Challenge Fic #10 at MiamiFicTalk.

Prompt: #18 Shower.

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It was a feeling like no other. No other activity could relax Calleigh in the way a hot, powered shower could. The heavy droplets beating an almost tuneful beat against her skin, stepping into the spray so they could drum their way on to her face and hair.

They washed away the stresses of the day, not to mention the humid air that stuck wayward sand grains to dewy passers-by.

She rubbed the shower gel into her skin, the mint fragrance tingling and assaulting her senses beautifully. She closed her eyes and stood directly under the water, the soap disappearing down the plug.

Suddenly, a sequence played behind her eye-lids:

Crash.

Water rising.

Confusion.

Radio quieting.

Blood rushing to ears.

Water rising.

Gasping.

Burning.

Panicking.

Calleigh pushed away to the far side of the shower cubicle, gasping painfully for breath, hand clutched to her heaving chest.

All she wanted to do was cry. Slide down the filmed window and finally break down. Relinquish the hold of all pent up emotions to do with that day and that incident.

But she refuses. She can’t let herself give in.

She takes deep breaths, ignoring the rapid heartbeat beginning to make her dizzy, the incessant shouting from within for her to run away, the trembling of her limbs.

She pushes herself away from the door and back under the spray. Her tears mingling unrecognisably against the flowing water.

A sound escapes her and she pulls away again, only to return to the spray a second later.

She has to do this. She cannot let another fear ruin her life. She has to gain control of it. Has to. Has to.