Waiting for Fitz by Spencer Hyde

Author:Spencer Hyde
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Shadow Mountain Publishing
Published: 2019-02-17T20:31:25+00:00

Seven

The next morning the sky was bouncing with rows of bright clouds cruising through the blue, like some race to the horizon. There were these small rays of sunlight trailing down the hospital windows that turned as the clouds drifted past.

Wolf was standing near the entrance to the psych ward and quietly repeating, “I want my horse.” I considered talking to him but realized it might only lead to more anxiety. I understood routines all too well. Rituals—the absurd nature of their repetition.

As I made my way to Doc’s office, I saw Leah curled up with a book near the fake plants in the study room, but it didn’t look like she was all that invested in her book. I stopped by to visit, even knowing it would make me late for my session with Doc. Whatever. He’d get over it.

“What are you reading? Looks cool,” I said. “And I love the new hair color.”

“Thanks,” she said, rubbing her buzz. She’d dyed a streak in one side of her hair, probably for a day visit with her mom, who probably wanted to help her stop obsessing over the short hair. Really, though, the girl pulled off the look.

“I almost dyed once,” I said. Leah looked at me in surprise. I waited a beat. “But I didn’t think my hair would look good with the new color.”

She laughed. That’s what I lived to see—a genuine smile on another face. She had her knees pulled up beneath her oversized shirt that she usually wore to bed. Look, it’s not like people really got “ready” for the day in the psych ward. In fact, we rarely wore anything but sweats and a T-shirt. On cold days—okay, every day—I grabbed a sweatshirt as well, but the dress code was nonexistent. Even the orderlies wore the same thing most days. It was probably nice for them, in fact, not having to worry about that sort of thing.

“It’s a book about whales. Kind of cool,” she said.

I nudged her a little with my shoulder as I sat down next to her and curled into my own body, the shared warmth a nice thing on a cold morning. “You okay?”

“I am. Just thinking, is all.”

“Yeah? What about?”

“Whales. Like how much they eat and stuff. A baby whale gains two hundred pounds a day for the first year of its life. Cool things like that,” she said, rubbing her hair as she finished her sentence. “And when they die, it’s called a whalefall, and they make it so other fish can live on their body for hundreds of years. I don’t know how that works.”

“I’ve gained so much weight here, I’m starting to feel like one of those whales,” I said, standing and lurching forward, mocking a slow step and undulating motion.

Leah laughed as I made a fake whale call by singing in loud, prolonged rhythms with my mouth in an O, and swam away. “I’ll seeee yooou at lunch, Leeeaaah,” I said in my whale voice.

She kept giggling as I wandered away.

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