The Last Vitamin

The orange paddle ball whizzed past her ear, missing by inches. Elena didn't flinch. Three months ago, she would have. Three months ago, she was still taking those damn vitamin D supplements her therapist prescribed, still believing that if she just optimized every aspect of her existence, the hollow feeling in her chest would somehow disappear.

"You're playing like shit today," Marcus said, wiping sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand. His kit was orange too—bright, aggressive orange, like he was trying to outshine everyone else on the padel court.

Elena shrugged. "Not much sleep."

"The cat again?"

"Sphinx has been crying all night. I think he misses Daniel."

Marcus laughed, but it didn't reach his eyes. He was known as the Sphinx around the club—enigmatic, unreadable, nobody really knew what went on behind those dark eyes. Elena had been playing with him for six weeks, and she still couldn't tell if he hated her or was just profoundly indifferent.

The truth was, Sphinx wasn't crying for Daniel. The cat couldn't care less about Daniel. Elena knew this with the same certainty she knew that the vitamins had never helped, that the padel league wasn't actually fun, that her entire adult life had become a performance of wellness she no longer believed in.

"Your turn to serve," Marcus said.

She bounced the ball. Orange ball, orange sunset bleeding across the court, orange kit, orange leaves drifting past the fence. Everything was orange these days—the color of endings, of things burning down to make space for something else.

Elena tossed the ball up and swung. She didn't aim for the corner. She didn't use the technique she'd spent months perfecting. She hit it straight at Marcus, hard and wild.

He didn't move. The ball struck his chest and dropped to the ground.

They stood there, breathing hard, as the last orange light of the day disappeared behind the trees.

"Finally," Marcus said. "Something real."

Elena smiled for the first time in three months. "Yeah. Fuck vitamins."

"Fuck vitamins," he agreed, and picked up the ball.