The Black Beast
La Bête Noire
(The Black Beast)
Firelight plays across your face. For a moment, maybe, there’s a gentleness I haven’t seen, not since long ago. Time and space have ceased for us. We lay entwined, your hands in my hair, my hand on your chest. And I weep. Such bitter tears of anguish fall from my eyes.
Your eyes are still hidden though. So deep. In the shadows. There was a time when I could see past it all. I could see eternity. But now… That darkness is never ending. It’s forever.
My finger to my lips, I lean forward.
“Shh,” I say. “Can you hear that? …It’s coming… It’s coming for me.”
A slight breeze brushes a strand of hair across my cheek. I push it back. I tuck it behind my ear.
You don’t understand. Not any of it.
You can’t hear what I hear.
A thousand times, I've said I’m sorry. A thousand more I’ll say it.
But it won’t matter. Not now.
It’s coming.
It’s coming for me.