Back to baseline was never the finish line.
The part of recovery the clinical notes never capture. One life, studied from the inside — everything here was lived before it was taught. The book, in four parts.
The performance.
Fine on the outside. Watching your own life from a foot behind your own eyes.
Time of death.
7:41 PM, 19 August 2023. Hit by a car at twenty-six. A 3% chance — and a time of death printed on a report you'd later read.
Back to baseline.
Traumatic brain injury. Addiction. Learning to be human again. “Let's get you back to baseline.”
Beyond.
The first day you live your life instead of surviving it. Not a return — a construction.