Spicy Hot
A heat rising, growing, filling all the space pain had hollowed out.
I close my eyes. I see things. Colors, shapes, faces. Lena, watching me from afar, her hands clasped, her lips moving. The former one, whom I never knew but who is here, in this room, in this ritual, in the flowing blood. Me as a child, alone in my room, touching myself without understanding, seeking something I could not find.
"Open your eyes," Adrien says. "Look at me."
I open my eyes. He is above me, his face grave, his light eyes, his hands on my hips, his fingers in my cuts, in my blood.