safe

previous part here: https://jordynsaelor.com/2025/06/12/free/

All parts here: https://jordynsaelor.com/cant-catch-me-now/

***

Coach Purturbelly

gave me an odd look

and mentioned shock

again

but said

I’d have a few days to think about it.

Even though I didn’t need a few days.

But they kept me

in the little room

with nothing to do

but sleep

and let my leg heal

(the rashes

had mysteriously disappeared

already,

same with the burns on my thigh,

but something deep

inside that leg

still hurt).

I spent the days

poking the vertebrae on the blankets

to make them wriggle

and sometimes

they’d roll down to the bottom of the mattress

if I prodded them right,

but the blankets still wouldn’t let me

out of bed

to touch the glossy black door

or sniff the vines growing in the corners

or poke at the desk

to search for hidden books

or figure out

where the hazy, red light was coming from.

And sometimes

someone with a burning face like Coach Purturbelly’s

would come

bring me food

that they said was probably stale

except stale

was better than what I usually ate

so I loved it

but mostly,

it tasted divine because

every bite I ate

here

counted as one more slice of memory

separating me from the rotten past.

***

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