Authors Notes: One of my many post-Providers plot bunnies. It's pretty short, and was written as a distraction from my mild writers block re: Secrets and Lies.
"Attempting Normality"
Endless aisles of all the groceries anyone could need, everything stocked floor to ceiling, the irritating drone of the fluorescent lights overhead using up a small country's energy budget, it all seemed so inane. So trivial, but yet somehow utterly necessary. One light flickered with an irregular clicking that was grating on his very last nerve. Bored, likely underpaid, shop assistants regarded him with apathetic looks.
He wandered up and down, scuffing tired feet against the shiny, linoleum floor and trying desperately to concentrate. He'd definitely looked in the fridge this morning. Why couldn't he remember the mental list he'd made? Cereal. Coffee. Milk. Blood. Sprayed almost artistically against the brick.
He shook his head vigorously, tried to focus on the task in hand. Grey matter, pooling blood, the gun lying just a few inches away, all illuminated by a slow spiral of red and blue. Dammit, Ray, pull yourself together!
The shop assistants stares on him intensified, as he stood there seemingly transfixed. Forget about it! Move on! He repeated over and over silently, willing himself back to reality. But the image, it seemed, was unshakeable.
After a long minute of immobility, he forced himself to move. His one attempt at normality now in ruins, he decided it was time to submit. He walked towards the door and out the shop, empty-handed.
