The Public Swimming Pool

The public swimming pool is empty, its surface still. The water is dark blue with a slight chlorine smell. In the locker room a woman's shoes sit on a bench. I find them. Her wrists are marked by an old scar. The stairs go up and down, without steps. A watch is on the desk near the door. It has no hands, only a small red dot that circles around and around.

I am not in my own house. My shadow falls above the pool, like a small man wearing a hat.

Another person has recently been here and was very close. A child. Their fingerprints are still on the lockers and the watch. The fingers of their hand fit perfectly into mine. Their footsteps are echoing through the pool, coming from all around.