ForeverEgg

This story is set in the universe created by the lovely DerbyGhost in "And If Your Heart Stops Beating". It has been written with her permission and while her story is not required to understand this one I still heartily recommend reading up on her work. Additionally, rest assured this work is completed. I finished it in February and have been editing and generally sitting on it since. I intend to release updates regularly throughout the coming week.

I stared at the ordinary slip of paper, stunned by the finality of the sentence. Two words sealed my fate. "Knot thing."

Maybe that was an exaggeration. Still, it was hard to feel anything other than dismal after the week's events. I knew I should be looking at it as my ticket back to a normal life, but the fact that I needed a ticket at all grated on me something fierce. 

"Hmm." Over my shoulder my best friend, Laura, apparently was also contemplating the script.

I handed it to her with a resigned sigh, steeling myself for some sort of sympathetic or enthusiastic reaction. 

"This is great!"

Yep. There it was. She handed the note back and took the handles of my wheelchair. 

"You'll be back on your feet in like a month, two tops!"

"A knot thing, though? Really?" I groused. Putting aside the name, the practice itself was humiliating in the extreme. 

"Yes really, it's a far more wholesome and organic treatment than a prosthesis would be. Would you seriously prefer an animated clay leg?" 

I opened my mouth to say I would seriously contemplate it, but she cut me off.

"Oh come on, knot things are fun! You get to be a fuzzy little friend for a month and then bam! Whole new you!"

"Wow, you make it seem sooooo fun."

I rolled my eyes and flinched as she squeezed my shoulder. 

"Because it is! You shouldn't put so much stock in textbook commentary from Transmutations 101." 

"I've already done my puberty, I don't need puberty 2: electric boogaloo." 

The chair thunked as we crossed the threshold of the clinic and began to rumble across the parking lot. 

"You need to respect your doctor's orders. You're very lucky to be afforded this opportunity."

I slipped into a resigned silence as we approached her truck, begrudgingly accepting her help up into the passenger seat before she stowed the chair and climbed into the driver's seat. 

"Besides, you have the night to think it over. I made up the spare bedroom at my place just in case, and obviously I'll sponsor you for your unraveling if you want."

"Thanks. I… I appreciate you helping me out. I'm sorry I'm so sour about this, but it's all kinda been a lot."

"It's nothing." Her voice cracked in a very 'it's not nothing' way. "I'm just so glad -- I'm happy you're still here." 

She glanced at me for a second, meeting my eyes and sending a flash of guilt to my heart. My dark retort dissolved in my throat, sour and distasteful as I bit it back. 

The truth was at times during the last few days I had felt like I'd rather have not survived just to be free of pain and expectation.

I turned to look out the window, avoiding looking down as I gazed unseeing at the rolling scenery. Eventually the unfamiliar city streets were replaced with familiar neighborhood roads and finally Laura's house. 

I opened my door and half turned in my seat before stopping and looking down again. The habit felt somehow cruel now that I couldn't follow through. In moments, though, Laura came to my rescue again, rolling the chair up and catching my arm as I hopped awkwardly down. For the first time since reading the script, I began to see the bright side of my upcoming knotting, but the thought didn't comfort me much.