I will not read it to you unless you ask, though."

He puts the bookmark in the book, then closes it. "I will leave the book on the nightstand."

Madeleine nods. Espresso sets the book down, then sits on the couch.

Madeleine leans on Espresso's side. "What else have I forgotten?"

"Why are you asking me?"

"I don't remember anything I did with you clearly. All I know is you were my best friend. Most of my other friends were the children of other nobles."

Espresso looks at Madeleine. "Well, I remember you talking about how boring you thought the other nobles were."

Madeleine nods. "They were very uptight. No fun conversations. They didn't want to explore because they wanted their clothes to be spotless."