Words : Numb

"When he woke, the house was quiet and still. There was no music in the air. There were no birds in the garden. There was no singing.  There was no breeze moving the curtains. The sky was grey and cold and the house was still. She was gone.  He rolled over and buried his face in the pillow to smell her again.  Her earrings were on the night stand and her hair brush was by the sink. They had come here with nothing and what he had given her she left behind.

He closed his eyes and remembered the way she moved across the room on her toes in bare feet like a little gazelle.  He thought of her smile and amber eyes and how her kisses tasted like caramel.  He thought of how she made him laugh, and when she made herself small next to him on the couch.

He made strong coffee but he could not taste it. He turned on the radio but he did not hear it. He walked down the wooden steps to the beach but did not feel the cold sand under his feet. He watched the waves crash against the rocks on the shore but he did not hear them.   He sat down on the sand and waited for the feeling to return. When it was dark he walked back up the stairs to the house and lit a fire and got very drunk on what was left of the good red wine."