Melaleuka trees passed them by on either side of the road. They were traveling on a straight stretch of just under the speed limit. Stanley was in the back seat of their car, pondering whether the large number of the aforementioned trees meant this was swamp land. Toby was driving, he was in a heated conversation with Kerala, who was in the passenger seat. It was regarding the meaning of life. Apparently it was a meme, but Stanley had never heard of it. He closed his eyes.

‘Okay, I need to actually try to relax now,’ he thought. He was quickly interrupted from this train of thought by Toby.

“What the-“ Toby said, getting Stanley’s attention. They were going around a roundabout when Stanley heard it.

“Beep! Beep!” Never had he heard a horn so strange, nor so loud. It was coming from right outside his window. He swept his gaze towards the noise just in time to see a large truck within a few meters of his face. He didn’t see anything else for a while after.

“Hey! Wake up! If you don’t I’m going to hit you,” Stanley could hear a strange voice coming from nearby. Strange, but familiar. She sounded distraught.

“Seriously, if you keep this up they’re going to throw us out,”

“Toby?” Stanley asked, working hard to open his eyes. He was rewarded with the image of his brother glaring at a red haired woman on the other side of a small room.

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“Hi Kerala,” Stanley said, interrupting their silent staring contest.

“Ayy, welcome back,” Toby said, finally acknowledging his presence. Kerala didn’t turn to face Stanley, seemingly considering what she was hearing.

“What happened?” Stanley asked.

“We got hit by a truck, right as we were going around a roundabout, you’re the only one that got injured much though. It had managed to slow down quite a bit and only really clipped the area you were residing in,” Toby explained. “Oh, right, you’ll be fine, pretty much, just a couple days of observation before they let you go,”

Stanley was going to respond, but Kerala once again drew his attention. She had finally turned to face him. She parted her lips to speak, but hesitated, and instead formed a small smile. His observation was stopped short by a bought of tiredness that seemed to be begging him to close his eyes again. He could have sworn he saw a tear going down her face.

Toby, having noticed the state Stanley was in, said, “You’re still tired, get some rest, we’ll be here when you wake up,”

He nodded weakly in response, doing as was suggested. He drifted off quickly. Upon seeing that he was asleep, Toby made to leave, but stopped when seeing that Kerala remained rooted to her spot.

“Hey, come on,” he said, snapping her out of her thoughts.

“Oh, right,” she said weakly, before turning and following him out the door. They ended up seated in a waiting room not far away.

“You okay?” he asked from a couple seats adjacent to her.

“Yeah,” Kerala said, seeming to collect herself. She visibly deflated before saying “I just. There was a while there when I thought we might lose him you know? He’s been technically well enough to wake up for a few days now, but only today did he…” she trailed off.

Toby nodded with an understanding smile. For a time, they were both silent, each content to leave the other to their thoughts.