Shallow showers
Mae arrived at her grandfather’s apartment at 5:51pm, and at 5:53pm his partner called her into the living room. It was a Thursday and Mae had just come from soccer practice, so she went into the guest room, where she slept, to put down her bags and take off her cleats. She then made her way down the dark, long, narrow hallway - her eyes still adjusting from the outside world. She delayed, going into the bathroom to splash some cold water on her face. Although they were hard to make out in the darkness, all along the hallway the walls were covered with photographs of her grandmother who had died a few years back. Mae had her curls, which she was struggling to love as a thirteen-year-old. She stopped at the doorway, leaning on one side of the doorframe and crossing her arms in front of her chest. Lidia was sprawled on one of the couch chairs, one leg dangling from the armrest, one hand reaching behind the chair. She was watching the 24h news channel again. It always seemed to go in rep