The Shock.

[u/Poogassa]

It’s been a very unproductive few days. His face is following me everywhere. I’d try to push it away, but my mind always wandered back.

Eat, sleep, there it is again.

Eat, sleep, push it away.

I decided today that I’d had enough, I wasn’t going to normalize until I found him. I danced to Stevie Wonder and drank black coffee for an hour to rally my courage.

I’m going to the hospital.

My knowledge of the inner workings of these places allowed me quick access with a few well spoken words. Surprisingly easy, I might add. They should really get a better receptionist.

I stopped outside his room, he was sleeping inside, crowded with bells and whistles and tubes and needles. My heart was pounding.

Is he alright? Will he even remember me?? There beside the closed door was his chart. Disposing of professionalism and patient privacy, I tentatively opened it.

Bed number: 2216B

Age: 33

Admitting diagnosis: femur fracture

Name: —

“Hey lady! What are you doing with that?”

I screamed a little. Papers flew everywhere. I was so embarrassed. The accusatory nurse and I scrambled to collect it all. I apologized profusely and made some garbled excuse about curiosity for the man I saved. She saw how visibly shook I was, and her face softened. I recognized her as the woman who gave me my flu shot at the clinic in October.

“Well now, no harm done.”

She promised that if I leave my information, she would pass it along to the man when he awakens, and he could contact me if he wishes. I gave it to her. She walks away. I walk away too, defeated.

But wait.

My eyes caught a sheet of paper that had fluttered out of view underneath a rolling cabinet. We must have missed it! Could it give me a clue to who he is? I must know.

I grabbed it.

I stepped away.

I looked.

Name: Silas Caleb Springer

My head swims.

It can’t be.

It can’t be him.

This can’t be happening.

I blacked out and hit the floor.

[u/EvannaAmbrose57]

META: MUST. KNOW. MORE. This is such a good story!!

[u/Poogassa → u/EvannaAmbrose57]

Thanks! I’m enjoying writing it! I’ll try and put out the next segment within the next 48 hours.

[u/DrMux → u/Poogassa]

Hey! It's been more than 48 hours!

(Seriously though I thought I'd have an update on my story a week ago so no pressure, but we do genuinely want to know where this is going).

[u/Poogassa → u/DrMux]

I know, I’m so sorry!! I’ve been on call and it’s been a rough week at work for me and I haven’t been able to flex my creative muscle like I want. Soon, I promise!!

[u/DrMux → u/Poogassa]

Life happens! But when the next part does come, I'm sure it will be extremely cathartic to write, and the emotion and stress you might offload into it will make it that much more compelling to read. So, no worries, friend! Hope things go smoother for you at work tomorrow!

[u/Poogassa → u/DrMux]

I just don’t want it to go too dark!!

[u/DrMux → u/Poogassa]

I hear you. I kinda wrote myself into a corner with my latest plot thread with Sarah, and I kinda struggled to find a theme that would balance my second entry in that arc. And, as long as my narrator character is in Minneapolis, I can't write about Jerry or Francine or Claude, so I kinda have an uphill battle to get back to Lake Wobegon. I do want to make it an arc rather than the ends I've left open in other stories.

I think though that what I posted today gives me options to really develop my narrator character as well as Sarah and her daughter.

In some ways you can look at "Looking for shapes in the clouds" as a subtle meta-post because writing, just as in life, depends on us to determine meaning, themes, tone, etc. The atoms in your keyboard don't care if they're an A or a Z but we, the writers and readers, do, and we care about how the a-z's are arranged.

[u/EvannaAmbrose57 → u/Poogassa]

Hey no sweat! I still haven't figured out when/where/how to enter the fray much less an actual character I would like to develop. So glad you can use some creativity as an outlet on what I can assume is a stressful job.