You Have Earned Your Rest

DESI

I have no time nor care for thought.

There is only action. Only Father’s command.

Only power.

Destruction.

Desolation.

I see the girl, Miri, as she kneels before me, her frail human hands trying, uselessly, to lessen my grip.

I only squeeze tighter.

And then something changes.

A flash of light.

A burst of knowledge, of something warm and foreign, something totally unwelcomed.

And now the girl who kneels before me isn’t Miri at all.

My mind divides. My heart turns on itself.

Now part of me names the girl - Lucy.

Calls out to her.

Remembers her.

And oh.

Oh.

Michael is with me, whispering my name, calling me love.

“Take it off,” he says.

“Just take it off, baby,” Lucy says.

The ring. Take it off.

I want to. I will.

Oh, how I want to be rid of it.

MICHAEL

Desi blinked and let her hands drop to her side. She stared at her father. I stepped nearer. While I watched, the life in her eyes drained away.