Breathe Excerpt

Breathe. Kelsey closed her eyes and let the hot water drizzle over her. The shower heating up she felt the steam engulf her and transport her to an isolated world. Even as her skin began to redden from the heat she blindly reached for the nozzle to turn the temperature up. It didn’t matter how high it was, she couldn’t feel it anyway. She was in shock. It had been an incomprehensible day and as the steam built up past her numb wet body billowing over the top of the shower doors, she inhaled deeply and reminded herself again; breathe.

            The tiny bathroom filled with thick moist clouds causing the glaring fluorescent to fade to an uneven haze. Kelsey leaned back allowing the scalding water to wash across her face, stinging her eyes, but still she felt nothing. Behind her unopened eyelids she began to see. The faces floated up coming into focus, staring at her. Faces she knew. Faces she would never forget. The fear, pain and disbelief mirrored there contorted them into horribly disfigured creatures watching her. Her eyes shot open and looked forward at the shiny tiled of the wall in front of her. She looked at it, through it, unseeing. The wall wasn’t there, all she could see were the faces.

            Her hands shaking she clutched the washcloth and scrubbed at her raw, pink skin. Rivers of soapy bubbles coursed their way down, tracing the curves and contours of her body mixing with the blood spatters and mingling around the drain and the bottom of the tub. The blood, it was everywhere. She saw it rinsing off and even as she watched it streaking away she could still feel it. She wondered if a part of her would always feel it.