Bedbug Bites

You wake up, and your body is covered in small, red, itching dots. They come in rows, in clusters, as though someone drew a map on your skin during the night. The itching is relentless — it won't leave you in peace, it demands your attention whether you want it to or not. Bedbugs bite while you sleep. In exactly the moment when you are most vulnerable. In exactly the space that should be your safest: your bed.

Medically, bedbug bites are harmless skin reactions — allergic responses to the insects' saliva. Psychosomatically, a different question arises: why does your body react so intensely to something that catches you in your sleep? What is happening in your life that even the place of rest becomes a place of irritation?

The bites come at night. And they ask you something you don't want to hear during the day: why are you still lying still?