Extant

Chapter 1

"Could you slow down? It's bad enough I could have died young once, I don't need you crashing my chair into a wall." I said, gripping the armrests of the wheelchair Kelley is dangerously controlling.

"Stop being overly dramatic, besides, I could have died too." she said, carefully slowing down so I'm not launched from the wheelchair. "Why don't you loosen up a bit Toboggan?"

I pushed the chair myself and got out of her grasp. I turned around to look at her and she gave me a little wink. No. I couldn't. Not with her. Not like this.

"Kelley, I couldn't possibly do that with you. You're my friend, maybe even my best friend. But that's it." I said looking at her. She sighed.

"What if all I meant was getting a massage?" she said, a grin now present on her face.

"No one winks while suggesting a massage Kel." I said starting to wheel into the cafeteria. I pulled up to a table and looked at the menu, despite it being the same every day.

"Look dude, I don't know about you, but I think you need some action, doesn't even have to be with me." she said while pulling out a chair and sitting next to me. I just shook my head.

We sat in silence, as much as a cafeteria can give you of course. I started sipping on the water brought to me when she spoke.

"You know what sucks?" she said, making me draw my eyebrows in. She's probably not talking about the quality of the sandwich today.

"Dying?" I said almost jokingly. I read a poem that referred to death as a person and that he's no big deal, pretty interesting actually. I tend to joke about it probably too much.

"Well, yea, of course. But worse than that?" she asked, almost prodding for an answer.

"Don't know what could possibly be worse..." I trailed off. I'm sure that's pretty high on the sucky scale. Yes I just said that.

"Dying a virgin." she said simply. I started gnawing on my straw. What does this kid want from me.

"Kelley I said no-" I started, getting cut off by her holding up a finger. I kept in any argument.

"Fine, doesn't have to be with me. At least someone though. I think I have an end-of-stay project for us." she said throwing the slight remains of our food away.

She came over and I raised the wheel stoppers. She started wheeling me out and we went to the elevator again, only this time she went down to the lobby instead of up to the rooms.

"What are you doing?" I asked while the doors closed. The elevator started lowering. They really need some stereotypical elevator music in here. That's right Eminem, you make elevating music and I'll make elevator music.

"We are finding you your future first." she said, over articulating the 't' sound. That sentence had like two different cases of alliteration.

All I could do is sigh. It's not like I can get up and run. I could hop but she'd easily be able to catch me. I just relaxed in the chair. The benefit of having Kelley is that I can just chill out while still moving around.

We went to the lobby where there were people in the waiting room. This is kind of a busy hospital, plus there's the ER/Urgent Care so there is usually quite a few people. Kelley stopped and I looked around and up at her. She had her hand over her eyes and squinted as if it would help her see better.

"See anyone good?" I asked jokingly. She let out a sigh and let her arms flop to her sides. She started pushing me again.

"Nope." she said with a genuinely sad sounding voice. I guess she didn't spot my sarcasm. We went to the other elevator when I spotted a girl on a gurney.