Her eyes focused above the water as she soaked in the bathtub, her toes poking above the water next to the faucet, hurriedly pouring water down her legs. She lived in an old apartment that came with a short tub with lion's feet, it curled her body at her torso into a sitting position on her back.

The water ebbed and flowed over her eyes, unflinchingly she peered up toward the tiles; pink and moist. She thought about the bacteria and tiny worms that were crawling around on them, mating and eating above her head without making a sound. She thought about the neighbors next door who fell into the throws of passionate sex every Friday evening, which she could hear faintly if she sat in her living room with the lights out. When she heard them, she enjoyed thinking about what position they were in, if they made love on the embroidered table top she saw when she passed their apartment when the door lay open. Could they smell the sex on it when they ate Martha's potato casserole? She knew that was their favorite dish because she smelled it flowing through the vents almost weekly.

Her nose caught the last moments of air before she was sealed into the watery womb. She listened closely as the water continued to pour in; everything always seemed louder under the water. The pouring, the creaking of the house, her thoughts. Beside her, her arms moved freely, lifting upward as if an invisible hand was pulling her to the cold safety of the bathroom air. She thought that this must be what it's like to be in a car as it falls slowly to the bottom of a quiet river. She closed her eyes and imagined herself sitting in the passenger seat of a 1968 Chevelle with leather seats and an old dial radio as it drifted into wet darkness.

Her body began to quiver, reacting to its lack of air. She stopped dreaming, opening her eyes and pushed herself up, her nose hovering above the water that rippled from the gust of her hungry breath. Drops of water collected on her eyelashes. She looked down at her body idling in the tub. Her skin was pale until it got to her nipples, which covered most of her petite breasts. They were the color of ground nutmeg, soft under the warm pool. She stared at them as they peaked above the water with her breath, the sticky bubbles gathering around them. She shut her eyes, wrapped in warmth.