The Domino Effect (OPEN)

Tal may not be totally used to this prosthetic leg, but there still came with it an immense feeling of pride as she could walk around with no crutches at all. Oh, true, she couldn't pretend it was a real leg, anyone could see with her skirt, but it was still less obvious than the crutches. Now, if she could just get more used to it. But it was why she was doing this.

The only way to truly get used to it was still to simply walk around. Beyond learning to walk with two legs again, she had to deal with the looks people gave her. She already learned that, when there was a hole where her right leg used to be, but it was a bit different now and that too needed some adaptation.

One thing she didn’t thought about in all this ‘adaptation process’ was her notion of distance. Normally, she thought with her crutches in mind. Now, she could be closer to objects and have the same liberty of movement. Except it was not always the case. As she walked passed a line of bicycles, she thought she was far enough from them but the tug she felt as she moved proved her otherwise. She turned to see her skirt caught up in a piece of it. She grimaced but bent down to try and set herself free. She didn’t want to rip the fabric though and, as a result, didn’t apply enough force. When she finally did however, she fell on her butt with a grunt. She didn’t have time to care about it as she saw the bike fall the other way into the next bike, that fell on the other one, in a not-so-nice domino effect. “Damn,” she whispered to herself as she tried to get up and fix this.