Nocticadia

by Keri Lake

My heart was a graveyard. A cold and starving apathy entombed within slumbering bones.

Calling her beautiful was like calling the sun lukewarm. She’d blazed like the hottest part of a flame in that dress. And fuck me, I’d felt the heat.

“As I’m sure you’ve discovered, I don’t get along well with others.

“And so the moth befriended the flame.”

People with money somehow always pissed me off, and I hated myself for that, but goddamn it, sometimes they acted like their problems were on par with everyone else’s.

“You’re a sickness inside of me that begs never to be cured. Infecting me with this unshakable craving for things I shouldn’t want.”

“Why does the forbidden have to be so fucking sweet?”

“That I would kill for you without a beat of hesitation, or remorse. And yet, at the same time, I could be reduced to nothing more than a pile of ash without you. I’m weak for you, Lilia.”

I will bleed out every one of your demons until you feel safe.”

It was you who dragged my heart from this insensate slumber. And it’s you for whom it beats now.”