Barely Breathing

None of this is real, but he presses against me, and it’s real enough. He smells of sweat and musk and police uniform. He tells me he loves me, he grabs my hand and tries to coax me to stay. My skin burns where he touches me, and I try to ignore the throbbing of my blood. Tonight, I promise, and kiss him on his hand before gathering my things and leaving silently, A smoldering look, a touch. It’s all that’s needed to call me back to bed. But loving Him, I am the one in pain. Call me back, tell me you need me… Save me form this hell hole I call life, save me form my oppressive family and mind numbing job.

He asks why I never stay. I can’t. If I did, I’d never leave. “I don’t understand,” he says.

“No, I don’t suppose you do,” I say more to myself than to him. Our legs touch, and it’s like a burn. I satre at him, he stares into me.

“So this is it?”

“I guess so…”

~~

When he slept, he still looked alone. Not lonely. Alone. And yet he still leaves every morning, and crawls back every night…

~~fini