Selina lay in bed staring up at the ceiling.
She took a deep breath and pushed herself up on her elbows, reaching out with her hands to press herself further up, then twisted to the side where the covers parted, her legs slid onto the carpet, her head hung forward, resting on the palms of her hands while her elbows were supported on her knees.
She took a deep breath and forced herself to stand. She could not.
She crawled onto the carpet and on all fours forced herself to move to the bathroom. She nudged open the ensuite and climbed up onto the toilet and sat on it in the same position. She did not bother to flush.
Selina crawled off and with palms on the tiles of the bathroom did she enter the walk in shower and reach for the faucet. She pulled herself up slightly so that the faucet jerked and a powerful jet of hot water cascaded over her.
Selina smiled, a twist in her gut and then she curled up in a ball and held herself tightly.
Heat crept up her body and she rolled to the side on her back mildly splattered by the excess jets and grabbed for the body wash on the floor.
She could hear the water swirling into the grate as she uncapped the bottle and dabbed herself with body wash and let the excess clean it off.
She reached up and twisted the faucet off and forced herself to reach for the towel on the hook. She dabbed at herself mildly and crawled across the carpet and pulled herself onto the carved bench which was at the foot of her bed.
She glanced at the closet all the way over there.
Selina grabbed at air that was not there. She windmill-armed herself over to the walk-in closet and grabbed onto the archway to keep her footing. Shelves of heels and racks of hanger-dresses met her eye.
She pulled a belt through the loops of her skirt and buckled it, then loosened it, then loosened it until she pulled it out and her skirt slid down her legs. She stepped out of it and rifled through her hangars.
The twist in her gut was back.
She pulled a long dress over her head and glanced down at the belt. She walked into the bedroom and out onto the staircase which looked out onto the foyer and held herself against a railing and then a column.
The sun was too bright. The phone began to ring.
Selina sat down on the stairs and scooted herself down each step. Her legs awkwardly fanned out in front of her in heels and her dress was riding up. She made it to the bottom of the staircase. The phone finally stopped and the voice mail picked up.
"Ma'am… are you OK… "
Selina got to her feet with a deep breath. She walked over with hand on the cord, grit her teeth and then relaxed her hand. The phone rang again.
Selina turned to the front door as she heard a vehicle pull up. She could hear footsteps and talking.
The twist in her gut made her crumple, made her cry, made her shout as she covered her hand with her mouth. She heard the door handle jimmy open.
Selina forced her teeth up, her lips up, her eyes up, her hand on her hip, her shoulders back. She remembered the President, Clean Jobs, every staffer who had looked awry at her, every politician who had looked down on her, all the failures of her office which she meant to rectify. Her ego swelled and the pain in her gut reduced considerably as she thought of the big black chair in the White House.
The front door opened and Amy entered.
"Ma'am, I wanted to see how you were doing."
The voicemail beeped and both women glanced over.
"Ma'am… I can bring you some hot tea?"
The women glanced back to each other. Selina smirked and shrugged.
"I mean, it was like a heavy period. Don't worry about it."
Amy turned around to head for the car. Selina opened her handbag, fished out a handwritten draft where underlined was the word resign, and sniffed as she crumpled it and chucked it in the bin, and walked out to be Vice-President.