“Be with me.”

I suggest, breathless, in between kisses.

“Lay on the beach, dinner, and after…?” I wink.

She blushes, sheltering beneath her black fedora.

I smirk.


“Wanna feel the shadows?”

She asks beneath the sheets. It’s late now.

“How do you do that?” I ask.

“Close your eyes. We’ll feel them always,” she says.

I close them.


“What is that?”

Fear stirs inside me.

“Is that it?”

“Quiet. Listen,” she instructs me.

I was…


“I swear I heard — oh no—”

Her palm slaps across my lipstick.

“That’s it?” I mumble beneath vanilla scented fingers.

She nods, her silk strands dance on my neck.


I quit breathing, to hear…

“They’re all around me.”

My whispers are dots of soft sand,

but my heart is a drummer.

“It’s okay…” she beams.

Feet scrape across the floor, circling us.


“It’s cold now…”

I free my eyes.

No one’s here. Not even the ocean sounds.

She’s gone.

But they remain. Closer now, haunted air.

“Help!”


A pathetic scream.

No one hears

over the ocean’s magnificent roar.

I smell them…


“Don’t!”

I cry. It’s no use…

They’re under the sheets.

Vanilla scented cold shadows grip my legs.

I’m gone… Hers, always.