Circle 5. Sylvia (part 1)

Sylvia wasn't there anymore. That had been apparent for several hours, but it wasn't easy to believe.

"She's not brain-dead," said McKenzie, without much conviction.

"She's not any sort of dead," Lane sat down and stared at the figure on the other side of the glass.

"Not she," said Addrey, "It."

There was a silence in the room. They'd called Addrey in to say goodbye; and he'd cried on Sylvia's hand as she'd faded slowly away, and they'd had to pry his hand out of her cold, salty fingers several hours afterwards.

And she'd turned, and her heart beat eleven times as her grip tightened and she'd spoken.

"Mark pick up lost now way on car."

Her brain activity had spiked. Everything had been recorded, and Addrey had spent several hours staring at the graphs. He was better at it than McKenzie, and much better than Lane. They'd both known that Sylvia was gone as soon as those words came tumbling out, but they'd lied for nearly two days, while Addrey went through every last scan and proved that his wife was gone.

"It doesn't mind the light anymore," Addrey noted. McKenzie turned off the lights on their side of the glass, and the figure's hand dropped.

"We should restrain her - it," said Lane. The thing wandered aimlessly away from the glass and stopped in the middle of the room.

"We should have restrained it was she was still there," said Addrey, "It's no use now. How's Palmer doing?"

"He said he was feeling fine," McKenzie flicked the lights on again, "but he was showing signs of photophobia. I don't think he's going to make it."

"We have no evidence to suggest that he won't," Addrey stood up and walked over to the glass, "A single patient cannot be taken as a representative sample."

"Addrey - Mark," McKenzie hesitated, "are you alright?"

He wasn't. Of course he wasn't. Eleven years as a medical professional and countless mandatory seminars to improve his bedside manner, though, and McKenzie could only think of three ways to cope with Addrey's presence now. He couldn't very well ignore him while they were confined to the facility, and it didn't seem appropriate to say he was sorry for his loss when, really, Sylvia was still standing there on the other side of the screen.

Something like Sylvia, anyway.