Romans & histoires Talks Nonsense

I pace the room mentally, trying to talk myself down. “Nothing has changed,” I whisper to myself, as if saying it out loud will make it true. “Just your perception of reality, no big deal.” But I can’t help the sarcastic laugh that escapes me. “Fuck me,” I mutter, shaking my head. My perception of reality has just been turned inside out. “This would be a hell of a TED talk,” I muse aloud to no one in particular as I finally slide out of bed. It’s Friday, and technically I’ve got the day off, but there’s still a small mountain of work to do for my talk on Monday, including finding an appropriate outfit. “Whatever that means,” my inner monologue chimes in, raising its proverbial eyebrows.

After stroking his fuming wife’s hand to calm her down, they started the discussion. Greg brought them up to speed about Dr Tanish and Madame Psych. The good news was that this was a false alarm. The scientists behaved normally, speaking only to each other while closing off their field of vision, hearing and opinion to everyone else. They were, in Greg’s words, ‘still dabbling in random nonsense without any prospect of a breakthrough’. When they moved on to J.J., Bundy and Dormant Little Red, Lucianne’s brows pulled together when she questioned, “Are these three from the same…clan, Greg?”

Show‑off. We talk about nothing and everything, movies, music, the weird guy at the gas station who tried to sell him a ferret once. I laugh so hard I snort, and he looks at me like it’s the best sound he’s ever heard. For a moment, I forget about tomorrow. About Nationals. About everything. It’s just us.

I floated in the dark, foul-smelling pool like a dead fish. “Just two more minutes.” Lucien's voice trembled, as though he were trying to convince himself. “As soon as the storyline is complete, I'll pull Olivia out.” A warm stream flowed from my body, and the water around me slowly turned red. With my consciousness fading, I could no longer tell whether the voices I heard belonged to the other world or the thugs surrounding me. “Oh my God! Why is she bleeding like that? Wait… is she pregnant?” “Lucien! Stop waiting! Your wife is miscarrying in that pool! Go save her!”