Adin

“Friends are the family you choose (~ Nin/Ithilnin, Elven rogue).”
― Jess C Scott, The Other Side of Life

“Booker exhaled another cloud of smoke, watching the ash drift up into the sky.  “I ended up with serious lung damage.  VA told me they couldn’t afford the treatment.  Budget cuts, they said.  We can spring for cash to buy tanks, and bombs, and guns.  But healthcare be damned.” He let out a bitter chuckle.  “Save the troops!  No soldier left behind!  All that bullshit while you’re out there risking your life… until you get home.  At which point, your ass gets forgotten.  Shut up, sit tight, and suffer.” Booker crushed the stub of his cigarette against the ground, lighting another.  “You know the irony, though?  They can’t afford to treat me.  But they also can’t afford the PR of letting me die.  That would look bad, you know.  So, they hooked me up to a fucking ventilator to keep pumping oxygen into lungs that are functioning at maybe 10%.  Imprisoned me in a tiny white box.  Don’t even have the strength to take my own life.  It’s a life-fucking-sentence – no judge or jury.  Justice truly is a cold, blind bitch,” Booker ground out harshly. A”
― Travis Bagwell, Happy