From the outside, it would appear like she had it all together. She radiated confidence. Her smile was engaging and warm, but inside she was empty, void of feelings. She was consumed by thoughts of him. His voice echoed in her ears, his smile was ingrained in her mind and his touch still burned on her skin.
The icy hand of fate had reached down and snatched him far too early. She stumbled through her days lost in a fog of memories. She smelled his cologne in the air and heard his laughter rise and fall on the wind.
He wasn’t meant to be there. He did it for her and when the stray bullet hit him, death was instantaneous. The guilt she felt consumed her. She put the last pill on her tongue and washed it down with the bitterness of his whisky. To everyone else it would appear that she had taken her own life. But she knew the truth. He took it with him when he left first.
~
This was written for the Trifectra Challenge. I don’t know why this story turned out to be so morbid – I will blame exhaustion. I was even able to use appear twice!
On to the weekly, one-word prompt. This week’s word is:
APPEAR
1a : to be or come in sight
b : to show up <appears promptly at eight each day>
2: to come formally before an authoritative body <must appear in court today>
3: to have an outward aspect : seem <appears happy enough>
polysyllabic profundities 
I’m sorry, because I know what this symbolizes.
It’s amazing that words can know before we do.
Fits right with my mood right now. Missing my KIA Soldierboy something fierce.
Hugs to you.
I keep going back to your comment….I’m so sorry for your loss.
Such sadness in this moment. “…dead though they are living.” powerful moment to capture in words.
Thank you.
I don’t find this morbid at all. Love is rare and beautiful and comes in many forms, yes all these things have been said before but all are true. I agree that suicide is a touch on the morbid side but in this context I feel much more on the romantic side. Well done my friend.
Thank you!
Very Romeo and Juliet–which is meant, obviously, as a compliment. The feeling that you can’t go on without the other person–isn’t that what love is really meant to be about? Lovely post. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks very much for the lovely comment!
wow– powerful writing. nicely done.
best,
MOV
Thank you very much.
Heart wrenching piece of writing. A great take on the prompt.
Thanks very much, Mike.
That last line gave me a shiver. This is so sad because he obviously wanted her to live- he died so she could. I imagine it would be difficult to get past the guilt, but her living would’ve been a great tribute to his sacrifice.
I wasn’t sure where this was going when I started writing it, but I guess guilt consumes us sometimes.
That’s so sad )’:
I know that feeling of having been taken along. Must be even worse when there is a sense of guilt involved.