Still Life with Woman

I had recently felt unwell, despite being young and assumed healthy.

To be exact, I had felt my body slowly becoming heavier in recent days. It started in my fingers and toes, where I lost the freedom of movement expected of healthy extremities. It wasn’t particularly difficult, but neither was it easy.

I went to bed, hoping to feel better the next day—to feel completely reenergized.

Illusory thinking.

I had the impression that my feet had solid soles. It began as a tiny twitch, progressed to a twinge, and finally became a full-blown swelling. My limbs seized one at a time, little by little.

The pretty smile I wanted to entice, savor, and nourish—

she responded slyly.

My largest to smallest toes began to ceramicize, making them feel weightless. I was troubled by the numbness and inflammation that stopped my circulation. As I kept emphasizing her covert wantonness, I ignored any signs of retracting.

I insisted that we reconvene at my house after we had consumed resistant-inhibition annihilators and cleansers of the palate.

My hand stopped working from the pinkies to the thumbs as I reached for my phone. Each digit was encased in its own tomb by a coarse, grey epidermal crust.

Her off-the-shoulder blouse fell to the ground as it was frantically removed. It took effort to remove the rest of her tight, short clothes, revealing a supple body beneath, covered only by thin lace.

My midriff and back—spinal cord and neck—began to swell and freeze, encrusted in concrete with an aged patina.

Miraculously, my heart continued to beat and my lungs continued to expand and contract, though everything felt sluggish when I thought back to the previous night.

I kept making advances.

A night unlike any other.

Her flowing dark hair, black as the sky, caught my eye.

We performed our willful tango.

She laughed at my jokes, and her dark brown eyes whispered words her mouth never spoke.

She said, “Take me.”

“Tame me, my love, lay me down on the softest linen.”

She was led to my bedstead by my hands.

After quenching our thirsts with wine and spirits, we sat intoxicated. I needed to satisfy my internal hunger. I began to consume her without another word. I stripped her down layer by layer, rendering her vulnerable.

Her hushed screams and pleadings were dismissed.

Both her mind and body gave up.

She became a prisoner of my aspirations.

We stayed up late the entire night. I was captivated by her innocence and beauty. I gave her a prominent and elevated position at my feet.

My body, almost completely covered, felt a cruel chill. The remaining parts paid attention, but no longer with stolen lust.

The apex was reached.

My eyes caught a glimpse of Asudem’s beauty—

her wild, carefree brown locks swaying and slithering alive—

as the last beats of my broken heart failed,

and I felt my body engulfed.