The Wife Who Died For Me

l room was blinding, a constan

, a shallow pull against a

o had poured his soul into pixels and

ail

rah, my wife,

stranger in our own home, her

presence on the kitchen count

al ruin, anything to push me away, to humilia

ieved

cruel word, every

speed and shattered glass on a rai

woul

hate

a burden she was

n with tired eyes, w

ines was slowing down,

n't have muc

to come closer, my

o somethin

expression full o

. tell Sarah Je

scaped the corner of my eye and t

have to deal with

lled up. She nodded

s, letting the

s a r

onstant feeling of not being go

would

was not an

e, detached sta

al, a somber affai

nding apart from

of cold indifference

ed, raw, and swollen, a stark c

there, staring at my casket a

one left, s

resh grave, her fists clenched

stly disbelief as her

down the hit-and-run driver wit

her brilliance as a tech executive,

the man in

aid, but I saw the pure, u

ving him whimpering on the wet pavement be

ed justic

supposedly

stly existence played out

, the only light com

dressed in a si

iece of pape

al vantage point, I

medical d

min

blas

ed my nightmares after h

she pulled a small b

ll

s of

, the hinges groanin

next to the empty space whe

fter another, washing them dow

her head resting

voice breaking with a love so profound it to

o sorry. I just wanted you to

tched, a fina

ove

rld fr

h's lifeless form-it all dissol

ensation pulled me apart a

ng in air like

mell of a hos

the faint, familiar sc

ng at our k

eamed throug

rom me s

es clear and sharp, but filled with

ck of papers a

ce pa

id, her voice flat, rehearsed. "He's su

ted. The first time she asked fo

, a wild drumbeat of terror and r

seeing her play this crue

demanded, her g

d at her for the first time

st invisible lines of

r in her hand as she p

t actress, but I n

d for th

ecting me to sign,

ck, and I ripped them in half, then in half aga

widened

ound the table, and pu

burying my face in her hair, breathing

live. She

ispered, my voice thi

illness? Do you t