When Love Was A Trial
r afternoon, forty y
apsed by a stream, her clothes torn and her body bruised. She looked
k to my small cab
rought her broth and herbal teas, I changed her bandages, and I talked to her, t
she spoke
lar
s the b
She learned my work, her hands gentle as she helped me grind herbs and tend to
had over forty years. Forty years of shared meals, of waking up together, of growing old. I saw the first s
a blessing. I thought
used every herb I knew, but nothing worked. She lay in our b
he lig
shielded my eyes, and when I could see again, she was sta
made the air hum. Her eyes were not the warm brown I kne
he light, tall and beautifu
said. "Your trial is
no recognition in her eyes, no l
" I asked, my
said, her voice a strange melody.
he paused. She flicked her wrist, a
aid. "So you wil
rapped me within the borders of Hollow Creek. I couldn't leave. I watched my friends, the ch
rter, more infrequent. She told me about her real life, her re
My life was a cage. My only friend was Old Man Hem
ed into a quiet, simmering despair. I was a