"Am I dead?"
The words hung in the cramped, humid air of the bathroom, brittle and terrifying. The smudge in the mirror offered no answer, no comforting denial. It just stayed there, a pale, blurry silhouette that lacked the weight and substance of a living human being. I leaned closer to the glass, desperate to see a flash of an eye, the curve of a lip, any sign that I was still in there. But the closer I got, the more the edges of my reflection seemed to fray, bleeding into the white tiles behind me like watercolor in the rain.
I stared at my translucent hands resting on the cold porcelain of the sink. I could see the drain right through my palms. The panic that had been fluttering wildly in my chest slowly began to harden into a cold, heavy resignation. It settled in the pit of my sto
