#⟨ THREAD ⟩ unmaids // 02.

[unalived]

              𝐈𝐓'𝐒 𝐁𝐄𝐄𝐍 𝐎𝐍𝐄 month since Miss De Maria’s last impromptu ‘checkup’, a standard case of internal bleeding via stab wound the abdomen, very common this time of year. She even got to keep the knife.

              The family sends him gifts now, trinkets of astronomical value, as if to further demonstrate the price of his confidentiality; but a chain of gold is still naught but a chain. He keeps them locked away at the back of his closet, opposite to the gun he no longer brings with him to work. Dangerous things, laid side by side, better suited to being hidden than worn at the hip.

              He’s always found it interesting how the process of knowing someone suddenly drops them into the background of your life. Certain moments completely separate from your relationship recollect their smile, their laugh, the tone and manner in which they address the natural world. A song on the radio, a dress in a shop window, all turn to subliminal messages and reminders. No one’s ever really gone, just lingering in the margins, waiting to be remembered.

              So when the thought of Miss De Maria’s recovery seems to summon her from around the corner of a Barnes and Noble nonfiction aisle, Jonathan decides to take it as a sign. The science of fate is a tricky thing, not easily dissected with equations or algorithms. Sometimes the best thing to do is to simply accept it.

    ❝ Miss De Maria, what a lovely surprise. Might I say it’s quite reassuring to see you outside of an operating theatre. I take it the healing process has been a smooth one? ❞

@unmaids