Friday, December 1, 2017

I

woke up to a soft kiss on my forehead. My nightmare of the rising water above me faded from my memory, and I saw that I was lying comfortably on a soft mattress in a nice bedroom, where I could hear ocean waves, and the titter tatter of rain. The windows were pitch-black, but there was a lavender candle burning over on a counter by the curtains. My half-closed eyes blinked and drifted up, and I found Jack's angel face smiling down on me, kissing both my cheeks as they melted into a smile.

"My love," I said, because I loved calling my man that.

"I love you," he said, and there was something in his voice tonight that revealed that he meant it with all his heart, but somewhere in his heart, was a real darkness, hunched and hiding somewhere in the cardiac corner, and I remembered where we were again, and that we were in our hometown, but that our hometown wasn't really here anymore. We were stranded in hell, and it was only each other to keep us company that would promise a future worth surviving for.

"I found you a water bottle in case you were thirsty," Jack said. And he immediately twisted open the cap and lifted my head to drink it like I was a baby. I still felt heavy and immobile under my bed blankets from all the drugs Travis gave me, so I didn't mind the special treatment. After the last water drops touched my lips, he pulled the bottle away and slid into me, and I found the sensation exquisite this one time more than I had ever felt it was before. He had no shirt and no pants, just a pair of white Calvin Klein's that made me swoon. . .

Why wasn't my stomach in pain anymore? I told Jack I didn't feel anything in my stomach, and he raised his eyebrows and smiled.

"Really?"

Jack lifted the white blankets off of me and raised my shirt above my breasts so that he could see my lower stomach lined in an imperfect curvature. Red thread descended from my lower rib to almost touch my belly button. I was so shocked to see how clean and near perfect it was, that I was at a loss for words.

Jack told me to flex to see if it hurt, and so I flexed, and it really didn't hurt unless I overthought it. I looked at him with jaw dropped and smiling open eyes, and a sudden understanding came over his face in a disbelieving, proud grin. "What can I say," he said, "I'm a natural."

I couldn't say anything but lean in and kiss him. I couldn't believe it. (My dad was right, he should be a doctor—or a painter if he wanted to use his steady hand artistically.) He really knew how to take care of me after all. At least with Travis Gibbs around first to give him a tutorial on how it's done. What an amazing seamstress my man would make—I simply stared at my belly decoration for the next two minutes, and when my arms and hands regained their normal blood flow and feelings, I brushed my fingers along, and from ribs to bellybutton I smoothed my fingers over the thread as it jumped in and out of my stomach.

I persuaded Jack to sleep under the covers and spoon with me as we fell asleep to the relaxing lavender candle smell. But in the flickering orange light that dimly radiated off the grand watercolor paintings on the walls, I felt my tongue lick my own lips and in a moment I felt Jack press into me from behind, and I felt my breathing expand with each chorus, and I pulled my hands down behind my waist and pulled off my Victoria's Secret underwear-- Thanks again, Aunt Molly. I flung the black panties like an elastic rubber band at the biggest painting of an abstract beach sunset hanging up in the corner by the door, and I could hear Jack's breath intensify as his hands grabbed my breasts and he lifted my legs and pushed me over on my stomach (still I was amazed about how comfortable my stomach felt), and I felt his abs rise up my back as he moved in behind me, and I gasped and grabbed for the metal banner at the head of the bed as the legs of the bed shook, and the flames from the lavender candle danced the tango in a wild heat, and I choked my breath as I softly bit my arm and closed my eyes tight, and I my throat melted into ecstatic screams, and I felt the broken world around us black out, because it was just like being back home, like when Jack and I did this at my mom's uncle's house upstairs, on Thanksgiving.

We would be okay, Jack and I, we would make it out of here, we would make it out alive--

We would make it out together. . .