Surviving the Valley- Murda She Wrote

19. Errbody

"𝙍𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙬𝙖𝙮 𝙢𝙖'𝙖𝙢" the female doctor says, guiding Alicia down the hall. Alicia's thoughts eat at her for a second before she can piece words together to explain her worries. "𝙐𝙢, 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙮'𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙨𝙖𝙮 𝙝𝙚'𝙨 𝙤𝙣 𝙖𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙨𝙞𝙖 𝙙𝙤𝙚𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙢𝙚𝙖𝙣..." she says, allowing the doctor to finish the thought for her. "𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙗𝙚 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙛𝙪𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙣, 𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙚𝙘𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙧 𝙡𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜... 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙤𝙛 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨𝙚 𝙙𝙧𝙤𝙬𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨. 𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙤𝙣𝙡𝙮 𝙡𝙖𝙨𝙩 𝙖 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙥𝙡𝙚 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝... 𝙣𝙤 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙨" the doctor explains, continuing to guide Alicia down the hall. "𝙃𝙢𝙢" Alicia says, fiddling with her fingers. '𝘐'𝘭𝘭 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘯' she thinks to herself, continuing to follow. "𝙅𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙧𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙢𝙗𝙚𝙧... 𝙗𝙚 𝙜𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙡𝙚. 𝘼𝙨 𝙛𝙖𝙧 𝙖𝙨 𝙝𝙚'𝙨 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙧𝙣𝙚𝙙, 𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙗𝙚 𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙤𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙚" the doctor jokes. opening the door for Alicia, before walking away. Alicia is left feeling stuck. She makes her way around the corner, seeing Murda for the first time since they took him for the procedure. She can't exactly understand why, but she starts to feel a small wave of emotions swell up in her heart. She wishes she could explain everything: why she felt the way she did, why these feelings drug her to doing what she did and why Murda would have to soon save his own face, or choose to extend his truth to a few more people within the next few moments. She snaps out of the internal battle with herself when she hears his voice. Looking at his face, his eyes goes in and out between open and closed and he mumbles a little bit more clearly once he's able to realize somebody's in the room.

"𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬 𝙈𝙪𝙧𝙙𝙖 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙝𝙤" he says, bopping his head lazily. "𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙝𝙚 𝙜𝙤! 𝙇𝙤𝙤𝙠 𝙬𝙝𝙤 𝙪𝙥" Alicia says, walking up to his side. "𝙈𝙖𝙢𝙖?" Murda says, recognizing her voice. "𝙔𝙚𝙖𝙝 𝙗𝙖𝙗𝙮, 𝙞𝙩'𝙨 𝙢𝙖𝙢𝙖" she chuckles, gently placing her hand on his moving head. "𝙃𝙤𝙬 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙛𝙚𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙣?" she asks. "𝙈𝙖𝙢𝙖?" he says reaching out to feel her. "𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙖𝙠𝙞𝙣' 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢 𝙨𝙤 𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙖𝙢𝙣 𝙨𝙪𝙧𝙜𝙚𝙧𝙮?𝘼 𝙣𝙞𝙜𝙜𝙪𝙝 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙣𝙖 𝙜𝙤 𝙝𝙤𝙢𝙚" Murda says, slurring on his words every now and then. "𝘈𝘸 𝘩𝘦𝘺𝘦𝘭𝘭" Alicia says internally. "𝙉𝙖𝙬 𝙗𝙖𝙗𝙮, 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙖𝙡𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙮 𝙙𝙞𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙪𝙧𝙜𝙚𝙧𝙮" she explains. "𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘢𝘢𝘢𝘢𝘵?" he sings before letting out a cackling laugh, to which Alicia quickly joins in on. "𝙎𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙪𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙩 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙜𝙤𝙣𝙚, 𝙢𝙖𝙢𝙖?" Murda asks, lifting his head to get a look at her. He fights to keep his eyes open completely. "𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙩'𝙨 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙨𝙖𝙞𝙙" Alicia grins, brushing past his cheek before plopping down in the chair beside the bed. "𝙄𝙢𝙢𝙖 𝙠𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢 𝙣𝙞𝙜𝙜𝙪𝙝𝙨. 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙣𝙞𝙜𝙜𝙪𝙝𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙙𝙞𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙢𝙚 𝙢𝙖𝙢𝙖, 𝙞𝙢𝙢𝙖 𝙠𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢" Murda says, increasing the volume of his voice. "𝘼𝙝𝙩 𝙖𝙝𝙩— 𝙇𝙖𝙈𝙖𝙧𝙦𝙪𝙚𝙨!" Alicia says in a half whisper. "𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙄 𝙙𝙤? 𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙠𝙣𝙚𝙬 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙞𝙣 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙝𝙖𝙙 𝙢𝙚" Murda asks through a chuckle. Part of his laugh stemming from his half understanding that he's not making complete sense. "𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬 𝙄'𝙤𝙣 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙩𝙖𝙡𝙠 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩" Alicia says. "𝙒𝙖𝙞𝙩 𝙢𝙖𝙢𝙖, 𝙞𝙛 𝙖 𝙣𝙞𝙜𝙜𝙪𝙝 𝙙𝙞𝙙 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙘𝙚𝙙𝙪𝙧𝙚... 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙖 𝙣𝙞𝙜𝙜𝙪𝙝 𝙜𝙤𝙩𝙩𝙖 𝙘𝙚𝙡𝙚𝙗𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙚" Murda says. The quickness in the topic change, makes Alicia chuckle once more. It's evident he might've been even higher than she was. "𝙌𝙪𝙞𝙩 𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙮𝙞𝙣...𝙄'𝙢 𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙡" Murda says, rubbing his eyes. "𝙄 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙧 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙗𝙬𝙤𝙮. 𝘼𝙣𝙙 𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙣 𝙩𝙤 𝙙𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩?" she asks. "𝙒𝙚 𝙜𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙗𝙞𝙩𝙘𝙝 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙤 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙋𝙮𝙣𝙠 𝙢𝙖𝙢𝙖" Murda says, turning his head to face her. "𝘾𝙝𝙖𝙢𝙥𝙖𝙜𝙣𝙚 𝘾𝙖𝙢𝙥𝙖𝙞𝙜𝙣 𝙨𝙩𝙮𝙡𝙚, 𝙙𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙠𝙨 𝙤𝙣 𝙢𝙚... 𝙘𝙪𝙯 𝘪'𝘮 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙥 𝙥𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙘𝙚—𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙪𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙛𝙪𝙘𝙠𝙞𝙣 𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙨𝙝𝙞𝙩. 𝙔𝙪𝙝 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙧 𝙢𝙚, 𝙢𝙖𝙢𝙖?" he says, reaching over a few inches to tap her. "𝙔𝙚𝙖, 𝙄 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙧 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙗𝙖𝙗𝙮..." she says, patting his leg. "𝙢𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙛𝙖𝙘𝙩— 𝙄 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙠 𝙚𝙧𝙧𝙗𝙤𝙙𝙮 𝙘𝙖𝙣. 𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙢𝙖𝙮 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙣𝙖 𝙥𝙞𝙥𝙚 𝙙𝙤𝙬𝙣 𝙗𝙧𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙖 𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙚" she says, peeking around the corner of the room. "𝙒𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝘾𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙛? 𝘾𝙖𝙣'𝙩 𝙧𝙪𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙙𝙤𝙢 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙦𝙪𝙞𝙣𝙜" Murda says, struggling to open his eyes again.