WL --realities--snow falls

It started with forgetting. Minor details, like calling Amy by Anna's name, asking again and again why Anna was home so soon from Berkeley--could it be Christmas already? And where was the snow? "Time flies when you are dying,"she would say to Sophie, who refused to translate this when Amy asked.

Gathered force as her withered hands fluttered up constantly to see if her face was still there. Became real when she would merely whisper a shy whoooo rather than form words.

The typical symptoms increased and fell unnoticed, as one snowflake falls invisible until there are so many invisible flakes that they become visible, a potent force ready to be named. Alzheimers. Senility.

Kit couldn't afford the time off, so Amy drove Yuki to a specialist. Sophie went along to translate, as Yuki seemed to have forgotten all her English by this time. The doctor poked and prodded while he fired off questions: Have you ever noticed performance problems? Personality changes? Depression? Trouble knowing the date? Language problems? Hallucinations or delusions?

"Yes," he said. "Middle to advanced state, it's probably been going on for a long time. Not much to do now. Keep her nourished. Keep her safe. Don't let her wander out in the snow."

When Yuki left shoes in the bathtub and books burning on the stove, Kit told Amy and Sophie to keep her in the back bedroom and only let her roam the house when there was someone at her side, in the same room, at all times.

Amy moved her computer into the back bedroom to keep Yuki company and to watch her in the interstices of her studying.

snow falls / thick in / urgent flurries / an individual only / from sky to ground / crystal edges / melt to / murky puddles

the word is / the sound / of water / dripping from/ ancient symbols / tiny particles / of merging / realities