Steam - February 20, 2012

[note: this was written during a writing exercise: we had 20 minutes to write something inspired by the word "steam". This is the result, unedited, exactly as it appeared when time ran out. You can read all of them in the waves category]]

Steam - Squiddy Geiger - February 20, 2012

Mitchell wiped the sweat out of his eyes, and leaned back against the wooden wall. His eyes closed briefly as he thought about how good for him this was supposed to be. He wondered what drugs the person who invented the sauna had been on. He'd promised Marcy he'd do this, so here he was, dying a slow death.

He got up and dipped the ladle into the bucket, and poured some water on the hot stones, causing a burst of steam. He did it again three more times, like she'd told him to do. Why he listened to her, he wasn't sure at first, but he noticed it did feel a bit better with the steam in the air. He sat down again.

He'd set the alarm clock outside the door - the steam in here would kill it - to make sure he didn't stay longer than necessary. He'd heard of people staying too long and dying or being injured. He wasn't sure it was true, but he wasn't taking any chances, either.

God, wasn't the time up yet? It felt like he'd been in here for hours already, but it couldn't be that long. He sighed, and wiped the sweat away again. He was glad he'd had some water to drink before he came in here. The steam was almost gone, so he poured more water on, and sat again.

He rubbed his arm, which was starting to prickle a bit. Was this normal? Is this what it was supposed to feel like? He should have made Marcy come in with him. He wanted to quit, get out now, but he'd promised to stay the full time. He kept his promises, always. God, this didn't feel good.

His head was starting to hurt, not badly, but this certainly couldn't be a good sign. He stood up, went to the door, then turned around again and sat down. No, he'd wait for the alarm. But he was damned if he'd do this again, it was stupid. He growled to himself about how he'd tell Marcy off, tell her what a stupid idea this had been.

Suddenly the alarm went off outside the door. He got up, turned off the heater, and opened the door. The blast of cool air hit him, and he gasped, held his breath briefly, then let it out, relaxing. When he went upstairs he raved to Marcy about how wonderful he felt, why hadn't she told him about it before. He vowed to sauna every day.

Posted by Squiddy at February 20, 2012 08:50 PM | TrackBack