This is my story and is also published elsewhere.
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The night is quiet, and the rain pattering the windowsill in rhythmic patterns lulls you into a deep fatigue. You feel it in your shoulders, your legs, and even your neck. Tension. Loss. Anger, disappointment. A perfect recipe for pain and misery. So tired that you need sleep, but too tired to care. Beyond exhaustion, you find yourself finally becoming numb. The darkness creeping at the edge of your vision tickles your eyes and makes you want to close them forever. But you, isolated, in your core, no longer feel. Your hands move of their own volition to suit your needs, but your blank expression that you see in the mirror remarks nothing more than the inexorable march of imminent death.
Laying down, your heart mutters a prayer. A cure for your heartache and a salve for the sting of betrayal, the pang of loss. As your eyes flutter closed, listening to the rolling thunder in the distance. Lightning flashes, and the shadow of a woman watches you sleep.
In the midst of a dream, you are surrounded by fog. Your memories are hazy, but you hear a barely audible whisper, as if echoing from someplace far, far away.
"Hello, my love."
You begin to open your eyes, the bleary image vaguely resembling a woman. Without your glasses and in the poor light, it is hard to tell.
"Shh, it's okay." She shusses you. She places a hazy but perfect finger on your lips, pressing quite insistently. You feel your lips seal, leaving you unable to speak.
"I heard your prayer." She whispers, almost like an echo, in your ear. You don't remember praying, but this is probably still a dream.
"I can feel your pain. Your sorrow. Your need. The anguish and desperation from inside your heart. It called out to me. Shhh, it is okay. You don't need to see. You just need to be able to feel."
Your vision maintains a kind of blur, showing only the hazy outline of the woman crouched above you. Hazy or not, she is still quite shapely.
You feel her lean in close, head above yours but inches.
"You don't need to speak. We don't need words."
She leans down and gently touches her lips to yours. You can feel her tongue very softly, gingerly even, grace the tips of your sealed lips. Leaning back up, she notices something strange.
Memories flooded you in that moment, bringing back images and feelings of what was lost. She used to kiss you much the same, until she was gone. Once, this would have broken you. Now, you live in a world of gray. Feelings, like color, are a stranger to you.
Your unusual visitor takes a hand and gently strokes a grain of your hair.
"Shhh, it's okay. Everything is going to be okay. Everything is going to be alright."
She takes a formless but perfect finger and wipes away a single tear that was beading in your eye. A representation of the pain you no longer allowed yourself to feel. She traces the line of your jaw, and whispers, "Embrace Love's kiss."
And her full lips engulf yours. You feel yours begin to soften, as a warm tongue invades your mouth and teases and pokes at your mostly-paralyzed tongue. After several seconds of enjoying your tongue, she retreats and seemingly does not need to catch her breath.