That night.
Slumped against our dresser, my face hangs heavy. Relentlessly my lip trembles as the heaviness in my arms becomes a blurred portrait, provoked by the piercing, breathless assualt swelling in my neck.
How could this have happened.
Only yesterday did we discuss our future, tenderly by the fireplace, which although blazed, appeared dim in comparison to us. Here we would find comfort in one another, isolated from the outside world. I remember fondly how you would run your fingers through my chestnut coloured hair, and how you would chuckle sweetly at my witticisms. I remember how your eyes would glow as you discussed your favourite poets, Wilfred Owen, Blake, Shakespeare. You would talk for hours until your throat became hoarse, and even that couldn’t stop you from expressing your love for literature.
It was spectacular, you were spectacular.
My vision became blurred again.
“Do you remember that summer…the one where we travelled across America.”
“We were on a hikers trail, when you thought you heard something...It turned out to be a deer… which had Injured its leg…and instead of leaving it to suffer…you carried it for 3 miles… to the nearest veterinary”
The stabbing feeling in my throat grew even stronger as my eyes, now blind, made small deposits on his forehead.
“It was here...that I realised…how much I adored you”
If only I had of gotten here sooner, before the masked assailant welcomed themselves into our home. To take whatever they pleased. But you, being you, defended our home. Our castle, our sanctuary. With your fists, and your body.
It was a cold, unforgiving night when it happened. I had just shut the large oak porch door and stepped forward, calling your name in high hopes to share with you my day’s pleasures when I heard the struggle from upstairs. My brow lowered as I began to investigate the peculiar event. I traversed with great caution up the wooden stairs which creaked in symmetry with the placement of each foot. It was the sudden cry to ‘run’ that made me realise it was you. Now uneasy, my walk became a run. I turned the corner and exploded through the door into our bedroom, my fists prepared. The door flew back, revealing the figure dressed in black that you where wrestling with. My eyes now fixated on the object of desire, the hard metal which was being pulled from side to side. I rushed forwards to assist my partner when the ear-splitting detonation caused an incessant ringing in my ears, and my husband’s body fell to the ground.