twelve months

December

December

December starts and you see a change in her. She didn't smile a whole lot before, but now she's stopped doing it altogether. She doesn't go outside much. Just for work. She doesn't talk much to you and, if she can, she spends the whole time in bed. Sometimes, when you enter the room, you see her rubbing her eyes and you know that she's been crying. You ask her if anything's wrong. She says everything's alright.

Everything's not alright.

She spends Christmas in her room, not coming out once, not letting you in either. The next day, though, she's all over the apartment painting. Most of the colors she uses are dark.

He says goodbye before leaving, but she doesn't even look up.