Five Seconds
A lot can happen in five seconds.
You can whisper "I love you" in the dark and feel the warmth of the smile curving on his face warming your own.
You can share your last embrace.
You can breathe in the sweet earthy smell of him and commit the scent to memory.
You can nestle your child, your heart's darling, your life, to your quivering breast and gently kiss his raven crown one last time.
You can look into the burnt amber eyes of your lover and see his soul.
In five seconds, your whole life can change. In five seconds, your wildest dreams can unfurl their pearly wings and fly you far away with them. In five seconds, you can lose a friend. In five seconds, you can utter the words that win you your husband.
In five seconds, you can feel your heart shatter in your breast as you watch yourself lose him.
In five seconds, you can feel the sharp ache in your chest and know that it is the dying of your soul.
In five seconds, a scream can be torn from the depths of you, so unnatural and base in its agony that the child in your arms stirs and wails in fright.
In five seconds, your reason for life can be taken from you; in five seconds malignancy can unpick the seams of you and render you helpless, a dumb and idiot child.
In five seconds, you can bind your child with the charms that will protect him from your grisly fate.
In five seconds, you can feel your essence be ripped from your earthly binds.
In five seconds, your life can be extinguished. In five seconds, your baby can break forth with lusty cries for his spectral mother. And in five seconds, your child can save the world from your fate.
Quick little ficlet I thought of and had to write. Meant to be (in case I've made it unclear – or a certain repeated reviewer has eaten too much ice cream again! You know who you are lol) Lily's perspective on that night. The form of it was based on the opening chapter of Jodi Picoult's new novel Nineteen Minutes, which I recommend everyone reads as she is an incredible writer.