It's such a neat effect how much power and impact the sentence "cold water for blood" took me to a creepy place in my mind. Everyone who has tried to wash blood out knows exactly the experience. It's quite an effective use of words

This depicts anxiety and how it creeps in and takes hold so well. It's even worse it's over something so insignificant but prominent. It's not a thing that makes much sense unless you have experienced the anxiety yourself.

It comes on hard, it doesn't really have a systematic way to happen, and then it's there and you're dealing with it.

Another neat aspect of this short story is our protagonist sees everyone around her incorrectly. Doctors and medical people are often not persons able to enter and touch bodies and here she sees them as people she needs to make impressions with and panics when she cannot. Minor moments freak her out. She is terrified to be seen in a bad light by these people she likely will never see again in her life.

As well as the well-known terror of waiting for a medical diagnosis or hospital visit.

While terribly short, I think the shortness adds to the anxiety, a rapid speed story with a fast pace. It's basically an anxiety inducing story about anxiety.

I think it's masterfully clever.

It even grips onto a bit of existential terror if that's what scares you, the reader. It didn't me, but I noted it. An extra layer of terror for many.

This nails the medical experience so well it's great. Especially the repeated visits and the many different diagnoses. It's all a lot of moving around and being treated how this story touches it. It's not personal and sometimes the lack of it being personal can be even more scary.

I didn't terribly care for the ending but it only slightly damaged the original 4.5 star review. It wasn't a deal breaker for me. It was just the obvious way out a lot of stories and movies seem to be taking and through that it felt a bit lackluster.

4 stars. ( )