MAKAYLLA MALDONADO Empty Capsules
When I drew my attention to the glass, I saw the familiarity that was our home. More specifically, what we saw day-in and day-out. It wasn’t welcoming, but we were always greeted with a slate-colored sky and shimmering grass. The sun was always hiding behind a blanket of cotton and whenever this blanket got rung out, it’d drop its excess water onto the earth below. Although gloomy days and persistent rain were common here, we usually did experience all four seasons in one week. Hell, here in Blackwood, we were sometimes lucky enough to experience all four seasons in one day. “What are you staring at?” She asked, which resulted in me blinking a few times and turning my head to look over at her. She gawked up at me with a contorted face. Sarah’s nose was scrunched, and her brows furrowed under misted and squinty eyes. She wasn’t a morning person, and I knew that. “Nothing, just the weather I guess,” I admitted as I stepped back from my window. We both walked into the kitchen but parted ways once we got to the wooden tabletop. She plucked a plastic bottle from the fridge while I rummaged through the cabinet above the stove. It was the one spot I could put all my prescriptions without her laying her hands on them. This was mainly due to our height difference and how she always grew a little tense whenever the stove was in use. I scanned through every bottle with warm fingertips before I eventually pulled it down to eye level. After seeing the blue scribbles on the lid, I opened the orange capsule before two pills slipped into my palms. With little to no hesitation, I leaned my head back and took them like a shot of bourbon. However, when it comes to the difference between taking a shot and taking pills, I didn’t need a chaser for the medication. Once I put the bottle back in the cabinet and closed its beige doors, I could feel Sarah’s eyes staring me down before I turned to see her. Her beady little eyes were practically searing through my skin and when I made eye contact with her, I felt it shoot through my brain like a bullet. “I don’t understand why you need to take so many different meds,” she admitted as she turned back to her beverage, almost ashamed to make her remark. “I’ll tell you when you’re older.” “You always say that,” she admitted. She wasn’t wrong, this wasn’t the first time she asked, and this wasn’t the first time I said I’d tell her in the future. I’m sure this wouldn’t be the last time we discuss this either. Over the years, and I mean literal years, this has been an ongoing banter between the two of us. “I promise I’ll tell you when I’m ready to,” I admitted, “you know I don’t break promises.”
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