Darling, If I could... by Abigail McGovern

Darling, if I could….

by Abigail McGovern First Place Prose

I would bleed for you, darling, if I could. When we’re together, I hear the sadness whispered in your words, feel the weight of it when you touch me. I am no stranger to pain. To carrying lives, love, loss on my shoulders. For you, for sharing your secrets with me in the deepest shadows of night, naught but a flashlight beam between us….for you I would do the thing properly.

Skin under my nails, blood on my face, bruises on my knuckles. I would ride in on the white horse, sword swinging. Stand between you and any enemy.

Darling, I would swallow your sorrows, or take the fatal blow.

But without hands, without a louder voice, all I can do is offer you another world to step into. A journey, an adventure. Or a moment of pause. My words are often written with woe, but just as often, they are filled with love and laughter too.

Still, I have neither fists nor sword nor blood. Really, I am nothing but pages and ink and binding.

Sometimes, darling, the world is dark and frightening. Often, the world is dark and frightening. And if I cannot be your soldier, then at least I can be your light. Your outlet. Your doorway to something new. I cannot offer you force, so I will offer you hope.

What is a novel anyway, if not a place to run?