Return from Home

The anxiety is back.

Photo by Alexander Popov on Unsplash

I silence my alarm on the first ring, before my SO is stirred from her sleep. I slither out of bed, removing the blanket from my body in quiet folds, each pull of a muscle gradual and patient, absent of all sound, for fear of waking the same. The showerhead dispenses the ritual, a morning steam, a hasty shave, an unsightly nick. I B&E tip-toe into my own bedroom, shuffling damp arms in a shadow of…