Between Assignments

Written by Luckie Krog

Break Room

The breakroom hums softly, its usual ambient vibrations steady beneath the quiet rhythm of conversation. On one wall, a screen scrolls through rotating updates in Syntaric, the Witness’s language. Near the top, glowing in warm amber: Witness of the Cycle – A022. A few passing Witnesses glance at it with subtle acknowledgment.

Witnesses sit scattered throughout the space, some logging data into their Monitors, others engaged in quiet conversation. At the center table, two Witnesses lean in slightly, their discussion hushed but intent.

M586 – How is she?

B043 (exhales, considering) – She’s been holding up. Found an apartment, working nights at a motel nearby. How’s our girl?

M586 (small, triumphant smile) – Pushing through. Last year, accepted to Duke for psychiatry residency. All of her mentors love her, naturally.

B043 (grins) – That’s incredible. Susan would be so proud. (pauses, then softer) Will any of the family be there for her graduation?

M586 (shrugs) – Knowing Patience? She might not even tell them. She didn’t even walk for her college graduation.

B043 (purses lips) – Oh, I remember that. Susan found out…

M586 (nods slowly) – And she was furious.

B043 (snorts) – Furious is an understatement.

M586 – I wanted to see Patience walk too, but I never understood that.

(B043 looks at M586, curious.)

B043 – Understood what?

M586 – Why Susan was so angry about her skipping the ceremony. Especially considering that Susan was the last person who’d have shown up even if she had walked.

B043 (shakes their head, amused) – All these years together, and you still don’t get it, do you?

M586 (bristling slightly) – What’s that supposed to mean?

B043 (calmly) – Settle down. You were still in onboarding when Susan found out she was pregnant. You had no idea what she was up against. Nothing in her life was ready for that kid.

M586 – Oh, I figured that out fast. Those first few years? Hard to watch as a brand-new W6. I had no idea what it was like for these Beings.

B043 (tracing invisible patterns on the table, nodding) – Coming into the world already pushed up against a wall.

M586 (shaking their head at a memory) – Not that Patience knew that at first. (chuckles softly) She was such a happy kid. Just full of life.

B043 (smiles fondly) – Every random move was an adventure. She wasn’t scared of anything, even when things got tough.

M586 (taps the table for emphasis) – Remember when the lights got cut off in August?

B043 (grinning) – Susan was this close to absolutely losing her shit that day—

(B043 holds two appendages centimeters apart)

M586 – And Patience just grabbed some flashlights from the junk drawer and asked if she wanted to play flashlight tag. (shakes head in wonder)

(Both fall into quiet reflection, lost in the memory.)

M586 (voice losing warmth) – But then she got older. Started realizing life wasn’t an adventure. That normal kids didn’t have to take care of their mothers like she did.

(The silence between them turns cold.)

B043 (softly, reflective) – And Susan lost the one person who kept the lights on for her.

M586 (immediately defensive)– That wasn’t Patience’s job.

B043 (sharply) – You think Susan didn’t know that? (then, quieter) She knew. She knew from the moment she brought that baby into the world.

M586 – Then why did she let Patience take care of her for so long?

B043 (leans in slightly) – Let me ask you something. When we were Witnessing together, did Susan seem like she was making a lot of decisions?

(M586 starts to answer, then hesitates.)

B043 (tilts head knowingly) – Exactly. Most days, she was just trying to get herself and Patience to the next one.

M586 (petulant) – That’s not an excuse.

B043 – No one said it was. But it was reality. Her reality.

(Another heavy silence stretches between them.)

B043 (quietly) – But you know what choices she did make?

(M586 doesn’t answer. B043 continues.)

B043 – She chose to keep Patience, even when she had no idea how she’d make it work.

(M586’s skepticism flickers.)

B043 – And once she made that choice, she spent a million tiny moments making sure Patience never became like her.

(M586’s expression shifts—just barely betraying curiosity.)

B043 – She knew Patience’s father wouldn’t want her, so she cut him out completely.

M586 (pauses, thoughtful) – I remember reading that in my onboarding… I didn’t realize—

B043 (presses on) – And Susan’s never been great at being single. She knew that about herself. But how many of her partners did Patience ever meet?

M586 (less sure now) – Five? Six?

B043 (pointed) – There were a lot more. But Patience never met most of them. And none of them were ever left alone with her. Because Susan guarded that kid with her life.

M586 (irritated again) – Yeah, sure. When she was around.

B043 (exhales, resigned) – Fine. Let’s get into that, then. Patience was left alone a lot. More than any kid should be.

M586 (muttering) – Understatement.

B043 (ignoring them) – But she was old enough to be safe by then. And where was she left?

M586 (shrugs) – Home. Libraries. Whatever museum had a free event that day.

B043 (with quiet confidence) – Exactly. Do you think it was a coincidence that she was always near the Children’s Museum when they had community events? Or that she attended so many STEM talks at the library? Even at home, Susan always left her with piles of books.

M586 (frustrated, voice rising) – So what? That makes up for never being around? For the benders? For the fact that Patience was more of a mother by fourteen than Susan ever was?

B043 (levelly) – I’m not saying that.

(A pause.)

B043 (firmer now) – But if you want to be a good Witness, you need to start seeing these Beings from more than one perspective. None of them is just one thing.

(M586 still looks unconvinced, but something remains shifted between them, almost imperceptibly.)

B043 (leans back, voice softer now) – Patience will do great things. I’m sure of it.

M586 (nods, certain this time) – She will.

B043 (with quiet finality) – But even if they never see each other again… (pauses, voice full of meaning) She is her mother’s answered prayer.