"The Affair"

          "She stepped slowly toward him, her feet heavy against the ground as her breathing came in rasps, barely wheezing in and out from the sobs raking her entire form. Her eyes were lost and hurting, desperate and desolate, and all hope was gone from them.

            She took another step and those pained, tear-filled eyes that were spilling violently over looked dejectedly at his face. Her eyes swept cautiously over his entire countenance before they diverted themselves to his mouth.

            She concentrated on his mouth with all her being as she moistened her lips nervously with her tongue although they were already wet with tears. Her lips moved in a soft murmur before the words came out, soft and shaking, just loud enough for one who was paying painstakingly close attention to hear, and so he was.

            He leaned closer as her lips moved and not a single word that escaped those broken lips escaped his ears. “I am so sorry,” she half-groaned. “I don’t know why I did this. How I could have done this. To you.” She gasped in a deep breath as if she hadn’t taken a single breath the entire time she was speaking, as indeed she hadn’t.

            His eyes were riveted on her as she spoke and he leaned slightly forward toward her. He opened his mouth and was about to say her name when she shook her head and placed a finger on his lips."

~Grace Marshall

From my short story "The Affair"