M

M sits on the skylit summit with her feet crossed at her ankles, her scarlet silhouette bleeding the shadows of her velvet locks. her bangs poke out from her svelte beanie, lipstick applied with surgical precision, leaving bloodstains on the threaded neck of her water bottle.

we look towards the burnt horizon in unison, our backs turned against the past and our torsos poised to accept our fatalistic futures.

"looks like the storm is coming in," i state the obvious for the sole sake of filling the conversational air between us.

"i am the storm," she causes the world to stir around her.

minerva.

modus operandi

what could come forth?

where do we stand?

what am i worth?

how do i make her understand?

ingénue

the harmonious sounds rattle the molecules, distort the airwaves.

with upturned eyes, she declares her mortality while simultaneously discrediting mine.

newborn

tasting the rain-specked, lip-glossed air in the void between.

closer.

accelerant

on the evening of the equinox, we ready ourselves for another allotment of hours dedicated to ravishing each others' brains

she lights another cigarette, chaining them effortlessly and endlessly before the previous smoke dissipates into the warm, melancholy space in between.

she sits with her hands down on her sides, knees together, signifying a vestigial openness laced with subtle insecurities.

i sit with my feet atop the cushions, arms wrapped around my knees with one hand clasped at the opposites' wrist, forming a neatly-packaged bundle in my futile attempts at occupying the least amount of physical space.

but we still bleed into one another.

the static resonates across the sea of space, filled with whispers and sincere subtleties.

she deftly maneuvers her hand to take a drag and immediately retracts it, a muscle-for-muscle reversal of the previous motion to inhale.

"i don't want to lose you," i meekly state as my lowered eyes stay the course.

"i'm not yours to lose," she reflexes as she takes another drag of her cigarette, smoke listlessly evacuating out of her relaxed mouth at an almost lethargic pace.