Cold
by CGR, (c)June 1999

{Set after WYLB}
 

My hands are bleeding from countless fissures. The sharp-edged rubble tears into my skin. Yet I persist, alone and chilled, remove chunks of my destroyed home to find her body. 

Where are you, doctor?  Was it really you who eons ago brazenly faced Enabran Tain to save my life?  You, who now can barely bear my presence?  Who tautened and almost flinched when I gently touched his shoulder amid the ruins?  Averted his eyes?  Ignored my plea to come with me and help me bury my mother?

Mother ... A word never spoken.  I told you how my birth was shameful to her, made you witness my father´s death.  I shared my deepest secrets and called you friend.

But you flee me in the moment when I needed you most to remind me that there is warmth in life.

Among the hard debris, suddenly, soft flesh.  My eyes blur with tears.  Reaching out blindly, I caress her dead face, my hands cold as her body.

Cold as your heart.

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