Stitched

Jessica's hair caresses my hands and my fingers twist the gold locks in response. Her hair lifts and touches my face gingerly. It smells like beauty, like perfection. My face enters her being, allowing every bit of her essence to touch me. Jessica's blood and my blood quickly stains, leaving our memory forever set.

Another breath of perfection.

I lift her body, her sun kissed skin balances my own pale outer layer of skin. Jessica is limp, her body completing the puzzle at once. I take her to our new home, where we will be together forever. The steps aren't too steep but I walk cautiously to the basement.

I spent months to make it perfect, just like Jessica. Every inch of the basement is clean and in style to her liking. I carry Jessica to our bathroom to aid her cuts and clean her of the old life. She is placed in the claw foot tub, hot water ready to meet her. Her skin is so flawless, even with the cuts. The wounds will turn to scars; the scars will be memories like a first bike ride. When that child falls and scraps their knee, there will always be that scar. Like this in our lives, just a scrape.

Jessica moans and even they sound angelic. I memorize her face with my hand, getting to know every part of her. The blood trickles as I clean the wound, the water now a light pink. I notice her outfit has been sliced from the glass. I strip her of the burden of tattered clothes. Keeping my eyes on her face, I continue to wash her.

As I wash her I think, we are perfect for one another. Throughout Jr. High we were happy; I was happy. Jessica was the first one to say I love you, and it was true. It wasn't until the fourth month of our relationship I was upstaged. Not by a who, but by a what; her talent. Jessica's talent was always her first priority. If I had a bad day and it happens to be on her choir rehearsal day, she would ignore me completely. The week of auditions she did not speak to me once, because she was saving her voice. We could still be together if that voice of hers did not get in the way.

Another angelic moan escapes, the sound now crawling under my skin. That is what will keep us apart. When Jessica wakes up all she will think is her voice. That cannot happen. Now it's us. We are going to live happily forever, without her talent. Rage boils inside me, my teeth grind as I hear her singing in my mind.

Smack!

It's a blow to my head to make it stop. Still, it continues. I stand screaming, trying to drown out that sound. The sound that took us apart. I could have been happy! I reach over and cover her mouth, as if she was doing it. Jessica isn't, she's still asleep. For some reason when her mouth is covered my mind is at peace. Glorious peace and comfort. Something inside me whispers, she has to lose her voice. It's the only thing keeping you two apart. She will run if she found out she can still sing.

I smile. It's right, that is the only thing stopping us being happy together.

Leaving her in the draining tub, I sprint to my vehicle. The little black box is all I need right now. It held exactly what could always keep us together. Jessica will forever love me now. The gashes on her arms and body is the first thing to be fixed.

Stitch, stitch, stitch

Jessica's face twitches as I added the last stitch to her arm. She was starting to wake up. Quickly I thread the last of the black string into the needle. I touch Jessica's lips with mine. My tongue tracing inside her, every bump, every gap, every tooth. I want to explore it all, to remember it all. I bit down on her bottom lip as I fished out an ice cube from the tray. I wouldn't want to hurt her.

I must never hurt Jessica.

The needle pokes through her bottom lip and a small amount of blood runs down her chin. Something inside me woke up. I knew this is just the start of a perfect life. I stitch the top lip. Then back to the bottom, making them as clean and fresh as I could.

Practice makes perfect. I practiced for years for this moment. Stitch, stitch, stitch. I'm almost there; where we will forever be happy. My heart began to throb waiting for our souls to reunite once again. To be forever together. Forever.

"Stitched away like a seam in a dress." The words leave my lips as I close Jessica's forever.

******

Jessica woke a few minutes after that. Her world crashed down as she saw her face. Never again would she sing, speak or even laugh. None of that mattered to Chris; all be wanted was Jessica. In the end they both got what they wanted. Jessica will forever be in the Cold Case Files; infamous forever. Chris got to spend the rest of his days with Jessica. All one week of it. They both died, in a house fire. Some say Chris did it so he and Jessica could really be together forever. Others say Jessica was so heart broken over her voice she couldn't stand to live. We may never know the truth. The only thing that is known, however, is that they got what they wanted in life.