Once after a particularly nasty breakup I bought a carpet scraper. I am a Virgo after all. We process through cleaning. It’s laughable to claim that you’re moving on all while treading a carpet that’s half your ex’s hair.
The carpet scraper is a neat little invention, and looks not unlike a claw. When I was done with my rug I had assembled a ball of fur, like some grotesque animal. I threw it away and took the bag to the dumpster by the street.
When I returned to my room I sighed. Relief. It was over. But then I noticed a small corner of my bed frame. It was dressed with a thin, white veil of dust. Do you know what dust is? It’s mostly dead skin cells, along with some insect parts, hair, and clothing fibers. She was still there. How persistent of her.
When I was a child I took an allergy test. They poked me with forty infected needles.