A Bone in His Teeth

by Kellen Graves

Instead, he woke alone to the early afternoon sun through the window. The first time he’d ever woken up alone, he realized, which perhaps was why it took him so long to pull his ghost back into his body and recall where he was.

His mother used to scold him for always being in a rush, telling him ‘take that bone from your teeth; good things come to those who wait.’

With such a hypnotizing voice in his ear, Alba thought he wouldn’t grieve his own death if it was at the pale hands of the moon.

“I told you once before—If you hadn’t chosen me, first, I would have simply stolen you away to keep for myself.

How Eridanys wanted to taste every one of Alba’s breaths whenever their mouths connected, to steal every one of his heartbeats even once they were finished.

But the moon found him first in the darkness, swirling within that smoke and ash-stained water as black as the stains on his skin. The moon with its familiar hands, its firm grasp that held Alba protectively, pulling him into its chest and holding him close.