Jeremy C Kester

converting caffeine into words

Bandaged

a flash fiction story

Cutting food is not a good time to get distracted

Bandaged
by Jeremy C Kester

Sharp. It was sharp. Both the pain and the object causing it. Delilah put down the small knife and sucked on her hand at the place the blade cut her. She wasn’t certain how it happened other than the momentary carelessness, the distraction, that circled her mind.

Could she blame him for that? It was his image crossing over her attention in the moment, overlaying the vegetables in front of her.

Whenever she used a knife, too, she knew to be careful. How many times had she done this before? Well, maybe not recently, given many years passed by without incident. Mostly it was in her youth when these moments would occur. Give Delilah a sharp object and blood, her blood, was bound to appear.

Were she the kind of person who was prone to self harm as a coping mechanism, it would be effortless. Alas, they were always accidental, which is why she taught herself, disciplined herself to be attentive whenever she was on this task.

Yet, he had to butt in.

She knew it was unintentional, at least on his part. His presence unnerved her in the best of ways. The problem was he left her.

Blood continued to ooze out. More than she thought.

“Fuck,” she blurted. As though another being were in the apartment with her, she stated plainly, “I need to wrap this up.”

Maybe it was to the vegetables, a statement for them not to relax. She would return to continue their dismemberment.

As the water hit the wound, scorching the area with bitter, numbing cold, she let her mind relax, his face resuming its presence there. She tried to recall why he left. Even minutes after it happened, she struggled to interpret the words he said.

“You deserve better.”

What in hell was that supposed to mean? Was he not good enough for her? Did she not choose him, fall for him, mourn for his absence? What could be better? What utter bullshit excuse was that?

The look on his face was what confused her the most. Guilt. Like there was a lie hidden there, too obvious for her to see or understand, as though she was standing too close for her eyes to focus on. Why did he leave her? Why did he disappear?

Bandaged and cleaned, she walked back to preparing her meal. Her mind still circled his face as she stood there, her hands each pressed against the counter supporting her as she tried to regain herself.

Small speckles of blood peeked through the bandage, a protest against the barrier there. She reached up and wiped her tears. She knew time would stretch this feeling into distant memory, but today, today she couldn’t escape it.

Photo and words copyright © 2026 by Jeremy C Kester – all rights reserved.
Note: this is also cross-posted to Poetically Unlicensed on Substack.

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