Foton: Refracted
an excerpt

John settled on the couch, and curled her legs under herself, smoothing her skirt with one hand. ‘Good afternoon, Dr Pini.’

‘Good afternoon, John.’ Dr Richard Pini crossed his legs, resting his notepad on one knee. ‘How are we today?’

‘I’m fine. I don’t know about you.’ John grinned, and brushed a lock of hair behind her ear.

Dr Pini shook his head, smirking, slightly. ‘You realize, John, that you make that joke every time I ask that?’

John grinned even more broadly. ‘And I’ll keep making it as long as you phrase it that way, Doc.’

Dr Pini chuckled and picked up his notepad, jotting something down. ‘That’s a nice skirt, by the way.’

John blinked, looking at herself, and shrugged. ‘Mmm. Thanks, I guess. I borrowed it from Karen. It doesn’t really fit right. But, our washer’s dead, and we haven’t had a chance to go to the Laundromat, so I didn’t have any clean pants, and all of Karen’s fit worse than her skirts. So…’ She tilted her head and pulled at one of the pleats near her knee. ‘I guess it does look pretty nice, though.’

Dr Pini nodded, and jotted something else down in his notebook. ‘So, John, how’s life treating you?’

John made a face and shrugged. ‘Well, the universe doesn’t seem bent on my destruction, which is something.’

Dr Pini raised an eyebrow. ‘That doesn’t sound good. Is something wrong?’

‘I…’ John started, then shook her head. ‘No, not really. It’s just…’ She stretched backwards over the back of the couch, Dr Pini extending a hand to steady her, in case she looked about to fall. ‘It’s been a year. I honestly thought….’ She sat up straight again, and shook her head. ‘I mean…I still don’t have my powers back.’

Dr Pini made a note and scratched his chin, slightly. ‘Most of us never have powers, to begin with.’

John began speaking, then stopped. She repeated this, several times then shrugged. ‘Sorry for the fish impression. It’s just….. That’s really kind of the point, I guess. Most people don’t get to have powers, but I did.’ She shook her head. ‘I dunno, that didn’t really come out right.’

Dr Pini smiled. ‘No, I think I know what you mean.’ He tapped his lip. ‘Just what do you miss about it?’

‘Pardon?’ John tilted her head.

‘Well,’ Dr Pini tapped his notebook with the end of his pen. ‘Is it the power itself? Or the feeling you got from it? And what was that feeling? Just as a few examples.’

John stretched out her legs, and fiddled with her skirt, quietly, biting her lip. ‘I honestly don’t know. I couldn’t really answer any of those questions. Not right now. I just… I don’t feel right without them. If that makes sense.’ She shook her head. ‘I want to go back to the way I was.’