The first bump didn’t alarm me. It was small and easy to dismiss, the kind of irritation you blame on stress or a mosquito that slipped past you unnoticed. By the second night, though, a pattern emerged, and with it a quiet unease. The bumps appeared in clusters, tracing my arms, shoulders, and back—mostly where my skin met the mattress. They itched enough to interrupt sleep, not sharply, but persistently. Lying in the dark, I scratched without thinking, telling myself it was nothing, even as my body suggested otherwise.
What unsettled me was the lack of explanation. Nothing in my routine had changed. No new soap, no unfamiliar food, no different clothes. The only variable was the space itself. The apartment was old, worn in a way that felt more lived-in than neglected. It creaked softly at night, held shadows in its corners, carried the quiet evidence of many lives before mine. That awareness gave the itching more weight—not panic, just attentiveness. Old places hold more than what’s visible.
By the third night, my thoughts wandered further than I wanted them to. I considered what might exist beyond sight: insects tucked into seams, residue in fabrics, particles lingering from years of use. Some bumps faded quickly, others flared when touched. Lying awake, I had the sense that my body was reacting to something my mind hadn’t yet named—not danger, necessarily, but incompatibility.
That morning, I stopped ignoring it. I stripped the bed, checked the edges and corners, washed everything on high heat. I showered longer than usual and noticed how relief followed simple, practical action. Over the next few days, the irritation eased. What remained wasn’t fear, but awareness.
Skin reacts for a reason. Discomfort isn’t always an emergency, but it’s rarely meaningless. Unfamiliar spaces come with histories we don’t see, and sometimes the body registers friction before the mind catches up. When irritation appears in patterns rather than accidents, it’s often less a cause for alarm than an invitation to pay attention—to clean, to adjust, to respond with care instead of dismissal.
Listening doesn’t require panic. It only requires honesty.
