Member-only story
The News
A Short Story
She used the force of her back to push the glass door to her neighborhood convenience store open.
She had always been one of “those people”. The ones who don’t touch door handles because at any time, no matter what the season, some god-forsaken virus lingers on surfaces consistently utilized by dirty hands.
Not that it ended up mattering much.
The balding man behind the counter nodded his head in familiarity at her. She tried to form a smile through pursed lips in return. Her body moved straight toward the candy bar aisle, eyes still glazed, still staring at the doctor from this morning.
The doctor had folded her hands, adjusted the empathy and straightforwardness settings in her demeanor, and said just a mouthful of words.
But that’s all it to took to make a mess of her life.
Her phone had been ringing periodically all day. Had it not been shiny and expensive, she may have chucked it into a public trash bin earlier. She knew it was him calling for an update.
She knew he would bombard her with questions in the way that children do when they’re first learning about something. She didn’t blame him. He was worried. She also knew she couldn’t handle it. Not now.
