Shards

Her lover tells her that she is pretty amazing.

Looking back at her were beady eyes surrounded by bags filled with insecurity and sleepless nights. Their face was a sunken waste land; their body is a graveyard. It's filled with decaying hopes and nameless tomb stones. Skin covered their bird cage where a once thriving heart rests. Now it just slowly beats for an unknown march. The edge of the woman's ribs is a deep canyon that sometime she does not know how to fill. Sometimes she does not want to. Sometimes she forgets how to survive. But those bluish veins that throb rich haemoglobin goodness are there keep that body awake. It's good enough for now.

Her lover's voice is static. She does not, cannot, will not hear it.

She can't help but feel pity for the person in front of her. Creases on her face caused by age stained the woman's face. Thin faint vines sat on her stomach and thighs due to pulling her wrapping too tight. They were stretch marks. A dark scar etched inches above the person's pelvis. It was a straight line that could be only made by a surgeon's hands. The figure's fingers traced it and she could not help but shudder as if those cold hands were touching her.

Her lover tells that she is pretty amazing.

The woman's body had curves in places that were not meant to be. Unhealthy. The usual soft bends were sharp turns that could cut someone by just looking at it. Marks littered her canvass echoing painful memories that no one should succumb to. She wanted to look away from the sight.

A door behind the woman slightly opens.

Beams of light creep into the room as heavy footsteps enter the room. The woman's eyes widen. "Why are you in the dark?" The familiar voice was full of mirth.

The woman's mouth moved before biting her lips. "No reason-"

"- I don't believe you," The figure inched closer towards the woman, "why are you half naked? Even though I don't mind that you are but...is something wrong?"

The woman snorted and shook her head. The woman's lover's arms embraced her torso before whispering into her ear. "You know you're pretty amazing."

The woman looked back at her. "Why don't you ever tell me that I'm pretty?"

"I thought I did." Her lover chuckled.

The woman sighed.

"I think that you're pretty amazing, pretty brilliant, pretty intelligent but never just pretty-"

"-Thanks for tha-"

"I mean that by just saying pretty to describe you is wrong because how I see you is not something that can be summed up by a dictionary," the woman's lover rested their chin on her bare shoulder, "especially since you gave birth to our beautiful healthy child and if you can't see that I think we need a better mirror because this one is broken."

Her lover finally flicked on the lights. She gave one last look at her reflection before facing her lover and turning the corners of her lips into a small smile.

Her lover's voice is clear and finally she listens.