Chapter 39

Staring at the bathroom ceiling as I soak in the tub feels like heaven on earth. Warm, clean and luxuriating as my aches and pains soothe away in a bath I can lay down in. Nothing scratching and poking into my skin under my body and no dirty brown, unhygienic and marginally warm water to contend with.

Soft music from the apartment sound system plays something classical, floating around me as citrus-scented candles burn in the low light, creating the most relaxing atmosphere I have been in for months. I feel like I am a million miles away from the reality of how life was hitting me twelve hours ago. It contrasts how I have been living and feels like my prayers have been answered. You genuinely appreciate things like this after struggling for so long.

I’ve missed these rooms, this bathroom and the luxuries of being here in this world. I can barely keep my eyes open, fatigue swimming over me from lack of sleep and my lingering bug. I forgot how good this felt, even though i