Chapter 160. Staring Death in the Face

The scalding water pounded against my skull, each droplet searing through my tense scalp like tiny brands. It was unbearably hot—so hot that steam curled and swirled around me, filling the small enclosure with a choking haze. The glass walls, slick with condensation, blurred into opacity; I couldn’t tell whether it was noon or midnight on the other side. In any case, I wouldn’t have seen much even with perfect vision: my own eyes were red-rimmed and puffy, swollen from hours of unrelenting tears.

I closed my eyes against the heat, pressing my forehead against the cold tile. Somewhere behind that curtain of steam, the shower head dripped in a steady patter. I focused on that sound—on the slow, insistent drum of water against tile—as if it could drown out the other noises pounding through my mind: the gunshot that had shattered the afternoon, the thunderous crack that still echoed in my skull. “Death,” I whispered to myself, tasting the word on my tongue. “Death.” I shook my hea