Quelling Night Terrors

Alex leaned her head back against the wall
Shower water rained down on her breasts
Hunter leaned in kissing her collarbone
The pain of past loves lost dissipated
Thoughts of a dead husband washed away.
Although Alex wanted to weep with joy,
Hunter had yet to see her sad torment.
Alex had hidden the daily tears from him,
From the world, from even the closest friends.
Yet, nothing could hold back her happiness,
Not today, not tomorrow, not again.
She would no longer be brought to her knees
By grief, by depression or by hatred.

Hunter moaned. She massaged peach shampoo
Into his thin black hair. The smell of mom’s
cobbler wafted through the small dim bathroom.
Candlelight flickered beyond the curtain.
Hunter’s tight athletic frame quivered when she
Pressed her fingertips into the back of his head
A pressure point to free a demon headache.
“You amaze me,” he said with a whimper
planting his face in her chest suckling and
caressing each taunt nipple in time.

The past weeks were built on commonality:
Conversation, baseball and martinis.
Hunter reminded her of the dead love
Whose grief had haunted her for seven years.
Hunter opened doors like a gentleman
Without insulting her independence
He held her tight when night terrors shook her
From her fitful slumber. Horrible dreams:
Watching loved ones violently slain,
Nightmares of lust in her step-father’s eyes.
Dark alley corners where the rapists plays.

The night before he’d woken her twice
enveloping her in a bear hug as
she thrashed, kicked moaned and wailed
The first instance she’d leapt into his arms
Later she shrunk down in the bed hiding behind
Numerous pillows and a down comforter.
Blue eyes wide mouth locked in a silent scream
Alex stared in shocked horror at her beloved.
Hunter, now, embodied her deepest fear:
Love, being loved, receiving love, being
Opening her heart to the chance of pain.
Yet, Hunter was there with open arms.
making her feel beautiful despite
Years of being advised to the contrary.

Alex looked into his opalescent
Eyes. A previously impossible
Task, too intimate. “Where did you go?” Hunter
Asked dumping shampoo into his own hands.
“Nowhere,” she mumbled locked in his eyes.