between the lines: the bathtub

[fiction] in between the lines of trauma

This story was accepted for publication in the February 2024 Hunger Mountain Review.

I haven’t been able to get in one since. You never really think about that kind of stuff, you know, right after a national tragedy.

How could I possibly make it about me? But it’s always the small things that stick with you, isn’t it? Those little routines that make up a life … those are the things you remember.

Well of course I miss them. I miss them terribly. But that’s not the point. It’s narcissistic, maybe, but it’s true. I can’t help it, anyhow. “Being honest about your feelings isn’t mean,” my ex used to say.  The truth is I’m cursed by it—really, I am. I used to take hot baths every day. It’s what I looked forward to when I got home from school. Being submerged in a tub was my most profound comfort as a kid.