Something I Would Have Never Seen

Orange

Orange was Lucy's favorite color. Lots of great things were orange; sunsets, creamsicles, actual oranges.

Prescription pill bottles were not a great thing, and the fact that they too were orange made Lucy feel as though the universe were mocking her.

Nevertheless, she twisted off the childproof cap and diligently turned the small plastic container upsidedown. She frowned when only three pills -- also orange, because God hated her -- fell into her palm. Running low already? Ugh, now she had to schedule a refill appointment.

Lucy Collins had been taking prescription medication for most of her life. Recently, she had gone from her usual depression and PTSD meds to heavy sedatives.

The past year had not been kind to her. Not quite able to make sense of the people her childhood friends had turned into , much less the tragedy that had taken place at the Philadelphia zoo, Lucy had spent a solid four months in a psych ward doped up out of her mind. She was off of the heaviest stuff now, but her current medication was still strong enough to be on the controlled substance list — hence the constant need for refills.

The meds, plus the therapy she was still in helped....sort of. Lucy had come to the conclusion that there were some things she shouldn't think too hard on. Such as the way she'd watched Kevin's body climb the wall like a spider. Or the fact that Casey's very precise and practiced hits with the shotgun had barely made him flinch despite standing at point blank range.

"Lucy?"

Speaking of Casey.

The brunette leaned against the bathroom doorway, one hand on the strap of the backpack she wore. "You ready to go?"

"Yeah." Lucy nodded, shaking the forbidden thoughts from her head. She popped one of the blasphemous pills in her mouth and replaced the other two, dry swallowing as she returned the pill bottle to the medicine cabinet. "You remember to pack your history project?"

After what Lucy had been calling 'The Incident' -- capital letters mandatory -- she and Casey had stuck by each other.
Casey Cooke was not without her own hardships lately. She had finally spoken up about her uncle's abuse and had gone through the lengthy trial that finally landed him in jail.

After that had been another court case; the one that won Lucy custody of Casey. After a well placed bag of Death Wish coffee grounds to Barba, the ADA had hooked them up with a solid lawyer and won them the case.

The two operated well together. They were well versed in each other's silent triggers and it was comforting to have someone to come home to at the end of the day.

Well, someone with two legs anyway.

Lucy whistled and the golden retriever's head instantly perked up. Bruce trotted up to her and sat with his tongue hanging out while she put on his service vest and attached his leash.

Locking the apartment door behind them, the group took the stairwell down and stepped outside. The city was already bustling and the day had only just begun.

A glance up at the sky as they began their walk to Casey's school told her that it was so early the morning that the sun had not lost it's rising glow.

The sky was tinted a light orange color.