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LEAH
Oneirophrenia is a hallucinatory state caused by sleep deprivation that can cause the patient to confuse dreams from reality. That was what her professor had said back in the old world when dreams and reality had different meanings and university still mattered.
Leah still remembers the ticking of her pen as she scribbled down her notes, the musty smell of the classroom and how she preferred the scent of disinfectant from the hospital instead.
She remembers the burning sensation of cheap alcohol down her throat and how it matched the burning shame she felt while doing so, roaring fire in both her larynx and her heart.
She doesn't remember her old phone number. Nor her old apartment. She just remembers the window door through which the first walker she had ever seen entered.
She doesn't remember her brother's face if she doesn't look at the only picture she has of him every now and then. But the picture is faded and so is he in her memory.
She remembers his blood on her hands, the sickening sensation of seeing him die in front of her.
She doesn't remember how to distinguish dreams from reality. She never did.
"All done, see you next week." Leah repeated like a mantra to every patient she had seen for the following week. The dim light of the neon lights that hung from the tent barely illuminated the now empty seat next to her, the air outside of it already embracing the coldness the night brought with her.
Jake stayed true to his words and got her a place in the infirmary like he had promised. Unfortunately he couldn't keep his other side of the promise about Troy staying away from her. Leah sighed as she got up, tiredly rubbing a hand over her face as she checked her clipboard.
Everyday the man was there, whether it was about a cut on his hand or a headache, he always seemed to find a rare source of amusement in seeing Leah's face contorted in a mask of irritation every time he walked in.
She had thought about the incident a lot more than she would rather admit, at the point that it was borderline shamefully. Leah wondered if it had been a horrible irreparable mistake or just something that could be swept under the carpet.
