They Call Me the Coroner | Top Gun: Maverick

No Justice. No Tesha.

~~Tesha~~

I passed out when we got up in the air. I don't know what Mav did to keep me from falling out of the chopper, but he did it.

I woke up in the hospital, flowers stuffed in every nook and cranny in the room. Roses. Purple and blue orchids. Those were from Rooster I could tell. He made a big deal about asking about my favorite flower one time.

"How about pink?"

"Nope. Not pink."

"But you have to have a favorite color."

"No I don't." I laughed.

He sat there for a minute thinking hard. "Okay then, favorite flower?"

"Orchid."

"There are so many more flowers than there are basic colors, and you can choose a favorite flower?? But not a favorite color??"

"Fine! If I had to choose a favorite color...it would be blue - no wait - purple. Ugh...so many choices!"

He wrapped his arm around me and started watching the movie, popping kernels of popcorn in his mouth. "We can leave it at blue AND purple. Sheesh, don't have a mental breakdown over it."

After that I nudged him and said I wouldn't have a mental break down over something like that.

Mental break down...

There's something that people do, where they try to make a joke out of everything. It's sort of how they cope with the bad in world. I'm not one of those people, but the words "mental break down" start me into a chuckle.

Not the best thing to be doing when you've been ripped to pieces or just got out of the enemy prison...if that's even where I was.

I wouldn't be surprised if they strapped me down and hauled me to the looney bin.

But they won't. My chuckles cease and I'm back to a controlled state, eyeing the balloons and flowers, the mountain of cards next to my head on the nightstand. The phone Hangman got me sits there with like thirty texts and ten missed calls. Rooster's sunglasses sit on it.

"Miss Dupont, there's someone here to see you-"

"No." I say. My voice is hoarse and jagged like my voice box has been dissected and put back the wrong way. My voice is weirdly high and broken. Almost as if I have to swallow everytime I speak a new word. "I don't...want to see anyone."

"Miss Dupont, they've been here in the waiting room ever since you got here...it's been...hours. It might be good for you to-"

I shake my head and wave her away. She draws her lips into a line, sighs hard, then nods.

I don't care who it is. Rooster. Hangman. Mav. The whole gang. My sister. I don't care.

I cannot mentally care right now because I just want to be left alone. For once in my life, I really just want to be alone.