sick

I am not using the default settings. Into the phone. I'm unplugging now, ok. Putting the phone down and putting a massive headset on, blue orbs over each ear. Grabbing a trailing ethernet cable and pulling a little too hard, plugging it in and then standing still listening.

Type a login and listen; grab a jacket off the balustrade and pull it on. Sock up over one knee after the other. Headset down by the keyboard and down the stairs almost bouncing.

What kind of bicycle is it? It's a curvy girl's bike. A bike to ride a skirt on. To cruise along to, but she's not moving along the sidewalk- Perpendicular to the road and frozen there, head tilted toward the clouds. Slide the rear tire with the bottom of one foot (turn it back around) and there is a man scowling and walking. A few spins and they meet on the sidewalk without smiling.

What are you doing here? This is happening too much, chance is flipping out. Hands gripping the handlebars and looking at them rather than him, not hearing because there is something by the side of the road.
Are you alright? Your eyes are like pins. Are you on something? Oh. Seeing what she sees- there is a rat laying there on it's side. A rat laying there, immediately beside them.

That. Is. An omen.
A dead rat? He pauses. Are you alright? The rat is dead. She's looking directly at him now, shaking his hands in his pockets and shrugging.
I'm going with you. Nodding and leaning into his face like the distance is too far to see.
To my house? I was going to pick up my truck. He's indicated a short distance, just around the corner, with a movement of his head. She's already started walking, the man is keeping up a step away, but when he turns toward a door she's still standing there looking at hands locked on the handlebars. Flex shoulders and push down on them, attempt to relax and let go, look up at him with the knuckles white and clenched.

He's looking at her like he doesn't know her after all, still dapper though not wearing his full coat. She's still looking through him with alarm, eyes a little too wide. Straightening fingers turn an immediate rosy color but slow, as though the joints are creaking. They almost immediately reach- one into her own hair, the other back to the handlebar.
I just realized.... Just figured something out.
Wait- come back. Not a voice to ignore.

Pause, loosen grip on the bike, and lean back against a proximal tree. Take that lean in small steps, like standing from a yoga bend, not stumbling by force of will. Leaves and all.