A Ship of Bones & Teeth

by Karina Halle

I expect her to scream for help or try to swim away. Instead, the princess punches me right in the face.

Above, statues peer down at us, big gaping eyes giving silent judgment. It’s the type of place you don’t even want to breathe for fear of pissing off some god that you don’t believe in.

“You are a stunning abyss of a creature,” I tell her. “One that I could spend eons swimming in and never get to the bottom of.”

“Darling, your body would bring any man to their knees where they would be in the right position to worship you. It’s a body carved by god yet meant for sin, and it would become anyone’s salvation.”

She walks off with the skeleton. At least I don’t have to worry about her being alone with him. If anything, I worry for the skeleton.

Life doesn’t pull any punches just because it’s already beaten you to the ground. It doesn’t let you breathe just because you’re already drowning. There is no mercy there.

All the abuse you’ve had to endure, the regrets that still poison you. It can lead a woman to madness. It can lead anyone to madness.”

Of all the battles we fight, grief is the one that we cannot win. There is no winning and there is no losing. Grief makes a home within your bones so that you’ll carry it for all time.

Loss and tragedy don’t stop more loss and tragedy from occurring and grief will always follow you, like a shadow you don’t want.

“Meaning, though Hilla is gone, I’ll never stop being her father. That doesn’t stop with death. She will always be my daughter.”