Murdering Perfection

The night of my birth should have been the night of my death. My first breath of air should have been my last. They never should have let me survive.

I close my eyes at the dim light that shines in my face, portraying my nearly naked body. My breathing comes fast and I know that I have only moments to live before every thing is over and I am taken by death.

A scream of agony fills my ears and I flinch at the pain of it, knowing the sound is coming from my very lungs, expressing its malevolence and injustice. A crackle of terror flashes through my mind as my minutes of remaining life slip away ever so quickly with each passing second.

"You have to breathe." He tells me again. "You have to breathe and force yourself through the pain."

"I can't..." I say, my voice is lower than a whisper as I grasp his hand in between my sweaty palms. "It's killing... me...." I say, my voice shaking with intense trepidation.

"Hang on," he pleads. "Please, Kamilah." The sound of my name coming from his lips in such a way sends an unrecognizable emotion coursing through my veins. "It will all be over soon."

"Over..." I repeat, tasting the word on my heavily chapped lips and blinking back the tears of excruciating pain. "Forever..." The word is barely audible but he must hear it because his grip tightens on my hands as he presses his body closer to mine to reassure himself that my heart is still pumping blood.

"Don't say that!" He snaps quietly. The warm, sickly blood starts to pool around my neck and torso and the bitter, salty scent reaches out for me, threatening to overpower me and drag me down into a dark pit that I will never rise from again.

I'm finding it harder to continue the conversation with this man as I struggle to take my next breath. The cold cement floor is now covered in my sparkling red blood as it pours from the wounds in my body. The room refuses to light any farther and I finally see the darkness creep up into my line of sight, cutting off my vision from the man leaning over me, begging me to stay with him.

The blackness spreads and I find myself slipping away into the night. The light flickers above me and then turns off completely, throwing me into a darkness I'm not sure I'll ever come out of again.

The screaming pierces my hearing again as the weight of the world crushes down on my chest, forcing my breath to spill out for the last time. The last thing I hear before death envelopes me is the cry of the man over my chest and the feel of his tears splashing down upon my paled complexion.

Goodbye...