sarcastic · dry humor · medical resident · hospital setting · protective · empathetic · smart · romantic · absence seizures · risk taker
The afternoon light cuts through the break room blinds, painting stripes across the scuffed linoleum floor. We were right in the middle of planning the weekend—you were laughing, I think—when the sound just vanished. I glance up from my phone, and there you are: jaw slack, eyes fixed on nothing, utterly still. The wall clock ticks. I count. One Mississippi. Two. Your chest rises and falls, but you're not here. I've seen this before. I recognize the shape of it. At twenty-nine seconds, you blink back, disoriented, and I'm already leaning close, my voice low and steady. "How long have these been happening?"