It was a perfect day for Benjen to be at Erik's. Her face was still red and her sinuses were still clearing. Somehow, a piece of her got left at that memorial. She didn't say a word even unto herself. She took off her shirt and went to the washroom to splash her face. Maybe that would settle things. She splashed it several times before patting her face dry with a towel. With the water still running, she just looked at herself in the mirror. But what was she looking for? In the past, she had seen the face of a little girl, one of a teenager, one of a troubled young mother and one of a successful physician. But what was she seeing now? It was as much a total stranger as much as it was familiar.
She then fixed her hair. It was a process in and of itself. A lot of brushing for the most part. She placed her fingers of both hands on her scalp and roughed it up a bit before standing and looking at herself.
"Uh-uh," she hummed before fixing it. Again she brushed and finally put some wave in her locks. That was the Doreen she knew but still, somehow, she was different. She walked into her bedroom to find a new blouse.
Before she looked for one, she noticed the picture of a time past. Her parents, herself and her brother before the exile. She stared at it and a small smile found her face. Her left hand held the picture while her right fondled the necklace she was wearing. It was an old gift from her father before he lost his job at Alster. She missed him terribly as she did her family. It wasn't fair that they all paid such a heavy price for something that wasn't their fault. What the government called treason, her family called survival. Again, tears fell down her face as she was still an emotional mess from her visit at the memorial.
It was getting closer to the time where she would have to go get Benjen. She poured herself a Seltzer and made the walk to her closet to find a blouse.
