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"This condo is mine. Why can't I take a shower?" Just an hour earlier, I'd jumped out of a cab because the driver made me feel unsafe. An officer drove me home after my statement, my clothes still soaked from the rain. My childhood friend blocked my way. "Meg has a cold. She just fell asleep. You'll wake her." My boyfriend Colin handed me a towel. "You can shower tomorrow." "I had a scary ride home, and I can't even wash?" "...But you got away, didn't you? Just keep it down." My brother was busy comforting Megan when she appeared. "She gets sick easily," he'd told me before, as if I never did. For four winters, my showers had turned cold halfway through. Everyone else had unrestricted hot-water access in my condo. I didn't. I limped into the bathroom anyway. Colin, who'd once promised to protect me for the rest of my life, banged on the door while the others soothed her. For the first time in four years, the water stayed hot, and I cried beneath it. When I came out, a message from my agent was waiting. "We have an offer on the listing." Keep choosing her—when this sale closes, you'll all need to find somewhere else to live. After graduation, our circle of five friends temporarily moved into the condo that was supposed to be home for my boyfriend and me. But the app-controlled water heater kept acting up. For four years, every winter, the hot water turned cold halfway through my shower. My boyfriend, Colin Whitaker, had tried to fix the app-controlled water heater countless times. All he ever said was, "Probably a software glitch. Just live with it for now." Then one night, I came home late from work, on my period and doubled over with cramps. Halfway through my shower, cold water hit me again. I wrapped myself in a towel and shivered beside the kettle, heating water to wash with. The lock turned, and the others came in, clustered around my best friend, Megan Ellis. "It's freezing." She rubbed her hands together. "I'm going to take a shower." "The water he
