(prompt: 'tremor' 15/5/2020)

"I'm dying... I am, aren't I?"

"Well-ll," I answered.

I was reluctant to tell the truth. "Yes, actually."

Despite her drug-induced calm, she flinched.

Until I added, "We all are, darling. From the day we're born. "

"Not you," she said. There was no tremor in her voice now; an end of life surge maybe? Bizarrely, this thought seemed to amuse her; as if she was enjoying her last conversation.

"Not you," she repeated. "I couldn't live without you... " and she laughed out loud. Hollow... and yet it was a laugh.

And her eyes closed for the last time.

Photo by Evgeni Evgeniev on Unsplash