"the first miracle was that you were born" | HEART GAME

[miraculess]

Th- thump.

Th- thump.

Th- thump.

Darkness. Quiet. A heartbeat. Your heartbeat. Slowly, the murmur of sound. Footsteps. Voices—

Comments

Re: the laboratory

[eldestt]

[ wtf ]

[ WAIT, DID THE PERSON ON THE FLOOR GET UP TO LEAVE, OR ]

Re: the laboratory

[miraculess]

No, they're very much still there. The person who just left must have been someone else.

Re: the laboratory

[eldestt]

[ ok we're looking at the person who is still on the floor, first. and stretching limbs ]

Re: the laboratory

[miraculess]

It's a woman; blonde, with choppy chin-length hair. Her labcoat is rumpled, and missing a button. She's a little dusty, but nowhere near as much as the rest of the room; it looks like someone's made an attempt to brush her off, but not especially recently.

Re: the laboratory

[eldestt]

[ . . . D. . . . USTY. . . . ?

kneeling down to check her body temperature ]

Re: the laboratory

[miraculess]

...oh.

She's dead, isn't she... why did you think she was only sleeping?

Re: the laboratory

[eldestt]

[ . . . ew

well. then.

removes his hand, standing up more straight and looking around to give the rest of the room a sweeping look, very clearly avoiding the dead body ]

Re: the laboratory

[miraculess]

It isn't as though she looks at all decayed...

Aside from the tray of surgical implements, there's nothing else there but dust... and you.

Re: the laboratory

[eldestt]

[ >check self for weapons and items ]

Re: the laboratory

[miraculess]

No weapons. If you really want one of those, there are scalpels on that tray.

...there's something in one of your pockets, though. (Did you have pockets before...?)

Re: the laboratory

[eldestt]

[ yeah i'm gonna take the scalpels

also what's in my pockets, pulling that out? ]

Re: the laboratory

[miraculess]

Your fingers close around it. There's enough time to register that it feels like a button before a sense of shame and unhappy determination overwhelms you.

The woman lying on the floor... she's your fault. You made a terrible mistake, and you can't take it back or make up for it. But... you can make sure you never do it again. You just have to make sure you remember.

Re: the laboratory

[eldestt]

[ . . . ah.

he has a tight frown for a split second, before schooling his expression to something more neutral. no, never again.

pocketing the button again, and this time he looks to the woman, taking a long moment to memorize her features.

then, he's turning to the door. ]

Re: the laboratory

[miraculess]

Again, he gets that glimpse of someone rushing out.

Re: the laboratory

[eldestt]

[ . . . FOLLOWING? as quietly as he can ]

Re: the laboratory

[miraculess]

Even with his attempts to be quiet, the sound of footsteps echo loudly, as does the swish of cloth; it sounds almost like whispers.

The door opens to a hall, lined with doors; they're all shut except the one on the far end, which the woman is already slipping through.