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ten

Dove

A scream jolts me awake.

I blink my eyes once, twice, three times. Something wet cakes my lips, and as I lick them, a metallic flavour buries deep into my subconscious, filing away for a later, unidentified date—preferably a never-to-return one.

Rubbing at the strange substance, I notice the other person in the room—a person who shouldn’t be here, who was never meant to witness this. I look deep into her eyes, pleading for forgiveness, but her mouth just opens and shuts continuously like one of those blowfish I’ve seen in the cavern waters below.

There’s an extra niggling extension within my chest, whispering that something is wrong.

Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

As my full awareness comes rushing back, I take stock of what’s beneath me—no, of who is beneath me.

Unimaginable.

Unquestionable.

My heart freezes over, and once again, black wings and crystal onyx eyes are my savior.