Lostlorn

[Espi]

((Blair Moore continued from Poe's Poems Pwn Posers))

The last time she was in the hospital, Blair met a guy.

It was the start of winter in Kingman, but it was still warm. Blair had been well for a while; her lungs were relatively clear for now, and she wasn't having as much of a hard time breathing. So naturally, she'd decided to go out for some roller blading. She'd had a great time, done some really nice tricks, and thoroughly enjoyed herself and her skating friends.

When she got home, she felt a little sore. This quickly turned into an ache, especially-you guessed it-in her chest. She was getting sick again, and there was jack shit she could do. Her lungs were basically a dump for sputum to build up. She went to bed early, slept in since it was a Saturday, and woke up to clogged airways.

It got worse, because of course. She got feverish, chills and sweaty, which was bad because she lost a lot of salt in her sweat, which only made her sicker. She had pneumonia, and because of her cystic fibrosis the extra fluid in her lungs might kill her.

She went to the hospital, where she was put on antibiotics, standard procedure. She was still young, luckily, so she was in good shape immune-system wise. After an initial treatment, she stayed overnight in the hospital to make sure she was healthy enough to leave.

That's where she met Marshall. He was a year older than her, staying the night for monitoring purposes after recovering (mostly) from the flu. He was friendly, and they'd talked for hours, though for once she let him do most of the talking until her lungs improved.

He was from Phoenix but lived in Kingman as of five years ago. He worked at a local book store when not attending school in Washington somewhere. He had a good sense of humor. He was studying organic chemistry. He was handsome, with golden hair and bright eyes. They laughed and talked until they fell asleep.

He left before she woke up that morning.

---

Oh god.

Was that-

Yes.

He was really there. Just standing there, talking to a customer. The book slid back to the shelf, forgotten. Blair stood back up, staring at him. She could talk to him, like...he was right freakin' there. She was almost never here, but she'd heard about some book, though now whatever it was had slipped her mind.

Marshall. "Marshall?" Blair said, tentatively.

He looked at her. "Uh, hi. What can I do for-" Blair interrupted him by storming towards him, nearly shoving the customer out of the way.

"It's me, Blair! Remember?"

He looked at her. "Uh, doesn't ring a bell. Who are you, exactly?"

He didn't get an answer, because Blair was out of the building seconds later with clenched fists at her side.

BLAIR MOORE: CONCLUDED
CONTINUED IN V6