I wasn’t quite finished with the story I was telling by the time 2025 ended and so decided to continue it until it reached an ending point. Then I will start a new one. Besides, I kind of want to see where Penelope ends up. And so we have…
Day 221: Then, it was as if the injured section was enlarged for easier viewing.
Then, it was as if the injured section was enlarged for easier viewing. Penelope smiled. If she could see this much detail, she felt a bit more confident about working on her own arm. She thought about Emily slicing her own skin to try.
‘A small cut might be better practice before the bone,’ Penelope decided. If she screwed that up, she knew she would just have a small cut that she could put a bandage over. She looked around and realized if she was going to cut herself then she would need a few supplies.
‘A knife and rubbing alcohol to disinfect it at the very least,’ Penelope thought. She wasn’t about to give herself some sort of infection just to practice healing. “I don’t want bits of me falling off due to gangrene.”
Penelope drained the last of the water from her third water bottle and took her basked back downstairs. She refilled the bottles and put them in the basket. She then looked for the sharpest knife the kitchen had it, along with one of the kitchen towels went into the basket. She then went to the bathroom and grabbed a bottle of rubbing alcohol and some cotton balls. She took them back to the kitchen and put them in the basket. Penelope then took the basket back up to the roof top garden. There was a sharp pain in her arm as she moved it.
‘This would be so much easier if I had two working arms,’ she thought.
Penelope moved all the plants out of the way and then took out the towel. She lay it across the table top and then laid out her knife, cotton balls and rubbing alcohol. She saturated one of the cotton balls with rubbing alcohol and used it to clean the small paring knife. She then took a second soaked cotton ball and wiped it over her hand. It was the hand with the broken arm and she chose the meaty part of her palm where the thumb made a mound. She took a deep breath and gave her hand a small nick. Blood welled up and the pain made her suck air through her teeth. She focused on her hand the same way she did the plant. To her surprise the little flickering lights dancing around the cut were golden instead of green.
“Another thing to wonder about,” she said as she closed her eyes. The cut on her hand wasn’t deep and she was able to focus on it, guiding the lights. She slowly healed the cut until not even a scab or scar remained. She looked at her hand, opening her eyes. There was a light line traced across her skin where the cut was but even as she wiped away the red droplets of blood the line faded so that her hand was as it was before she made the cut.
Encouraged, Penelope turned her attention to her arm. As it was already broken, she didn’t have to cause herself any damage. She closed her eyes and focused on her injury. She could feel it, even with her eyes open. She closed her eyes and she saw the break as clear as she saw the damage to the plant. It had been set well so it was only the thin line of a break. To her surprise, she also saw something else. A little blip of something, a small something that wasn’t natural.
“First the bone,” she thought. She took a deep draw of water and set the water bottle back down.
Ten til Midnight 