"bernie,"
the leader said,
stroking bernie's face in
his hospital bed.
but bernie didn't move,
he was in a coma.
bernie's mother left him
alone with bernie,
he said bernie would
would want it on one on,
jokingly.
"i know you can't hear me,
and if you could, you wouldn't
even care,
but i want to tell you something
that you wouldn't expect
from an aa group leader."
beep beep
he lifted his sleeve to reveal
a vertical scar called a
"suicide cut" on his wrist
up to his forearm.
he took bernie's lifeless hand
and squeezed it.
"you know they never expect
people like us to go on,
but i'm the living proof.
and i've dedicated my life
to people like you, that have
gotten lost along the way."
beep beep
he was about to go on,
but then he felt something.
not something in the form of
an idea in his brain,
but a feeling formed
from a nerve sensor
in his hand.
