Glitch

Static arises along her face. Her eyes are altering to a haze. Her expression is drawn to blank as she becomes part of a faint memory.

I sit beside her, her static hand held in mine. I don't know if this is reality or a lucid dream. But the anguish I feel is my castigation.

Her hair slashes at me when the breeze becomes a tempest. And her static body develops zigzag lines across her torso and face. She gives me a reassuring smile. But within my mind, that smile is a suppressed secret. Digital fragments of her body break away and dance with the tempest.

“Where do you think we go when we glitch?” she asked before she knew her life would end.

Above the twilight sky,
Beyond the violet horizon,
Is a firmament depicted perfectly.

Do not let your worry become so high.
That firmament is displayed so vividly, blazon.
And its welcome erupts abruptly.

Release your grasp from me.
And let its light wash you away
Into the embracing sea
And rest aside your fray.

She twists her head to the other side, hiding her dissolving face. “But, what if the world you speak about is not the truth?” Her knuckles I lay my thumb upon gradually scatters. Her voice is shaken as she wonders on throughout her words. “What if the afterlife is just a virus?”

I grip her chin with my free hand and caress away the static flesh. I then pull her face to mine and place my forehead upon hers, our lips nearly touching.

Our hearts are carefully made.
Our souls are luminous.
And the tangible world outside ours is magnificent.

The mellifluous water is waiting to be wade through.
Please promise to be ambitious.
You will not be an abolishment.

Release your grasp from me.
And let its light wash you away
Into the embracing sea
And rest aside your fray.

“But—”

I passionately press my lips against hers and suck out the rest of her breath. As we pull away, my hand stroking her shattered cheek, our eyes link. Hers are the firmament that I speak about, a striking indigo that I have roamed through practically a lifetime.

I give her a reassuring smile. But only to me do I know there is a suppressed secret.

And as I clench my tears and withdraw my hands from her grasp, her body evaporates. And that is the last I’ll ever see of her. Though, the love I have withheld from her in a decade is my castigation. Its profound anguish is enough for me to shatter mentally.

Can you bear to stitch your scars when they have finally burst?
Can you decide to pitch away your heart when you have lied too much?
Can you dare scratch the itch that lies upon a fatal wound?
Can you live a life without a lover that has become a Glitch?