Marla

I think I bruised my cheek--the kind of bruising you get from getting too vigorous with the toothbrush, where it suddenly decides to jab the inside of your mouth. I keep exercising the bruise too, and I'm not sure why that seems to be human nature. The more something hurts, the more we seem to be content on running our fingers or tongues over it or moving to feel the pain. (I'm sure you're going to take that sentence somewhere else.)

"...That little scratch on the roof of your mouth that would heal if only you could stop tonguing it, but you can't."