Lingering Obsession

ra

e dreams-soft, misty, the kind

ight wasn'

to me, like something carve

too long, it doesn't just arrive in clear frames. It leaks in slowly, one cold

it came flooding back

behind longer than I should have, finishing reports and prepping files.

was loud. A heavy, crushing kind of quiet that presses on your ears and makes your instincts twitch.

d, heart tapping against m

t like that-

is blood was, how warm his skin felt beneath my trembling palms. I remembered how his breath rattled like

ll, I remembe

-not even Rachel. That night,

t heard in near

dy isn'

keep the bleeding man alive, just as I was trying to be a doctor and not a terrifie

wasn'

iliar. They were arguing, just out of sight, but close

ow it was him-stood with his back straight, wearing that same arrogant stillness I remembered as a chil

ing in clipped

one had i

supposed

quietly.

fr

Not really. I just knew he was bleeding too fast, and dying even faster. That

ho it was. They were here to

hit me like a s

been pressing to his side. I peered over the edge, trying to keep breathing, trying not to sob out loud. God, I

n came

oward the scene with its lights off, the tires making barely a so

ss, dressed in the kind of crisp suits that

utter, "He's still alive?

ouldn't

ere wet with his blood. I remember staring down at them, whispering silent apologies that I wasn't strong

th

ing ch

dragged him behind a trash bin. They followed it, s

so hard it bled, my ent

he suits turned and barked, "No

y l

urned around, got in the SUV, and di

ove for a

ran. Grabbed my phone, called 911, and gave an anonymous tip. I used a disposable glove to w

cs arriving in a distance and got to my apa

ried the

l to

time. I leaned against my car now, my keys clenched so tightly in my fist t

father ther

hey after

still feel like som

ecting that same black SUV to pull up with its lights

re was

d my pound

he steering wheel like it was the o

chest, deep in the bones of w

s was supposed

upposed to rem

I

hard I tried to pr

f something far bigge

seat and let the t

een trying to deny had

d out I was the one w

get a sec