Shaded

Shadows crept across the wall. It was him.
“I know you’re here.”
My voice cut through the silence of my empty bedroom.

Every night he’d been coming.
Invisible, but present,
his silhouetted form the only proof I wasn’t crazy.

I clicked on my bedside lamp.
He couldn’t hide in the orange glow.

I gasped as the light outlined his shaded figure.

He moved quickly, away from me.

“Don’t go,” I shouted.
“I want to come with you.”

He stopped, came closer. I reached for him.
The way the air warmed where he stood was both terrifying and exciting.

He was real.

I felt the warmth on my face,
his hand.

“I know it’s you, Jack,” I said,
tears wetting my lashes.

I’d never loved anyone else.
He’d died too soon.

“Please take me with you.”

The warmth moved to my lips, and I breathed it in, the familiar scent of sage and earth.

“Please.”

His invisible hands found my neck, gently at first.
The pulse of my heart quickened beneath the heat of his fingers.

“Do it.”

The loss of air was startling, but I wanted this.
I couldn’t live without him.

I smiled with closed eyes as everything faded.

- JESSICA THERRIEN
From Imagination To Publication