My Heart is a Bulb of Garlic

[Amalia Qeb]

The look on his face made her wonder what it was he thought was wrong. She knew that he had to think something was wrong - her behavior had hardly been subtle - but it was the first time that she wondered if perhaps his thoughts were that he had done something wrong. Her brows knitted together slightly for a moment before she looked to her lap, each hand un-gripping from the edge of the couch and seeking the other to clasp together in her lap.

Breathe in. Breathe out. Amalia said this to herself in her thoughts as a mantra for a moment before she felt like she could even begin to tell him anything.

"Two months past," She started rather abruptly, not believing there was a graceful way to come clean about it no matter what. Her voice trembled slightly with her words and she bit her lips, twisting her hands together before clamping her eyes shut tight to keep from crying.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

"Something...happened." She said in an exhale, hands still twisting nervously against one another as she stared at them, unwilling to look him in the eye. She couldn't. "When I - " Her voice was trembling more, and she choked back a sob that threatened to undo all the progress she was making. "I was -" Again she had to try to hold back tears and her eyes that had opened clamped shut once more as she felt tears welling in her eyes. She couldn't say it to him - she couldn't say it at all. All she could do was cry.