How We Say We Love Each Other

There are many ways to say ‘I love you’ and last night I dreamt that I was saying I loved you through my most favourite of dreams. Dreams about you and I and our tiny bed only designed for one; our tiny bed that can barely fit us both. The dream was so vivid that I can describe every inch of our bed. I can describe in detail the way it creaked and squeaked and the places where the springs held the contours of your body. I could tell you how our blanket, with its frayed edges, folds just like you like it when you tuck it under your chin as you sleep. It is a beautiful dream.

But whilst I busied myself with the creases of our duvet, I failed to notice how my dream began to change. How you began to change.

This is a dream that has lost its way.

Sitting there in our bed you no longer wore our blanket. Sitting there in our bed you said "I love you." You said "I love you" like it was only a key to open the lock between my thighs. He opened me up and set my bones on fire. And all the while I felt my blood boiling; I could feel you pulsing in my veins. My eyes tried to put out the fire but my skin was ashes and my skeleton exposed.

I tried to ask you "How could you do this?" but my words could not emerge. My lips were too burnt and only muffled whimpers could be heard. I couldn’t tell if they were mine or yours.

And all the while, whilst I burned, you told me in a voice that was not yours: "I love you."