Silence

The light through the window gives everything a shimmer of dusty gold. Her hands move calmly, smoothing the faded patchwork quilt, tugging and fussing and tucking to get it just so. The sheet, clean and white, folds back over the quilt, revealing the nicely fluffed pillow.

She had done this a thousand times before, but never so perfectly.

Then, when it is silent and still and there is no-one else to see, she kneels beside the bed she has so carefully made and lays her cheek on the smooth cool patches he will never sleep under again. It is only her and the silence now, and her tears begin to fall.