Lion's Eyes

The greyness of the outside world corresponded well with her mood. The sky was covered in a thick impenetrable layer of clouds threatening to release a load of snow, or maybe rain, any time. But she knew she had things to do. So, like every morning, she dragged herself grudgingly to the bathroom only to realise 'every morning' would mean a different thing ever since. There was nobody in her bed to share the warmth, nobody to urge her to hurry up, nobody to kiss freshly applied lipstick off her lips...

She wondered how she could have let it happen. It wasn't her fault.. it couldn't have been, she had done nothing wrong. And neither was her partner's, not that she could recall. One day they were perfectly happy together, and the next thing she knew she was alone, left with only a few words scribbled on a paper torn from a notebook. "I need to breathe."

She retrieved a photograph, the one she remembered fondly from their trip to the zoo. It showed both of them posing together in front of a lion cage. She hated to see animals in captivity but she had agreed to go for the partner's sake. They had enjoyed the trip and above all each other's company but the eyes of those captive animals had haunted her for weeks to come.

She observed the photograph for a long time before she put it in her purse. "Go on, breathe," she said quietly, staring blankly through the window into the grey void, "breathe deeply, fill your lungs, take as much time as you need. But come back... please... I miss you, Daphne..."