the dinner party
Ding Zhu asked Xiao Yu to change his bandage. As she wound the bandage around his neck, she could hear his heart thumping in his chest. No doubt he could hear her heartbeat, too. She sensed his breathing becoming more labored and wished she hadn’t agreed to put the bandage on. She didn’t know what would happen next, she just knew she wasn’t breathing, her heartbeat had stopped, and the rest of the world had ceased to exist. She shut her eyes, her mind already empty of all thought. Was it a minute? No, longer, it seemed a lifetime in which she no longer belonged to herself. Yet it was so short, maybe only ten seconds, or even less; less time than it took a single breath.
~Army Nurse
~Army Nurse