She stayed on the floor until dawn. The ice-tree receded, melted, vanished. The flood dried into a faint, sweet-smelling residue. The refrigerator hummed its normal, boring hum.
Eleanor did not run. She knelt. She put her hand into that flood. It was warm. fridge defrost drain
The drain was not a drain. It was a confessional. And for eleven years, it had been trying to forgive her. She stayed on the floor until dawn