The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!

It would work this time. It had to.

Monica poured the hot water over the buds, waited for the tea to steep. The scents of rose, iron, and sage hung in the air as precious seconds passed by. Precious seconds without Caleb.

Monica took a deep breath, tamping down her loneliness. They would be reunited. She had to believe, had to have faith.

Caleb stirred the solution, clutched the glass in her shaking hands, and approached Caleb’s prone body. The lips she’d kissed so many times were ashen and cracked, but she loved them nonetheless. Her fingertips caressed the cold skin of his cheek.

She tipped her glass, and the tea pooled in Caleb’s lifeless mouth. Monica watched as the liquid trickled down his throat.

She waited, waited, waited. Watched his long, pale fingers. Hoping they’d twitch.