A surgeon has a troubling way of letting off steam from the stresses of work. I was not at all prepared for the body horror in this story, but it was just riveting, impossible to look away from.

Given her line of work, I didn’t think she’d understand what it was like needing something to cover over your crawling skin. The paint so bright and garish, like it could burn away the tension that was trying so hard to come out of my body. She’d always ask me about my shift, but I could tell by the look on her face that she only wanted the smoothed-over answers. To be fair to her, I don’t think even I completely understood what I’d been building toward at the time.