Cold Blood

Winter has never been easy for Iulia. Especially not this one since she no longer has anyone to hold when the night haunts the street. Her husband was a man who broke no promises, for he never made any. He was also retentive in his work as a humble book keeper. Nothing can and will replace him in both Iulia's heart and mind. You see, she used to take pleasure in his stories, the people he encountered throughout his day, things he witnessed and humored him. Yes, life was wonderful. But life has transitioned into something else. A life where the night seems to seep through the walls themselves, taunting the woman with hope, lying in saying that she has lost her worth. She was married, but she is still a human alone. Human enough to defy the calumny.

Fears encased her like a screw head, tight and sure. Leaving her feeling immobilized, denting the steel in tightness. The steel bends with disorienting thuds against the door. To think that someone is there after midnight is unthinkable! Especially considering she lives quite a way from the confines of the city. The house next door is easily a five minute walk. Alike a champion, she fights against sleep just so to serve one at the door. Silk covers her entire figure and quite easily too, there is not much to cover as she is a slim as a whip yet as fit as a harvesting horse.

Keys rattle between her fingers without any rushing. Only sadness and tiredness. Wind bites her legs as the door hisses open. Darkness greets her, if one could personify it. But no human figure lightens the doorway. The Victorian lamp illuminates against the dark, warding it off the driveway so Iulia can lean out and look around the edges of the house. Nothing is there for her to see.

Back into the house she lightly treads and back into the bed with the sheet that doesn't fit the mattress. Her dreams arise like the mist on a warm day, humid from the rain-kissed pavements and roads. Up and up the ascend in her mind. But the fragility of her mind fails once again as the dreams of her flying ends with her hitting the ground. In sweat, she shoots upwards to the bang that concluded her moment of reverie.

The bedroom door is open, still swinging and squeaking. Upon the tongue, she can taste her own blood infused with dread and guilt. Blood, cold blood.

You screwed your marriage. If you had  been patient... Iulia internally shouts at herself. Condemning her by force. If only she hadn't allowed herself to become distressed and desperate whilst he was gone. That man only came over to help with the brickwork. Please! Don't hurt me any more than I already am! If I must die, kill me quick! The shame that came from how he used his hands on me is cumbersome! Please, forgive me!

Once the storm of her mind had passed, Iulia awoke to find herself within her own arms. Cradling her own comfort. The sun leaks through the windows without so much a cloud in the sky. Everything is in the light as of now, including Iulia. Birds upon the windowsill sing their sonata, grey wings flutter whenever a high note is achieved.

The door thuds again in a foreboding rhythm. Knuckles firm against the wood. Iulia expects nothing but the dark to be at the door, though it is light outside with the sun carolling with the wind that gambols. Please let there be someone. She prays.

Iulia stands before the door without any breath left, but the resignation of being alone for the remainder of her life. Strangely, she feels light. As though a broken feather taking flight with the breeze. Iulia reaches to open the door, uncertainty brimming her soul and her keys do not make so much a noise.

A man she knows stands outside the door accompanied by a man so radiant that Iulia thought him perfect, which he is, considering where he resides. At the whisper of her name, the Man of Radiance reaches for her as though she a child. Iulia, filled with joyful tears in that she had the faith, dwindling as it was, hugs Him endearingly. Youth fills her veins in abundance as she laughs silently into his white robe.
Will you follow? I have a place for you. He in the White Robe whispers of love. Iulia nods, still tearful in gratitude and does so. In following, she holds her husband's hand and the Man in the White Robe's. Walking away with them in love, hope and joy.

As to where to and who that Man is, that is entirely up to you my dear listener. But Iulia left with a warm and cosy soul, leaving behind her cold blood.