Anew

The walls were gritty and gray, full of grime–or were they green and full of slime? Devon wasn’t certain, but there was a definite smell in the air. Urine, or algae, or maybe both. And somehow, beyond that, was the stench of abrasive cleaner with an aggressive pine scent.

“The fuck?” he asked the air, and his voice rasped and broke.

Light streaked sideways through thick square panes of glass arranged like tile high on the wall, but the panes were yellowed and browned, some caked so thick that the light was reduced to a dim glow along their margins. The room was small as a cell, and the mattress under him had a surface that seemed to move with a life of its own. Up he sat, itchy and uncomfortable.

“Shit,” he breathed, when gravity made his head swim and his limbs felt too heavy to properly move. “This is real.” His fingers raked through his hair, nails digging along his scalp, eyes stinging. Not a dream. Not a dream, and that could only mean one thing.

because covid in the emergency room wasn't bad enough 

i was assaulted

my life upended in a matter of seconds 

-

years of multiple surgeries and painstaking recovery later 

i am going to try again 

to try again