Gristle: Weird Tales by Jordan A. Rothacker
134 pages – Stalking Horse Press/ Amazon
Break the Skin
“Did you?…”
“…Oh, you did.”
“What are you doing?”
“I’m just looking at it, checking you out. Does it hurt?”
“It feels okay, a little sore.”
“I’ll kiss it and make it better. Now I’ll blow on it…there… ooh, I can see inside you.”
“No, oh, don’t look at it.”
“But it’s cute. You’re beautiful.”
“You’re so weird, how can you say that?”
“I love every inch of your body.”
“But how can you when it’s all open like that? I can’t even look at it.”
“Wuss.”
“Ugh…Anyway, I can’t believe I’m this comfortable with you. I can’t believe I’m letting you do this. Why are you so interested?”
“I don’t know, it’s just that sense of awe and wonder and mystery, ya know. Not to wax trite and all psycho-sensual, or get too over-analytical, but it’s like looking into my own mortality.”
“Oh stop!”
“No, it’s just that here I can see weakness and strength at once. I came out of a body just like this one.”
“Thanks, that’s an image.”
“No, I mean, I love you, and here I see your vulnerability and I want to be inside you.”
“We’ve done that already.”
“Yeah, I know, but I really want to be inside you, like crawling into your wound and healing you, sealing you, complete and enclosed with me inside.”
“Oh Sweety, but am I really that wounded?”
“No, but the cut is deep.”
“Should we get a Band-Aid?”
“No, I think it’ll close on its own, I’ll blow on it more.”
“Gently.”
“Sorry. Here. Like this?”
“Yes, that’s nice.”
“It kind of looks like a socket missing an eye.”
“What?”
“The elliptical shape and its depth.”
“Oow, you sure know how to talk to a girl.”
“No…I’m sorry, but I was just thinking—if eyes are the windows to the soul, then there is nothing here to impair me looking into your soul and I feel I want to be inside you again.”
“I’d like you inside of me…you’re sweet.”
“Thank you.”
“Kiss it again, then let’s let it rest and heal.”
“Okay. There.”
