Uniform

The weight of her hand condensed her spirit as she waved to his disappearing figure. He waved back, but the depth of worry in his face sent arbitrary signals to her nerve endings. His trade forced him far away, and horror was the fruit of its tools. Horrors like a single point that overcomes everything; like a tiny poppy petal that swallows even its host. The hue swallowed him, inverting his various shades of green into a deep red, on its never-ending quest to devour the world. Even the backs of her eyes were stained with red until she flung them open.

The pounding of her heart faded at half the rate as the colour from her eyes. She stared into the darkness, her senses taking in little more than the sound of the air that cycled the room, through fans and lungs alike. Her hands fell onto what her eyes could not, and she traced her fingers along the warmth she found. Her movements aroused the form beside her and she felt herself being drawn into the warmth. She nuzzled into the soft comfort and a pair of lips swept her forehead, pouring a smile onto her face. She hummed, the tune of happiness coating her exhausted panic. The sound of breathing settled over the room again, but the enveloping blackness did not give weight to her eyes. An indeterminate length of time extracted her from comfort and twisted her into the blankets. Tired frustration seeped from her mouth as shapes slowly began to appear in the room. Sympathy held her close and finally gave voice to the air as it started to glow.

"What's wrong, hmm? Can't sleep?"

She tipped her face to the speaker. His palm rested against her cheek, a tablet for her nod. Her face became heated, so she soothed it in the cool blankets. "I had a dream..." she muttered against the thick fabric.

"What did you dream of?" His fingers rode the waves of her hair from start to finish, only to start again. Her thoughts and emotions fell, blurring into peace and sleepiness.

"Your uniform..." she whispered, the words dripping from her mouth. "It stole you away." Her face wrinkled the darkness, but the hand tracing the length of her hair sketched the soft dreams she soon slipped into.

"I'm not going anywhere." His lips affixed the shaky promise to her forehead.

Reviews

[Woody]

love this. beautiful scene, superbly "painted".