Standard issue middle school wooden chair. Sturdy institutional grade construction. Built to last. More than enough science involved to support the weight of a body in this empty room. Empty except for the dust, the body, some insignificant detritus, and a blur of sunlight through a window that’s covered by what looks like wax paper. Pure anonymity in the city is finding a space like this and breathing into it, making it your silent retreat from the world, as you wait for the swelling brought on by the surgery to diminish and your hair to grow out. A further natural concealing of the identity that you wish to leave behind. You know without question that nothing can be left behind forever; that it either finds you again or haunts your days. But this moment is like a photographic plate from the beginning of modern memory, before we had colour. A little blurry around the edges but silent and composed. Pulled from a distance, assigned within your view. | image Sara Shakeel.