NOTE: This is a first draft and is subject to change!
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Medusa has been sitting on the tiled shower floor for twenty minutes. The warm water beats down her trembling body. One arm is hugging her legs while the other rubs at her neck.
"I'm safe. It was just a dream," she says to herself for the twentieth time.
Another twenty minutes pass until she's calmed down enough. She doesn't feel the softness of her robe as she wraps it snug around her wet body. Nor does she feel the cold hard countertop under her palms. She gazes down to make sure the floor is still there.
Arachne gave her some techniques to use for when this happened. She called it derealization. First thing she said to try is to identify the feeling to help lessen the intensity of it.
"I am feeling scared because of a bad dream I had. Which is causing me to feel unsafe. I don't like feeling like this," she says to herself.
She looks at the pinky sticky note: I honor and validate my feelings.
"And it's okay to feel this way. There is nothing wrong with the way I feel."
She takes deep breaths to help ground herself. She wiggles her toes against the plush dark purple rug before the sink. Calista rubs her head against her temple. She pets her with two fingers. The rest of her snakes gather around her hand. They intertwine around her fingers and wrist, leaving kisses all over with their tongues.
The tightness in her chest eases, but it still hurts. She grabs her phone from the nightstand and plugs her earbuds in. Arachne said listening to calming music can help. She opens her music app. She finds a playlist titled 'songs that feel like a warm blanket out of the dryer' and presses shuffle.
The song begins. She crawls back under her covers. A few songs play and she feels the same. She grabs the remote for her small moonlight and presses a button. The light fades into different colors. She makes a game out of it and tries to guess which color will be next.
Blue. Green. Orange. Yellow. Like Ruth's favorite pair of converse with the sunflowers on them. The knot in her chest loosens a bit.
Red. Blue again. Pink. Like the bowl of pink Starburst on her coffee table.
Purple. Like the scrubs she wears to work.
Medusa names something related to her for each color that pops up until she falls asleep.
A door slamming in the hallway wakes her up two hours later. She gasps and sits up. Her snakes hiss at whoever did that. Honestly, other people live here. Be considerate.
She groans and drags herself out of bed. Her snakes hiss in protest. She's drained from earlier and wants nothing more than to sleep for a few more hours, but she has therapy at ten.
Rain outside knocks at the window. She yanks the black curtains open. Dark gray clouds blanket the sky. A crack of lightning lights up the buildings and her room for a moment. Now she really wants to get back in bed.
She checks the time on her phone, hoping she can get a few more minutes of sleep. It's almost seven. The selfie she and Ruth took yesterday stares up at her. She smiles.
She remembers that Ruth spent the night and goes into the living room still wearing her bathrobe. She is asleep on the couch. The blanket is tangled in her legs and her t-shirt has hiked up, showing off her soft stomach. She has a small diamond belly button piercing. Medusa fixes the blanket.
She grabs a carton of eggs, shredded cheddar cheese, spinach, butter, and strawberries from the fridge. She beats the eggs before pouring it into a pan on the stove. It sizzles against the melted butter. After a minute, she uses a spatula to lift the edges while sprinkling a handful of cheese and spinach in. She folds it once it is fully cooked. She serves it on a plate with some sliced strawberries.
Ruth is still sleeping.
Medusa covers the food with another plate to keep warm. She throws some clothes on and grabs an umbrella before quietly slipping out into the hallway. Traffic lights glow behind sheets of rain that pitter against her black umbrella.
The bell of the coffee shop door dings when she enters. There's no one here except for Riley who is sitting on the counter scrolling on his phone. It's only five past seven. He looks up and hops down.
"Medusa, good morning. Black tea?" He grabs a cup.
"And a tall pumpkin spice latte please."
Riley hesitates and looks at her surprised.
"What?"
"Nothing. I've just, you've never said please to me before." He shrugs and starts making the latte.
"Oh." She takes her wallet out.
"It's on the house today."
"Are you sure?"
He smiles. "Yeah, don't worry about it."
She slips a twenty into the tip jar when he isn't looking. He gives her a cardboard carrier to carry the drinks in. A meadow nymph walks in as she's walking out, she holds the door open. The nymph looks apprehensive, no doubt wondering if this is a trick.
"Well are you coming in?"
She eyes Medusa and her snakes for a few moments before hurrying past her. She gazes back at her with furrowed eyebrows when she gets to the counter. As if the idea of her doing anything that requires an ounce of kindness is difficult to comprehend.
Medusa walks back out into the rain and down the few blocks back to her apartment. Ruth is sitting up on the couch talking on the phone. The blanket is draped around her shoulders.
"Yeah, I'm doing better. Yesterday was just...." She groans. "Exhausting. I'm trying not to dwell on it. It happened and there's nothing I can do to change it."
Medusa sets her keys down and goes into the kitchen. She makes herself an omelet while Ruth chats with her friend.
"Okay, I gotta go. I have to be at work by nine and Medusa just got back–I spent the night at her place. Not like that!" She laughs nervously. "I fell asleep while watching TV with her. Shut up, I can hear you smirking."
Medusa chuckles softly to herself. She flips the omelet and slides it onto the plate that was covering Ruth's. She pockets her phone and gets up from the couch. The blanket falls.
"Good morning." Her voice is thick with sleep.
"Morning. I made breakfast and got you a pumpkin spice latte."
"You did?"
"I know how you like my omelets. And you were still asleep and I didn't want to wake you so I thought, why not get our drinks. So, yeah. Your plate is on the counter a few feet ahead of you."
Ruth unfolds her cane and sits on the black leather stool.
"Thanks, Medusa." She smiles and cuts the omelet with her fork. "Are you working today?"
"I don't think so." She picks at hers.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah. Just had a bad dream so I didn't sleep well."
"What did you dream about?"
Medusa clenches her fork. Taking a forty minute shower was more than ample amount of time to dissect what the dream meant. She chews on a strawberry slice.
"I don't feel up to talking about it. Sorry."
"You don't have to apologize. But are you alright?"
"I'll be fine. I just need to take it easy today." She rests her head against her fist.
They eat and make light conversation. Ruth GoFundMe is now at $25,000 and her mom got a raise at work which means saving will be easier. They've already begun looking into retail spaces to lease and renovate. Ruth then asks Medusa how her business is going as she is rinsing the dishes.
"It's a little slow, but that's usual before December. I'm taking advantage to make a surplus of everything for the holidays." She sets the plate in the dishwasher.
"What time is it?" Ruth asks.
"A quarter to eight."
"Crap. I need to get ready for work. Thanks for breakfast and the latte."
She scoops up Lamb-Lamb from the couch and makes her way towards the door with her cane.
"Wait." Medusa blurts out.
"Yeah?"
"Are you doing anything on Halloween?" She picks at her nails.
"My friends and I are going to a costume party. Why?"
"Oh, uhm, no reason. Just curious."
"See you." She closes the door behind her.
Medusa finishes cleaning up. There is still about two hours until she needs to be at Arachne's office. A heaviness settles into her stomach. Two snakes wrap around her throat. She gets back into bed and listens to the rain and cars honking. She manages to get an extra hour of sleep.
~~~~~
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