Sometimes you do not know what else to do with the feeling.
So you shower.
You turn the water on before you know why. You step in. You let the steam cover the mirror. You scrub until your skin feels separate from you.
Maybe someone crossed a line.
Maybe they touched you. Maybe they cornered you. Maybe they spoke to you in a way that made your whole body feel contaminated. Maybe their presence alone left something on you that no one else could see.
So you try to make it physical.
Soap. Water. Heat. Pressure.
Something you can control.
Something that makes sense.
But the body is not the only place harm lands.
Sometimes the skin is clean and the feeling stays. Sometimes the water runs clear and the memory does not move. Sometimes you are standing there, soaked and exhausted, realizing the thing you are trying to wash off was never on the surface.
In C: The Alphabet Series, the water runs clear. The damage does not.
