The Shallow End

The pool was supposed to be peaceful. That's what the brochure had promised—crystal waters, sanctuary from the city noise, a place to find yourself again. Instead, Kara floated on her back, staring up at the apartment complex that loomed like a tombstone over the water, wondering when exactly she'd started feeling like a zombie.

Her iPhone buzzed on the pool chair—a third notification from David. 'Can we talk?' 'Please pick up.' 'I miss you.' She'd blocked his number three times. Somehow he always found a way through.

A group of guys played baseball in the adjacent park, their shouts carrying across the water. She and David had watched games at that same field, back when they were new, back when she'd pretended to care about RBIs and innings because she'd cared about him. Now the crack of the bat sounded like something breaking.

She dove underwater, letting the silence swallow her. This was the vitamin she needed—just dissolve, disappear, become nothing. No job performance reviews, no mother asking when she'd settle down, no David with his careful speeches about how they could fix this if she just tried harder.

Her lungs burned before she surfaced, gasping. The lifeguard watched her with mild concern from his chair. Kara waved him off, treading water in the deep end. She thought about all the things she'd swallowed these past two years—her ambition, her boundaries, that nagging sense that she was disappearing piece by piece into someone else's life.

The iPhone lit up again. She paddled to the edge, dripping wet, and finally looked at the screen. Not David. Her boss, asking if she could come in Saturday. Another request, another expectation, another thing she was supposed to say yes to.

Kara pulled herself from the pool, water streaming off her like she was being reborn. She didn't grab the phone. She didn't wrap herself in the towel she'd left perfectly folded. She walked toward the gate, toward the baseball game, toward whatever came next, leaving everything behind her in the shallow end where it belonged.