SHADOWS AND ARCS - by Glenn Gray

Greetings to yet another talented scribe from across that big pond...

Shadows and Arcs

You look like an angel when you sleep.

Your black hair snakes in delicious curves across the pillow.

Your eyes closed, globes fluttering beneath the lids. The sharp line of your orbital bone is like a masterful Greek sculpture.

I want to cry.

The love I feel is immense, unwieldy.

When you sleep, you are wholly calm, every muscle lax; sinewy lines forming dainty hard angles.

The weight I feel is monstrous.

I want to vomit.

I kneel before you; feel your breath on my lips.

You told me we’ll talk.

In the morning.

You told me it isn’t right.

It happens.

I told you, no, no it is right. The rightest thing ever.

You were then silent.

Unspoken words speak volumes.

I asked you how long has it been this way.

You said probably from the beginning.

I told you ten years is not possible.

You told me it could be.

But the children.

They’ll be fine.

But the house.

We’ll sell it.

But our love.

What love?

I stand.

You look like an angel when you sleep.

Your black hair snakes in delicious curves across the pillow.

Your eyes peek open.

You look confused.

Why is he standing there?

Groggy yet beautiful.

What is he holding overhead?

The sharp line of you orbital bone is like a masterful Greek sculpture.

I aim for that.

The shadow I create sweeps across your angelic face in a swift shuttering arc.

I want to cry.


BIO:
Glenn Gray's stories have appeared in Plots with Guns, Thuglit, Beat to a Pulp, Underground Voices, Word Riot, Long Story Short, Bewildering Stories, FFO, Powder Burn and many others. He has a third OOTG story forthcoming in their "Sexploitation" Issue. He lives in New York.