The Woman They Tried To Erase

iver of awareness back, hou

b' s small room

sleep be

e thing, a smug warmth that ra

lazy, triumphant drawl in my m

tender. Worried ab

I hadn' t bee

broken, too submerged

, confident. She was

tightening around Ann

her away. He p

ep, his bod

, his unconscious embrace, was

t to me. C

He knew Anna and

destroy what little

did it

passive anymore. It

hands, my real hands, t

t feel it, n

uake, shaking the founda

thout flinching, who had dragged Michael fro

bling unco

ear of dea

is utter, soul-cr

her, the casual intimac

nt beyond any

dn' t

earlier, I craved it now

in my mind, plunging my inne

rs. Shut down

obli

the onl

to survive th

I wasn' t sure I' d e

eir world. I wan

er of consciousness

as lau

Hollow, surrounded by Michael, C

scavenged can of p

day. The anniver

fe ended and

e celebr

er a piece of pea

story, and Anna' s laughter

a graveyard. As if my

f happiness, played out against

ched

embling. N

st, empty

, stripped bare of any l

love

er, the comfort she offered, the esc

a sudden

tching a fatal wound bleed out, knowing t

could be the cruel

iven to someone else, so

, in essence, y