My Year of Rest and Relaxation

The bed was a king, low to the ground, and whenever I slept in it, I felt very far away from the world, <…>. I missed that bed.

Reva was quiet for a while, cold white puffs of air rising up off her tongue as she licked the long plastic spoon.<…> She stuck the McFlurry cup between her knees and continued to drive and eat.

Let me buy you breakfast.”

I was trapped. The day would be hell. I would suffer. I felt I might not survive. I needed a dark, quiet room, my videos, my bed, my pills. I hadn’t been this far from home in many months. I was frightened.
“Can we stop for coffee?”

“Isn’t the snow so beautiful? It’s peaceful

“I’m just happy you got here.”

It was Reva. She lowered the power window of the passenger seat and waved to me. I considered ignoring her and turning back across the tracks to catch the next train back to the city. She honked. I walked out to the road and got into the car.

One Infermiterol had taken days of my life away. It was the perfect drug in that sense.

I don’t know what I’d eaten, but it certainly was not the usual animal crackers or salad from the diner.

I looked down at my hands. It was hard to move them. They smelled like cigarettes and perfume.