The patient said she was ready. The blue and white pills lay in front of her. The doctor showed her the numbers on each piece of medicine and stressed how she needed to consume them in order.

She took pill seven instead of pill one and laughed when nothing happened.

Rodney E Schmidt is an MFA candidate with the University of California, Riverside’s creative writing program. Past creative pieces have been published in the Pacific Review, The Coyote Chronicle, and High Voltage magazine. Currently, he resides in Loma Linda, California.