My Darling Dreadful Thing

by Johanna van Veen

She made me think of myself as a piece of fruit and the act of sex like plucking a plum with a rough hand, bruising the flesh.

Spirits like her are not drawn to the happy and carefree; they want salt, be it blood or be it tears.

What I felt for Agnes was right and true, yes, but it was not selfless.

“He hasn’t yet given me much reason to believe in him.”

Doing little has never agreed with me. It gives me too much time to dwell on things.”

But if you must know, then yes. I was his creature utterly and completely.