T H I R S T

She sits there, like a loaded gun. Inanimate and without feeling, brought to life only by desire. Mine.

Beaded cells of perspiration form and simultaneously carve their way through us as the river does the mountain. Her sweat, like my own, pools beneath her.

The setting sun, finds her through cracked blinds, igniting us in a monochromatic hellscape; fractals of phosphorescent light ricochet around us.

I reach for her now with held breath, and as I grip her neck I hear my wedding ring Clink! and my teeth are bared and a blood rushing squeal sounds in my ears as I watch her rise like a phoenix soaring toward me.

I'm shaking as she touches my lips, a shuddering breath enters the silence as we become one. A current of fear and release, regret and ecstasy wash over me as I consume her spirit, her lies, her promise.

Setting her down, I wait for reality to welcome me back from her forbidden domain. As I arrive, I look to my family and tell them: tomorrow I'll be better, and they smile back at me frozen in time upon the fridge door as it beckons me forth, toward the end of yet another day.