Episode 44 - A Word from Lurch

The breakroom felt bigger tonight.

Quieter.

Even the tea kettle seemed to be whispering instead of whistling.

Olivia sat alone at the corner table, turning her mug slowly between her hands. The phrase on it now read: “Still Here. Still Me.”

She wasn’t sure if the mug changed to match her mood, or if her mood changed to match the mug.

Did it matter?

Jack’s arrival had shaken something loose.

A version of herself she hadn’t worn in a long time—smaller, uncertain, eager to please even when she was uncomfortable.

She didn’t miss that Olivia.

She just wondered how much of her was still tucked inside.

She didn’t hear Lurch come in.

He didn’t make noise.

He simply was.

By the counter. Pouring hot water. Somehow.

She didn’t know when he got his own mug. She wasn’t sure he even drank tea. But he sat across from her, slowly, and set the mug down.

It said: “Staff.”

They sat in silence.

Not awkward.

Just… present.

After a few minutes, Olivia finally said, “Thank you. For earlier.”

Lurch nodded once.

His eyes were deep and still, like old gears waiting for a signal.

“He knew me,” she added. “From before.”

Lurch rumbled: “Not now.”

She blinked. “What?”

He tilted his head slightly.

“Then. Not now.”

She thought about it.

Nodded slowly.

“I’m different,” she whispered.

Lurch nodded, and reached into his coat.

Pulled out a small napkin.

Folded. Crisp.

He slid it across the table.

On it, in careful, deliberate handwriting: “You are not the one who left. You are the one who stayed.”

She blinked.

Once.

Twice.

Then smiled.

Not wide.

But real.

Lurch stood.

Picked up his mug.

Before he turned to go, he rumbled one final word:

“Family.”

Then he left.

Without a sound.

The breakroom light flickered. The mug on the table steamed. And Olivia felt…

Centered.