Session Four Anthology

MENTOR: Chen Chen

At the Doctor’s Office

The paper crinkles beneath my butt. I can feel the microorganisms slowly populating on my thighs, unprotected by the thin paper.

Internal Voice 1: They probably clean this table after every patient.

Internal Voice 2: But what if they don’t?

Internal Voice 1: They must have cleaned it, you know they use the heavy duty, anti-bacteria, anti-viral, and anti-life cleaning wipes. You can smell it.

The smell of pink antiseptic chlorine. Nauseating my vision, the tiles begin to wiggle. They then begin to walk around, switching spots, moving across the floor.

Internal Voice 2: That shit is potent. But there are superbugs; you know they literally cannot die.

Internal Voice 1: Shut the fuck up, if you’re so scared of getting sick then get your fucking fat thighs off the table.

Internal Voice 2: omg, how long have my thighs been sitting on the table? 5 minutes, maybe less… or maybe more. What time was it when I got here?!

My hands get clammy; I can feel my thighs start to slip.

Internal Voice 1: “god, you’re so fucking disgusting. Now you have to leave you legs there; you know if you move them everyone will see the sweat stain.

Internal Voice 2: Fuck, if I’m sweating then my pores are open. Prime time for bacteria. Shit, where’s the purel?

Internal Voice 1: Don’t move you’re fuckking ass off the examination table; you are not going to shower in purel.

Internal Voice 1: I can actually die from this. There was this woman who was fine when she entered the hospital for her annual check-up, but 5 days later she died.

Internal Voice 2: She didn’t die because of the check-up.

Internal Voice 1: I know that. She died because of some fucking---

~

Grace Li is a current junior at Milton Academy. She is a photographer based in the Boston area specializing in editorial and fashion photography. She has had her photographs shown in galleries in her area. This past year she earned a Silver Key in the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards along with three Honorable Mentions for her essays and a poem. Grace enjoys analyzing the intersections between poetry and photography and how with the other, a new narrative can be formed. Recently, she has been fascinated with the idea of light and youth and how each transgress the limits of the frame.