Flash Fiction: Rituals
Guest Room © Marygrace Gladden
Image by Marygrace Gladden
Written by Emma Elizabeth Mathes
Every day when I come home from work, I do the same thing. After kicking off my shoes, I walk past the kitchen, past the television, past my bedroom, and head to the bathroom.
The bathroom is my favorite room. At 6 o’clock, the sun streaks across the wall and gives the space an enticingly warm hue.
Turning the faucet to a temperature I know to be my skin’s limit, I listen to the bath fill and disassociate into the sound; I allow my thoughts to dissolve, and then I step in, so my pain can dissipate too.
It is a ritual, and it is survival.
To view more of Marygrace’s work, visit her website
