Baser

It doesn’t quite hurt, she muses.

It’s more like a constant itch, maddening in its intensity.

A building pressure right beneath her pale skin.

-

Her stomach coil and churns, tightens and undulates even in her sleep.

She knows that the time is near.

How will it come? She wonders. How will I go?

-

In her head, a pain that greets the morning sun as a subtle nuisance and bids

her farewell in a flurry of fireworks, accompanies her throughout her day.

Abating only in the wee hours of the morn.

-

Sleep itself is an elusive creature.

Quick to spook, it shies away from the merest sound, the slightest sliver of light.

And when it does come, on its black wings grin the faces of the nightmares.

-

She shrugs off the hours, passing them as a mood.

She justifies the days, calling herself paranoid.

The weeks bleed together and she finds that she has lost count.

-

The nightmares aren’t as easy to ignore.

They play like a movie in her head, scaring her, hurting her, killing her.

Until finally the images are silenced.

-

A voice interrupts her dreaming.

She swims to the surface.

She opens her eyes and sees…

-

Green.

-

No, she thinks, this cannot be.

She looks to the empty spot in the bed beside her.

The place where her husband should be.

-

Green.

-

No, her Liam’s eyes are not of glittering emerald but those of uncut ruby.

No, this cannot be, she cries again, as his fingers wrap around her throat.

No, this isn’t happening, she opens her eyes and again she sees…

-

Green.

-

Why? She asks herself, why have I let this happen?

Why didn’t I listen? Why didn’t I see?

Why didn’t I see the signs?

-

A final picture burns into her as her eyes slip shut.

Emerald eyes. A laughing face.

And how she wishes it was just another nightmare.

-

How she wishes she could just wake up…

-

Liam…