depero
highly industrialized military base, startling place for a girl to be. a skinny one, breathing hard, leaning next to the entrance to the stairs. i notice her before anyone else. she’s tall, hair in a ponytail, low cut white lab coat.
something about it tugs me to her. she needs my help. i touch her, rub my hand on her back, ask if she’s okay, vigorous. her head makes an imperceptible side-to-side in my neck - she feels ready to sob, in a panic. she’s skinny; i strum her rib bones like a harp. i hold her tight against me. i tell her she's gonna be fine, tell her to breathe, it's just the drugs, or the alcohol, or whatever she's had.
the elevator dings some metres away. the doctor is here and striding towards us, in a white lab coat, same as hers, locked in a perpetual Depero stride, footsteps ominous, the music screeching, she’s sobbing, it’s over, she will die like this -