Nadeau Tara

Distant Shore

Hannah hadn’t always feared the water. It started slow as most things do; a queasy feeling in the bath or the polite decline to a pool party invite along with her mother’s handwritten apology. Gradually it evolved until the phobia forced her to shower with her eyes closed and the door open. The dread manifested itself the same way each time. A tightening in her chest that evoked the sensation of filling up and a splitting headache like a knife being twisted into her temple that preceded it. Her mother had attempted to assuage her fear, address the source and prevent Hanna from a life of crippling anxiety, but she had refused her swim lessons, instead choosing to sit by the edge of the pool, rubbing her temple.