Baths

I've been taking inexplicably hot baths.

At least two per day, and sometimes more...filled with epsom salts I've scented with Lavendar and Bergamot.

I run only the hot water, turning it off as soon as the hot runs out and the temperature drops slightly, and then I pour in a bonus teapot, recently boiled.

The water is so hot when I get in that the skin of my feet feels as if it's separated from my body - floating around each toe like a tissue-paper aura. The water is so hot that I can't get in all at once, but hover, crouched over the surface as my heart slows and the steam makes me cough. The water is so hot that it is preternaturally quiet and still, and I slip in as if to some congealed thing - not water at all, but agar. Yet it is not quite hot enough. Tonight I'll turn up the water heater.