Everything

[Millicent]

I am dark and cold. There is no light to see, so I feel around with my fingers.

Where am I?

There is something warm, slick, and hard beneath my hands. Beyond that something stirs. Impossibly large, it wraps itself around me. I know I am safe when I hear her humming. Her voice is beautiful, the melody low and deep calming me as I settle against her warmth…

…There is heat. I am being carried, although the world is still dark around me. I miss the heat of that warm body as I am placed somewhere cold and dry. Cries of pain and roars of outrage boom in the darkness. I am afraid…

…In the distance, I hear a man. He is crying, roaring in pain.

I move toward the sound, but he is locked behind a wall of solid stone. Placing my hands and face against the stone I cry with him, even though I do not know why he weeps.

“Let me in,” I beg, pounding on the wall. “Why won’t you let me in?”

He replies not with words, but with the mournful cry of heartbreak…

“...As she was about to