Panacea

The others had all gone to bed. The sun was setting. She used to think it beautiful. Before she left, the sky was a wondrous thing.

He sat down beside her, thankfully not saying a word as he did so. She didn’t look at him. The two sat in silence. The leaves swayed and the sky darkened, but the two hardly moved at all — they hardly seemed to breathe.

And out of the blue, her head dropped onto his shoulder. Inhale. Exhale. His arm wrapped around her waist. She shut her eyes. Maybe it would have worked in another world.

-