Playing for Rya

34. Black

Song: Dark horse by Katy Perry ft Juicy J; Cover by Madilyn Bailey ft Lia Marie Johnson.

The silence in her apartment as Rya let herself in mirrored the quiet that had settled in her mind.

Numb, was all she felt as she curled up on her bed, gazing blankly at a spot on the wall and if she'd thought her previous riotous thoughts were a nuisance, she now knew that the silence was even more so.

It was as though she was afraid to think, like her mind was blocking her from fully processing the situation, and, if it were not for the silent tears that still rolled freely down her cheeks, she would've doubted that she'd seen what she'd seen, doubted that she was awake and not dreaming, doubted that she was hurting.

All that existed was her bed, her tears and her bedroom wall. She didn't know how long she lay there, listening to the sound of her own breathing, before her eyelids grew heavy and she fell into unconsciousness.

.....

Returning to work the following morning was a welcome relief from the quiet.

The bustling sounds of activity within the medical facility, jolted her out of her hypnotic state and fueled her as she dived headfirst back into her work.

Lunchtime came and went, and so did the end of her shift, yet she stayed holed up in the lab she'd been working in since that morning. She didn't feel hungry, she didn't feel anything, all she wanted to do was attend to the immediate tasks before her and not think about anything else.

Going home was not an option either, she didn't think she would be able to withstand the gloomy silence in her apartment for the second night in a row.

It was nearing the end of the second shift when she was finally interrupted by her friends who wasted no time making their presence known the moment they barged into the laboratory she was working in.

'You're here!' Peter's proclamation, from where he and Jace stood, just inside the door on the other side of the room, was loud enough for the four other people in the room to hear.

She glanced up from the wide, touch screen, computer monitor into which she was imputing lab results into patient files, and forced a cheerfulness she did not feel into the smile she flashed both of them as they made their way over to her.

'I work here, where else would I be?' she asked dryly.

'Uh, at home?' Jace replied as he pulled up a stool next to her, 'or elsewhere getting a life, anywhere but here, considering your shift ended...' he made a show of glancing at his watch, '...roughly six hours ago.'

'Well, my apartment is not really a place I want to be at right now, there's nowhere else I have to be since work is basically my life, so here I am.' She retorted snappily as she resumed what she'd been doing before their interruption.

'You planning on working the night shift then?' Peter asked.

'If I have to,' she responded, ignoring Jace's snort at Peter's dry attempt at humor.

'Working three shifts in a row? Jace asked in mock seriousness, as he lowered his voice to a whisper, 'correct me if I'm wrong but isn't that against hospital policy?'

'Pretty sure it is,' Peter concurred.

'Rest assured I will not be reporting myself,' Rya sighed, as she tapped unnecessarily harder on the computer screen, not feeling up for the discussion they were currently having, 'besides I'm pretty sure we worked a straight double shift the first day we got here. Was that against the rules too?' She asked.