The Price for Peace

This strange drifting sensation, like I am being bustled along a current of air or cottony cloud. My limbs are weak, unable to move or defend myself in any way. This vulnerability, is this the price to be paid for peace? I am so sleepy; it is almost as if my eyelids have been weighted down with the burdens that once sat upon my shoulders. My thoughts are waning like the fading light in my strange little world.

He sat there looking at her tiny hand nestled between his two work roughed ones. He rubbed small circles into her fingers, smooth skin under his skin so calloused. Machines beeped in a corner; medical jargon flashing across their electronic screens. He only had eyes for her…..

I wonder where I am going? I have never felt so weightless. This must be what being in the space is like, apart from this space is starless and becoming so dark. A cool wind passes through my hair like the fingers of a smitten lover. I breathe in deeply and release a sigh that seems to cleanse my being. So peaceful.

He tucked some stray strands behind her ear and brushed his fingers down the side of her sleeping face. The tube in her throat was horribly disfiguring but even in her state he still found her beautiful. He found a sense of comfort in the fact that she was not aware of what was going on. He had never seen her look more relaxed and happy than she did now.

I'm not sure how long I have been floating in this weird place, this in between of dreams and life. Time seems to have no meaning here and there are no pressures or stress to be found. The current seems to smooth out my skin, washing away anything that pains me. It smells like summer here, freshly mowed grass and the perfume of a hundred different flowers mingling in some scented dance. The darkness has closed in around me now but I am not afraid. There is a pin point of light before me, guiding my way. Ah, sweet tangible peace. Freedom…

He felt her hand tighten in his for the slightest moment. A smile of content plays across her lips and for a moment his tiny spark of hope bursts into a raging fire within himself. He waits to see the depthless blue eyes stare up at him from beneath the thick fringe of lashes. She takes a deep breath and sighs in a way that chills him. A single word rushes by on that breath and the machines cry out in one single never ending monotone.

Home….


He had never seen her so happy as she was when death claimed her…
"Home she said", he whispers. But no one hears his words.