imagrrrl

Lying on your stomach, one of your hands cupped over one of mine, you wove in and out of sleep. Several times, I heard you forget yourself and begin to breathe raspingly, unconsciously, but I found that the slightest involuntary movement of my hand under yours prompted a reassuring "I'm still here" squeeze of your fingers. You stroked my wrist with your index finger. Your warm hip nudged against mine, that sticky contact undulating with each breath either of us took.

I lay tensed with strangeness, remembering you as you were before, powerless before the onslaught of - as it seemed to me - an uncontrollable madness. Beside me, your skin a gentle gold in the lamplight, you began gently to snore.

When I woke up, I was alone. There was a rumpled look to the sheets next to me. They seemed compressed, dimpled. They were warm... but nope... I was alone