I’m one step closer to becoming moonless. Pupils engulfed oil black seas without her, but not the day her hand warmed a limp soul, and when we first made love on a cold night. Pattern thick blankets inched up and down my spine while a sheet brushed hers. Her cranium lay so peacefully on a plush pillow.

She was there in that moment rested beneath my carved figure. I felt invincible, for once not competing for her attention. I felt safe even if the door was unlocked and a stranger was to barge in. I felt needed when she pulled me closer to her icy skin for warmth, when she had a bad dream of falling into the unknown or running from a killer. Her body twitched, disquieted my dreams. All she ever needed was me and no one else.

I’m one step closer to becoming oceanless. Waves stopped clashing into tides. The moon halted the pulling of water. The quiet mirrored the questionable night when she left and brought the rain. I stood on her right, sheltered her frame with a blue umbrella. My pores absorbed each raindrop. I couldn’t comprehend the survival when lightning struck close by my poor beating soul. I should’ve been shocked, but I became a photo and time separated us in the storm.