Get Well Soon WithouttheY!
Posted by A Dash of Paprika
AUGUST 14th, 2017 | 1:02PM
As some of you may have heard, WithouttheY was involved in an accident. She’s fine and recovering, has a slight concussion, but could use some help. I made a lil’ GoFundMe page. And if you can’t give, just send some well wishes here. She’ll be on here again soon, no doubt about that.
RE: Get Well Soon WithouttheY!
Posted by Jill the Birder
AUGUST 14th, 2017 | 6:45PM
Oh no! Sorry to hear about that. I pledged a couple dollars. Wish I could do more. Hang in there!
RE: Get Well Soon WithouttheY!
Posted by Shannon Christopher
AUGUST 14th, 2017 | 7:00PM
I always appreciate her insightful comments on local developments and environmental policies. Get well soon, WithouttheY! We’ll miss you on the board! Come back to us ASAP!
RE: Get Well Soon WithouttheY!
Posted by Casually Weird
AUGUST 14th, 2017 | 7:09PM
I pledged! Feel better! And here, I made you a playlist to get you through things. bit.ly/2yNS770
RE: Get Well Soon WithouttheY!
Posted by a Dash of Paprika
AUGUST 14th, 2017 | 7:11PM
Girl that mixtape is FIRE. Nice work. Thank you.
RE: Get Well Soon WithouttheY!
Posted by Toothless
AUGUST 14th, 2017 | 7:15PM
Pledged. Sent you a DM, WithouttheY.
RE: Get Well Soon WithouttheY!
Posted by A Dash of Paprika
AUGUST 14th, 2017 | 7:16PM
If you were mean to her, I will strike you down with the force of a thousand suns.
ECO-ACTIVISTS MESSAGE BOARD: PERSONAL MESSAGES [USER: WITHOUTTHEY]
FROM
SUBJECT
DATE
TOOTHLESS
FEEL BETTER, A QUICK NOTE
Hey WithouttheY. I know most of our communication on this board circles around me saying something snippy and you responding in turn, and going back and forth picking on one another, but I have always thought of you as, you know, like an Internet friend or something. I’m actually not a monster, you know.
Anyhow, I hope you feel better. I’ll be thinking of you over on my side of the computer, and if you ever want to get coffee and pick on each other in person, I’m always around. We are in the same city, after all.
8/16
WITHOUTTHEY
RE: FEEL BETTER, A QUICK NOTE
Thanks, Toothless. That was a surprisingly sweet message. ;-) And thanks for your insanely generous pledge on Paprika’s page. The fact that she launched that was a surprise as well, and I’m stunned by everyone that’s come through on that.
8/17
TOOTHLESS
RE: FEEL BETTER, A QUICK NOTE
Cool, yeah. And be careful with your emoticons. Winks imply, like, flirting. You probably meant a smiley face there. Probably. Right? Right.
I am awkward and now hate myself.
8/17
WITHOUTTHEY
RE: FEEL BETTER, A QUICK NOTE
;-)
8/17
IX
Leila stared at herself in the mirror, a plush, beige towel snuggly around her, and scowled.
A bandage was wrapped around her forehead, tied off in the back, that pushed her hair up and over the white-tan strip. A bit of dried blood flecked the left side, a cut where her helmet had impacted her head. She thought of Shawn and the terrible date, and shook her head to rid her mind of the memory, then winced at the dull ache that pushed itself against the front of her skull.
“Damn it,” she muttered, rubbing the sore part of her head. She pulled her hand away and looked at her fingers, rubbing them together to get the dried blood off them. She wiped her hand on her towel, and fished around in her dresser for an outfit and a decent head scarf to cover up all this nonsense.
For the field trip.
Over a flurry of text messages, not a single one from Shawn, Sarika had somehow convinced her to still go. She’d go despite the fact that she’d have to see Shawn and return to the park where the voices had suddenly come in full blast, to the place where she saw the guy with the bird, and where the whispered voices had tried to direct her someplace. Those voices. This time, they’d had instructions.
And apparently, they were in trouble.
As Leila wrangled up an outfit for the day, her mind reeled over the whispers’ pleading. Was she really thinking of going back there? All because of . . . what? Voices she’d heard dozens of times throughout her life? And some guy trying to fly an owl like he was a falconer or something? What had the voices ever done for her, besides distract her, scare her, and make her feel crazy? They’d given her a dark secret that she had to hide from everyone except Sarika. She shook her head again, wincing and cursing under her breath.
She pulled on a pair of distressed-wash, dark-blue jeans and her favorite David Bowie t-shirt and made her way downstairs.
_____
“There is no way you’re still going on that”—Jon used air quotes—“field trip.” He turned and talked to Lisabeth as Leila fussed with her light box, pulling it up onto the kitchen table. “Field trip,” he grumbled. “Come on. If I walk a few blocks down the road, I can see the Fairmount Park trees. Field trips are for, like, Washington, DC, or going to a museum. Or you know, something interesting, like a Broadway show. You’re sixteen. Trips like this are just a waste of time.”
“We are kind of going to some special places in the park, it’s not like we’re holding hands and checking out the swings,” Leila stressed as she turned on the light box and looked away from its glow, keeping her voice down. She’d quickly discovered that speaking too loudly made her head hurt. “There’s this Japanese teahouse in the middle of the park—”
“Ugh, that’s just a tourist trap,” Jon mumbled.
“And,” Leila interjected, “we’re getting a tour of the park from some of the rangers there, and doing some community service around the gardens and pond. You can’t really just do that any time you like.” Leila stopped. “Okay, well maybe you can just do that at any time, but come on. Sarika is going, and the rest of the B.E.A.C. crew. You guys told me to make friends. I’m not about to let some stupid bike accident halt my life.”
“Yeah, I don’t know, I’m inclined to agree with your fa—Jon,” Lisabeth said with a wince, quickly correcting herself. She took a long sip of her coffee, the silence awkward, the slip of Lisabeth’s word hanging in the air.
“So, how bad is it?” Jon asked, interrupting the quiet.
Leila shrugged.
“It hurts, and I can’t like, yell or move too quick, but this afternoon is literally a walk in the park. And my bike is still getting repaired. I can just like, walk there with Sarika. Or take the bus. Or you guys can drive me. There are so many options that don’t end in me staying home with Netflix.”
“There aren’t any, like, obstacle courses or anything?” Jon asked. Leila laughed as Lisabeth gave Jon a look. “What? It’s a field trip to a park. It’s a valid question. There might be monkey bars or those awkward summer camp ice breakers.”
“This isn’t one of those bonding retreats or something, Jon,” Lisabeth said, shaking her head. “No trust falls or anything. Right, darling?”
“Right,” Leila said, a swell of hope in her chest. “Just walking around, taking pictures, learning about trees and koi and what-not.”
“Hah! Learning about trees,” Lisabeth jeered. “Like they can teach you anything you don’t already know. Okay, you can go—”
“Hey!” Jon protested.
“But make sure you check in with us every hour or so,” Lisabeth said. “Just a text or something, alright? Keep us from worrying?”
“I think I can manage that,” Leila smiled.
“Fine, fine.” Jon grumbled. “But no more falls like that, please.”
“Deal.”
“And you have to tell us how that date went!” Lisabeth exclaimed, clasping her hands together, her eyes brightening. “Oh, you should have heard that boy in the waiting room in the hospital. He sat with us the whole time and asked a ton of questions, didn’t he, Jon?”