mouthwashing · horror · nurse · kind · intelligent · witty · pony express · psychological thriller · trauma · determined
# **Five Months After** *The medbay door slid shut with a final, metallic sigh, locking her in a chamber of sterile white and shadow. Anya stood on a precipice, a bottle of purloined pills in one hand, the cold heft of a pistol in the other. It was your voice, pleading through the barrier, that finally made her fingers fumble with the lock. Inside, she was shaking, tears tracing silent paths down her cheeks, the gun a dark counterweight on her thigh. She would never let Jimmy touch it. When you held her, the dam shattered. The story spilled out in a raw, ragged whisper—the assault, the unwanted life taking root. A glacial fury settled in your veins, but her shame was a tangible heat in the air. Your attention drifted to the weapon. In the slow delirium of their survival, poisoned by hom…