The Moon Chose Me Twice
I gently lift her heavy, dark hair, piling it atop her head so I can reach the nape.
The cloth falls from my hand, splashing back into the basin.
There, right at the base of her skull, hidden by her hairline, is a mark.
I blink, thinking it’s a bruise. A contusion from the blow she took. But it’s too defined. The lines are too sharp.
I lean closer, my heart beginning to hammer a frantic rhythm against my ribs. I trace it with a trembling finger. The skin isn't raised like a scar or swollen like an injury. It’s flat. Black. Like ink that has been burned into the flesh from the inside out.