Ice Baths
Drawn with only cold water.
I'm not used to them anymore. I haven't had one in years. I got out twice before I finally went past kneeling thigh-deep.
I lay back into the water and soaked until the stabbing cold had long ceased to startle. Until my flesh was pacified, put in its place, and my mind sank down in the hypothermic gravity.
I didn't submerge my head entirely; I told myself I didn't want to get the water in my ears during the winter. Now I wish I'd kept going down; I'm such a complete-ist.
My skin is tight on my flesh. My touch is frigid. I've crawled into bed with someone after one of these; she said it felt like sleeping next to a corpse.
But the world around me feels... so warm.
I'm not used to them anymore. I haven't had one in years. I got out twice before I finally went past kneeling thigh-deep.
I lay back into the water and soaked until the stabbing cold had long ceased to startle. Until my flesh was pacified, put in its place, and my mind sank down in the hypothermic gravity.
I didn't submerge my head entirely; I told myself I didn't want to get the water in my ears during the winter. Now I wish I'd kept going down; I'm such a complete-ist.
My skin is tight on my flesh. My touch is frigid. I've crawled into bed with someone after one of these; she said it felt like sleeping next to a corpse.
But the world around me feels... so warm.