I'm getting too old for this. Or maybe it's because my body is giving out on me? Not that it matters much. These old 'friends' of mine won't care how I look or how I show up. But I suppose I could put on a show for them, just one more time.At least she still had her eyesight and wasn't confined to a wheelchair yet. Until then, she would just continue to do what she always had done, which was help people who were less fortunate than she.
She stumbled a bit and caught her step, slicing open the palm of her right hand. However, she did not take notice of the pain, or even of the fact that she had hurt herself. At least, not until she felt the slick warmth of blood draining down her fingers. Giving it a slight glance, she paused mid-stride, lifting her hand before her face to stare it the liquid.
I miss it ... I miss feeling pain. Who would have thought that someone could miss feeling pain? People weren't supposed to like it ... But I miss it.
With a shrug, she didn't even bother to wrap anything around the wound, but instead continued on her way, her jeans shorts rubbing in a bothersome way against her thighs. She was hot, sweaty, and bored with the small hike that it was taking her to reach the clearing - a hike to her but an easy walk to others.
"Stupid
Dysautonomia ..." she muttered, shaking her head with a sigh. "Whatever .."
It was then that she reached the clearing and saw them. Her old friends. Oh, how people could change in little less than a decade.
Shoving her uninjured hand in her pocket, the bleeding of her other palm forgotten, she started forward, her t-shirt clinging to her back in sweat.
"Long time no see," she said quietly in greeting as she approached them from behind, having always been the type to attempt to startle others. She lifted her hand and waved slightly, freeing her other hand to smooth it through her hair. She had changed unnaturally so since eight grade, and didn't deny the fact. Years of treatment had gotten to her, and instead of the hyperactive, laughing, bubbly girl that had said goodbye to her friends on that last day in their town, she was soft-spoken, quiet, and tired; a ghost of the girl that she once was.
"It's been a while, you guys," she sighed out, looking to the side as a slight breeze cooled her overheated body. Having once been the type to hold a person's gaze when she spoke, it was a bit disconcerting even to her that she could have become this way in such a short amount of years. "How have y'all been?"