• Hush, darling. Dab at those wet eyelashes.
    A cool flicker of my breath on your neck; my transparent hand clasping yours.
    Do you even know I'm here? It makes no difference.
    I won't let us anything split us now I've found you, not least mortality.

    I promise you won't feel a thing, my love.
    Give me half a second. I'll make you just like me.

    You don't want me, you hiss. The rosary hooked on your fingers as you sleep serves as a warning. Don't touch.
    You can't hate me, though.
    Or you'd have run by now.

    Can you remember my name?
    I lost it centuries ago.
    It rolled off the tip of my tongue and I never got it back. The mirror doesn't even notice me anymore.
    I'm dust, a silhouette of what I once was.
    We can be faceless together, dearest.

    Squeeze.
    And you choke.
    The roses spill from your mouth, a bouquet for me.
    The final splash of colour in our monochrome life.
    It dribbles down your chin and hides under your collar, staining and spreading.
    You spit life across your reflection.
    Til death do us part?
    I think not.