A Five-Minute Life

“Sure, Miss Hughes,” he says. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Then the beautiful, handsome man in a white uniform gets up and walks away.

I miss him already. I wish he’d come back. He has such kind eyes. Built like a brick wall with a sturdy jaw shaded with stubble, yet he’s not intimidating to me. He’s a good man. I want to keep talking to him.

He seemed reluctant to leave.

Maybe he’s lonely.

Maybe I’ll go find him and ask if he wants to hang out. Nothing serious. We just met, for crying out loud. But seeing him again feels like something that would be good for me.

I start to rise out of my chair when my eye catches a drawing on the table in front of me. It’s an Egyptian landscape—a tall pyramid casting a long shadow under a blazing sun.

Did I draw this? Of course. Obviously, it’s here in front of me, along with pens and colored markers. I must’ve started it before the accident. I should finish it. It’s been two years. I’ll finish it now. I uncap a Magic Marker, wishing I had canvas and paint. Maybe Delia will bring some for me when she comes. Or Mom and Dad.

I miss them. I try to remember their faces, to recall one moment of our lives before the accident.

I can’t. When I look, I see emptiness. Like a vast desert of space with no walls but no air moving either. Fear starts to dig into my stomach, and I reach for the markers. Something I can hold in my hand. I add color to the sky. When it’s done, I pick up the ballpoint. Tiny words loop out from under my pen and fill the shadow beneath the pyramid.

Strong stone moan groan lone alone lonely lowly low slow such scratch scar scar scar

It doesn’t make sense. Words and words and words, saying nothing.

A person who studies words is an etymologist.

How is this a Thing I Know? Did I study words in college? Did I go to college? I try to remember. Something. Anything.

Silence in my mind.

Emptiness.

I’m lost…

My heart pounds and blood rushes to my ears. I read the words beneath the pyramid again.

Strong stone moan groan lone alone lonely

Jimmy is

lonely. The words are about Jimmy.

Who is Jimmy?

Dark hair and eyes. Kind eyes. And a uniform. Was it white…?

Was what white?

I don’t know. I can’t see anymore. I can’t remember…

I open my eyes for the first time.

There’s an old man with a dented head at the next table.

Am I in a hospital?

Yes, because there was an accident and now I’m back.

Jesus, how long have I been away?