You clutch the corpse of Hannah tightly in your embrace, staring down at the lifeless eyes of her mangled visage. Her eyes are glazed over, the whites glossy with tears that remain frozen in time. The air is filled with the thick scent of iron, even the taste of the copper makes you sick with sorrow and disgust. The grief is overwhelming, overflowing like a burst pipe.
You can hardly think, your mind clouded by the sheer intensity of your own emotions. Before a second thought could even cross your mind, your lips meet her ravaged cheek. You can smell the flesh that slowly oxidises, the blood that drips from the loose flaps of her torn face. Her eyes remain glassy, filled with empty silence that can no longer be resuscitated. You don’t know how long you stay there, embracing her corpse, feeling the blood that wets your mouth. The coppery taste makes you gag, but you don’t care.
She’s dead.
Your beloved is dead.
And she’s never coming back.
“Deep in earth my love is lying
And I must weep alone.”
― Edgar Allan Poe
PERSEVERANCE IS KEY