nepenthe
for gen_drabble; Nepenthe, "the one that chases away sorrow".
*
“Why don’t you meditate?” Teer asks one morning, gently incurious.
“I do,” John says (lies), twiddling a grass-stem.
“You sleep,” she corrects, her expression sweet but humorless. (Nobody ever really smiles here.)
“I don’t want to ascend,” he says; don’t want to leave them behind, he doesn’t, but she hears anyway.
“Why not? They’ve left you.” She presses her hand against his heart. “You hurt-I can feel it. Why do you choose to remember such pain and the people who caused it?”
“There’s more than one way to abandon someone,” he tells her (break, heart; I prithee-) and walks away.
*
“Why don’t you meditate?” Teer asks one morning, gently incurious.
“I do,” John says (lies), twiddling a grass-stem.
“You sleep,” she corrects, her expression sweet but humorless. (Nobody ever really smiles here.)
“I don’t want to ascend,” he says; don’t want to leave them behind, he doesn’t, but she hears anyway.
“Why not? They’ve left you.” She presses her hand against his heart. “You hurt-I can feel it. Why do you choose to remember such pain and the people who caused it?”
“There’s more than one way to abandon someone,” he tells her (break, heart; I prithee-) and walks away.