New & Budding

Batel sighs.

Her hands are rough from washing them so much. Maybe it's the virus. Maybe she just wants to feel clean.

She has worked hard again to keep a good grade average. Spring break is a day away and she should be excited.

Shouldn't she be happy that she's doing well in school?

Shouldn't she be happy that she's moving out in a few months?

Shouldn't she be happy that she's uprooting her life and starting new?

Why do these old memories keep popping into her head.

Distracting her when she should be asleep.

His hands. Their lips. That touch.

She hadn't felt the urges for the past several months. It had been a dry winter.

But now that spring was here, and the trees were blooming, and the outside was coloring itself in again, so was she.

Like a tiny little plant inside her had somehow lasted through the cold.

A small feeling had returned.

And it was growing by the hour, filling up closer and closer to the top.

Batel almost knocked over her water glass.