The hot water burned wonderfully against her skin. Maddy let out a sigh as she washed away the shift at the diner. She inspected her bumps and bruises. There were still some remnants of the rooftop incident to be sure, and she was still tender in places, but she felt almost well. Maddy let herself stay a full ten minutes, a luxury she rarely afforded herself. She still wasn’t fully ready to confront the decision that lay before her.
When she was finished, she stepped out onto the old bath mat and wrapped a towel around herself.
Steam had fogged the mirror around its edges, but a circular porthole of reflection in the middle had remained somewhat clear. Maddy toweled off her body, then her hair. She turned around and looked over her shoulder at the mirror to check how bad one of the bruises on her back was.
Water droplets patted noisily against the bath mat as she stood there, frozen in place.
Under her shoulder blades, the angry bruise that had formed as a result of smashing into the light pole had faded—or simply evolved—into the beginning of what could only be described as marks. They looked like graceful tattoos that ran parallel to her spine and came to rest in two elegant flourishes at the small of her back. They were simpler than others Maddy had seen, but all the same, they were unmistakable. She watched them shimmer in the fluorescent light of the bathroom.
They were Immortal Marks.