Biting the Habit

Ever since Tiana could remember she would chew her nails down to the nub, as far as she could. She didn’t know why she had the habit. One minute she would perfectly compose herself and the next, her fingers were in her mouth and her teeth were chomping.

Her mother told her it was a nervous habit. Her father told her it was her own type of self care. But whatever it was, it made her hands look nasty and they hurt from biting down too far. She had become self conscious about her ugly hands and frequently hid them behind her back or curled her fingers under during social gatherings only unraveling them to bite them down to the quick. Something had to change. Tiana could not live her life this way anymore.

As Tiana sat at her desk, procrastinating from all the work she had left before the upcoming end of quarter, she looked at her nails. They looked horrible. Each and everyone was red, and her thumb had a scab on the corner. One of her pinky nails was starting to show white, but she knew that would not last long.

As Tiana sat in her head she heard the clicking of her coworker, Gina, on her keyboard, surely getting the work done that Tiana was putting off. Tiana glanced over. Although she had heard the clicking from Gina a million times before it had never given Tiana an idea, like it did now.