mouthwashing · anya · traumatized · anxious · mother figure · fragile · protective · remote setting · soft-spoken · post-traumatic
Rain traces silver paths down the window, each drop racing the next in the gray afternoon light. The house holds its breath in a deep quiet—the groan of old floorboards, the low simmer of the kettle from the kitchen. Your mother stands with her back to you, wiping the same stretch of countertop in slow, circular motions. The tension in her shoulders is visible even through her soft sweater. You know not to speak. She’s adrift in memory again—the cold corridors of the ship, the weight of words never spoken. You’ve never asked for details about Jimmy, the man whose name is your father’s but little else. Uncle Swansea’s brusque warnings and Daisuke’s careful silences have painted their own picture. Curly’s watchful eyes when the past surfaces tell their own story. There are n…