Colors and Flavors [OPEN]

[Metropal]

~~~

Maybe it was a bad idea to go to the store this early in the morning. Last night, when it crossed her mind that she needed to go out to get some food, she hadn't thought that picking this time would be at conflict with her physical condition in which she put herself in every morning. Now, as the numbing buzz of morphling coursed through her blood stream, she could barely read the words written on little white tags beneath each option of produce. As her eyelids threatened to droop closed, she reached out and felt the crisp ball of what she thought was cabbage beneath her fingertips. The green blur of it through the water gathering around her eyes as she yawned confirmed her suspicions and she put it in her basket.

"Ma'am? Do you need any help?" A distorted voice echoed through her mind and it took a moment to convince herself it was not a figment of her imagination. Turning, revealed a woman, in her late twenties, obviously waiting for an answer.

"I'm looking for food." Lani replied duly and slightly confused.

"Anything in particular?" Came the curt reply.

"Umm...cabbage." She held up her sole prize and smiled proudly.

"Very good." The woman must have sensed something was up, because suddenly the echo in her head started to get softer, like it was talking to a child. She wasn't a child. Was the woman still talking to her then? "Anything else you need?"

"Salad stuff." Lani replied, unsure of herself. In all actuality she couldn't remember what exactly she needed to make a salad. What was a salad again? The morphling tablets she had taken that morning were really settling in now. And everything was getting very blurry. She must have grabbed a leaf of her cabbage and taken a bite of it then, because the last thing she remembered before she passed out was the color green and the watery, crisp flavor of it's leaf.

~~~

"Lani?" A voice penetrated slowly through the blanketing blackness of Lani's unconsciousness. It was familiar, but she couldn't quite place it at first. Something about how tenderly it shaped her name, like it was a precious piece of glass that would break if handled the wrong way. And then it clicked.

Her amber eyes flicked open immediately in surprise, but then blinked furiously getting used to the bright white light of the room. Once she did, she looked over to the chair at her bed side where her very concerned mother sat gripping her hand between both of her. It bothered Lani how her narrow fingers contrasted so vividly within her mother's. "I'm at the hospital."

"Yes, love." Her mother attempted a smile, but it the effort was weak. "You overdosed again."

"Oh." How many tablets did she take this morning? She couldn't remember. Or maybe she didn't even count them out. Memories of the nightmare she had had last night fluttered through her mind, and she cringed. She must have been so urgent to take them that she didn't bother with making sure she had the right amount. "At least I was at the store."

"Is that all you can say?" Her mother looked worn-out, like caring for her emotionless morphling daughter was finally more than what she could handle. How could that be? She never was there in the first place.

"Well I would have died if I was at home." Lani stated it matter-of-factly, but it didn't really sink in. Not with the morphling still in her system, no matter if only a little bit now.

"Yes, you would have." The woman said after a pause to gather her wits and make herself look as put together as she could manage. Which was rather good, seeing as her job had her dealing with a few morphlings each day. She stood up slowly and let go of her daughter's hand. "You're eighteen now. And this...is only getting worse. Your father and I have agreed to stop...supporting it. I can't see another of my children die. Plus it is time for you to move on and grow up...So, two days from now, after you have sobered up and rested, you will go out looking for a job or go apply to the college. If you don't, you must move out within a month."

Each word her mother said slowly made Lani more and more aware of what was happening. Her parents couldn't handle the death of another child. She wanted to scream at her mother that she never handled anything. How could she dare say that she could just "move on"? And like forcing her out into the world was going to solve everything. Like it would take away the six years of addiction that had wrecked her life. "I can't..."

"You have too. You only have one more Reaping left and then the world is going to demand that you provide for yourself. There will be no negotiating this. It has already been decided." Her mother leaned forward to kiss her head, but Lani jerked away. Her hands were shaking from the anger and grief. Already she was feeling the urge to shoot some more of the cool, soothing liquid into her veins. Her mother caught sight of this. "You should be going through detox in a couple hours, so I suggest you go get something to eat now. It's going to be long night."

Detox. The word echoed in the head like it was bouncing of the walls of her skull and made the urge to shoot stronger. She had been through it before and it made her shake more. Yes, she needed some food to strengthen herself. "Alright."

With some help, Lani got up in her over-sized gown, and wobbled with her mother to the cafeteria just down the hall and ordered bowl of soup that just consisted of re-heated noodles in chicken broth. Her mother left, saying that her shift would be starting soon. So, Lani, shaking and a little slowly sobering, sat blowing pathetically to cool her food at a corner table; as world raced by, ignoring the obvious morphling that was probably wasting their medically advanced space.