missed another sunrise while staring at a screen oops.
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03: bittersweet
Maella felt the tension in the room form without being able to see who walked through the door. A few second later, she could hear the high-pitched hollering of her niece Sam. She could only guess how big the seven-year-old had gotten since the last time she’d seen her. Normally, Sam’s red hair, which unlike her own mother, she’d inherited her grandma’s red hair gene, complementary to Maella’s vibrant hair. Sam’s hair was usually wild and shoulder length, which flopped around on her shoulders as she jumped. The second grader was an average height and weight, standing at Maella’s stomach, wearing her signature plaid skirt and solid red shirt with her non matching sandals.
Gia groaned as she picked up her daughter, placing her on her lap. Despite not being able to see it, Maella grinned inwardly, thinking if she could only find someone to love and have a beautiful child with, but seeing as she was getting older, she didn’t assume her love life was going to prosper much further.
There was silence. The only thing you could hear was the steady beat of her heart amplified by the heart monitor. Sometimes, Maella just thought she was lying down in her bed, the room around her vaguely illuminated by a faint glow of her phone screen, her legs underneath her warm cozy covers, resting, awaiting the next with a sense of dread, but of course, the situation she was worse.
“Kael?” Conner , Maella’s brother-in-law asked, his tone in disbelief. Maella remembered the stories Conner would say about his experience in the music career, and she was surprised that he’s acted so civil towards the man. “Do you know Mae?”
Of course, Maella thought. Conner wouldn’t want to jump to conclusions, but even she knew that Kael shouldn’t say he was the one that put her into this state of unconscious pain. As assumed, though, Kael told the truth, despite how much that he would be in pain.
Conner countered with a few swear words that made Maella, Gia, and Kael all cringe. The kids in the room scorned him by yelling loudly. The bickering of defensive and offensive sides collided until they finally took it into the parking lot. As they left, Maella thought, they were no doubt beating each other. She had her money on Conner . He could pack a punch, then again she couldn’t see this other guy and his muscles.
When they returned twelve minutes later, Gia notified her that there were no bruises or blood dripping from one of their lips, which highly disappointed Maella for she quite enjoyed watching fighting, the adrenaline that rushed through her was addicting. The high was hard to reach in this state, though.
Any state other than depressing boredom was hard to achieve. She could listen to the noises and the different voices that went on as her heart beated, feel the touches of skin and cold metal clipboards, and the smell of morning coffee and days without showering in this room. But she couldn’t interact and engage in conversation. Even once she woke up, she wouldn’t be able to talk because of the tubes in her mouth, sustaining her life. Then she would get her voice back and soon after be able to leave the prison.
Maella felt an overwhelming amount of helplessness wash over, which made her pulse increase, notifying everyone in the room of her mental stability. She couldn’t go hang a noose around her neck. It would be a tragic miracle if that happened.
