Story: Softened

Inspired by ysabetwordsmith's prompt for the "Imprinting" square of my January Fresh Starts Bingo and also fills the "Undo Button/Do Over" square. This is 333 words and has at least one follow-up brewing in my brain.

Softened

“I can’t help but notice that no one has touched me since yesterday,” said Althea. She rested quietly in the hospital bed and absently stroked the velvety purple galaxy throw covering her lap.

The nurse smiled gently and explained, “No, none of the staff will make physical contact with you until you’ve selected your Guardian and the imprinting has begun. None of them would want to accidentally start the process without your consent.” Their smile was warm & the explanation reminded Althea vaguely of what she’d read in the knowledge packet she’d had to study before starting the RePrint process.

“Will I meet the Guardians soon?” she asked, nibbling her bottom lip nervously. The low lights in the isolation room made the walls glow a warm honey brown, just like the little study nooks she loved at the campus library.

“Not necessarily. We’ll continue to monitor your vitals & do the little cognitive assessments until Dr. Carey is sure you’re fully recovered from the memory softening procedure.” The nurse smiled again and continued, “Its going very well Althea. You don’t need to be anxious about the next steps. We’ll be with you the whole way through.”

“I…I don’t really remember why I did this,” came her agitated reply.

“That’s normal. And that will improve. Just know that you lost no memories during the procedure, even though some may be hard to reach right now.” The nurse made a few notes on the chart resting in their lap before looking back up at the patient. “I can also assure you that you've certainly put a great deal of thought into this decision. That you wanted the chance to hit “undo” on something traumatic and gain the opportunity to make new memories surrounding intimacy. I can’t go into too many details on what exactly that was for you Althea, but I have a prerecorded video you created of yourself giving consent for the procedure. Would it help you to watch that now?”

“Uh, sure. Yes?”