In Short – Volume 1, Issue 1 (Spring 2024)

May 31, 2024

Image credit: Redemption, iStock

Twelve Weeks

By Sarah C. Baldwin

Your insides pulsed gray on the screen, but that’s not why you felt seen. You felt seen because he saw you seeing your insides, your belly switched from vessel to crypt. He saw you didn’t want to ask. Take your time. Is there someone you’d like to call? You didn’t expect this kindness from a doctor, the mercy in his murmured words. Days later, in another room, as the tiled walls telescoped and you felt yourself dissolving, you saw his soft smile, saw him still seeing you. You knew it was with kindness that he would carve you clean.

Sarah C. Baldwin (she/her) is a writer living in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, who has also lived in Pittsburgh, Paris, and Providence. Her work has appeared in Salon, The Rumpus, Autofocus, Thread/Stitch, Lindenwood Review, the Times Educational Supplement, Christian Science Monitor, and elsewhere, as well as in numerous university magazines. She earned an MFA in creative nonfiction from the Stonecoast Creative Writing program. Her work can be found at sarahcbaldwin.com.