She tried and failed to wipe away the debris that had accumulated on top of her mother’s portrait; not noticing the trail of red, both old and new, flowing down from her fingers. She tried and failed to wipe away the debris that had accumulated on top of her mother’s portrait, gasping and pulling her fingers away at the last minute. Was trying to mend what was broken always this painful? Puja didn’t even bother with the portrait anymore, as for the first time in her entire life, she noticed the deformed mess that used to be her ring finger; swollen and squirming as if it contained the eggs of a thousand man-eating flies. Puja ignored the mild sting she felt under her feet as she lit a cigarette and looked at the phone; the swelling on her ring finger was almost gone now, but there was still work to be done. Puja got off the phone and reached for the knife; the swelling on her ring finger barely visible now, and the slight bloat it had would only serve as the reminder of a soon-to-be-over nightmare.
6S
Nafis Shahriar is barely keeping his head above water.
