A few minutes passed. At least, I thought that's what it was. Time felt strange inside the maze. There were no windows, no clock. Just walls, sky tiles, and the doctor’s voice.
Then he said, “May I tell you something personal?”
I frowned up at the ceiling where the speakers were buried. “Personal like therapy-personal or weird-personal?”
“Like help-you-understand-the-maze personal.”
I ain't know about that. “That sound like both.”
“You can say no.”
I turned right after checking the ceiling. Blue.Good.
“Nah, go ahead.”
He paused, then his voice came back quieter.
“I fell in love with a woman who scared me.”
I laughed. “You? Scared of a woman?”
“Yes.”
That answer was too honest to make fun of. I kept walking.
“She’s not scary like you might think,” he continued. “She’s beautiful, yeah, but a lot of women are beautiful. She’s intelligent as hell, but I've known some smart women.”
The path stayed wide with blue sky overhead. I focused on listening.
“The first time I saw her, she made me feel like if I wanted something badly enough, I could have it, could make it real. That's dangerous.”
I snorted. “Yep. That’s how they get you.”
“Maybe.”
“You still love her?”
“Yeah.”
He didn't hesitate. Something about that made me uncomfortable. The doctor had always seemed controlled, almost cold. Hearing him say he loved somebody til it was crazy made him sound like just anybody else.
“When I met her, I finally understood what it was like to want something more than you wanted your next breath.”
The ceiling stayed blue. I kept walking and listening.
“She’s a traditional girl, comes from a place where family means something. And she has a big one.”
A cloud drifted across the tile above me. I slowed.
Louisiana and Mississippi had families like that. Hell, every family I knew had cousins everywhere, grandmothers in everybody’s business, grandfathers who were the kind of men these young hoes whined about. Big families weren't always good. If Virginia wasn't worried about family, maybe she'd quit tryna hide me in places like this.
“She writes stories,” the doctor said.
I stumbled. The ceiling above the next turn turned cloudy. I stopped before taking it.
“What kind of stories?”
“All kinds. But she mostly writes about love. People finding their way to themselves and to each other.”
