The girl from the mire

7

                                           | | 7 | |

Rist holds Jane's hand as they walk through the dwindling crowd. The gesture of friendship feels comfortable and has the potential to be viewed in some contingent future as a halcyon. The thought of this being the best it can be leaves Jane cheerful in the moment but also dreading what's to come. The anxiety builds and calms like endless tides.

Rist wants to go to her home, which is about twenty blocks west of the hospital and main strip. As they walk along the sweaty skin summer pavement, tripping in potholes, the potholes themselves paint a picture in the mire girl's mind of six foot deep graves with four feet of dirt upon imaginary coffins. Jane sniffs and takes a deep inhale and asks Rist how they knew each other.

"It's been ten years but I can remember it very well. You were my best friend. We met because we chose the same future and kind of got to know each other out of necessity. I made you wear girl clothes and makeup and tried to crack you out of your shell. You made my life bearable in the Hell that engulfed our entire lives. We existed in war and watched most of our friends die around us. Jane, you saved all of us and what was left of this city. Your death, your one act freed us all from ourselves. You didn't destroy this city, it was already destroyed. The man who blamed you for this was full of shit! All you did was save the friends you had left. You stopped those assholes in power from nuking the rest of this place and everyone surviving in it. You killed a lot of bad people and stopped a countdown. You were our leader, Jane. You were killed for it. They shot you for it. You saved me! I got to live, Jane. I got to live because you died..."

Jane releases Rist's hand and they both stop walking. She turns toward Rist and moves very close to her, almost touching body to body.

"I don't know why I did it. I can't remember. Maybe I wanted to die? I don't know. Did I have a death wish?"

"Oh, yeah! When it came to all of your friends, you had a death wish."

Jane places her hands on her hips and looks at the ground. "Was I alone when I died?"

Rist nods and also looks down at her feet.

"Yeah. No one was around to have your back. I've regretted not being there everyday since. We shouldn't have left you alone to stop them. You were our leader, though. You said you could handle it. The rest of us had another battle to wage and we won. When we got back to the outpost from the war in the city, you were dead and everything changed. It was like we lost our superhero. The one person who couldn't die, died."

Rist tilts Jane's chin and reaches for her hand. She takes Jane's fingers and holds them tight.

"But you're back! I don't care how it happened, I only care about what's going to happen now. And right now, I want to show you where I live and maybe, very soon, put you in a dress with some makeup. Because Jane, you look like shit!"

Jane laughs at Rist's soul tickling blunt words.

"Yeah, I really do look terrible."

"What we're you thinking? A lab coat and a belt? You know the lab coat is pretty see through, right?"

Jane looks down at her breasts and realizes Rist isn't kidding. She tries to cover up with her arms and closes her leg over her other leg while standing. Rist takes her hoodie off and throws it at her, revealing shoulders and a coal black bra.

"Jane, you're definitely "her" through and through."

They continue walking and holding hands after Jane quickly slides the hoodie over herself and pulls her hair out from within the black bunnyhug, dropping the abundant mess just above her tailbone.