Secret
(n. kept hidden from knowledge or view)

She is tired. Clothes need to be laundered, cupboards need to be dusted, dinners need to be cooked. She watches, through soulless eyes, her hands move with practiced grace, seeing but not feeling as they glide over the sparse kitchen top. They flicker and stop to rest on the wooden hilt of a knife. She tests the flat, smooth surface in her palm, entrapping its body in the tangle of her fingers. She observes with vague, distant fascination as her hands grow independent of her; they take a life of their own and steal away to explore. Fingers run a smooth, precarious trail along the edge of the worn-out blade, sweeping across the thin metal absent-mindedly.

The fragile fibres of her skin tear apart with ease, blood hesitating before flowing like a freed caged animal afraid and unsure to test its new boundaries of freedom. She watches as it breaks free from its insecurity, fluidly rushing to ensnare her hand in its vicious web of red. She feels the faint pulse of the blood – so weak she was almost afraid she would lose it to the harshness of imagination’s tricks – and wallows in the quiet comfort of the steady, constant heartbeat.

A subtle settling within brings her attention to a second heartbeat; coursing, beating, keeping pace with her own. Her hand steadies itself on the familiar concave of her stomach. Red smears against the white of her tired, threadbare shirt but it does not matter to her. She smiles when she feels it adjust itself, a smile that betrays little warmth.

It was her secret. It was her secret to protect.

A/N: Beginning of what is supposed to be a 1200-1500 word essay for school, but I can’t seem to get past this part and it sounds like a story within itself. Constructive reviews desperately needed, as it contributes to my overall grade for English.