Work Text:
Laying in the damp grass, I didn’t feel scared. Even as your hand slowly became cold and stiff intertwined with my own, I didn’t feel scared. The feel of the grass underneath my body, tickling the back of my neck and my naked body, it made me feel at peace. I felt at peace, even as I watched flies and beetles and all sorts of insects start to congregate near your still body, even as your chest stopped rising and falling with breath. The peace I felt was immeasurable; it was divine. I squeezed your hand, although I knew there would be no response. Your soul had left your body long ago. But that thought didn’t bother me; my heart was filled with so much immense love for you as I stared at the corpse next to me, and I smiled. I smiled, because I knew I wasn’t far behind. Soon, my own body would succumb to the sweet call of death. Soon, my own soul would be called away, leaving behind a husk of the person I once was. Soon, I would join you in the afterlife. Soon. So, as I stared at your lifeless body, I felt nothing but complete and utter peace. Even as I began to feel my own heartbeat slow, I thought that this had to be heaven.
Even after we had died, our souls lingered, watching over our now abandoned bodies. Your dark, unruly hair shifted across your forehead and shoulders as the breeze blew over both of our corpses, but other than that, your body was completely motionless. I couldn’t help but find it beautiful. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from you; it was rare to see you with such a serene expression, and out of curiosity, I turned to look at you, the real you, just to find your trademark scowl already planted back on your face. I wasn’t sure you even knew you were doing it, but regardless, I couldn’t help but chuckle. Even in the afterlife, you were exactly the same. It was comforting. As you looked over your shoulder to return my gaze, your face visibly softened. It seemed that we had both been unable to look away from our bodies. I gave your hand a reassuring squeeze, and this time, you squeezed right back.
There’s no telling how long it had taken our remains to be discovered; hours, maybe years? Regardless, the insects, foxes and various other wildlife had had a feast on our corpses. Our bodies hadn’t faired well against the elements, either, succumbing to decomposition long ago. Still, I found beauty in it; even as our corpses rotted away, grass, weeds and native flowers began to grow around us. Somehow, despite the time that had passed, our fingers were still intertwined, and your hair was still just as lovely as when we left it; it had grown quite a bit, and was grey at the roots, but it was beautiful and endearing nonetheless. Soon, however, we would be nothing but bones. Lifeless, dirty bones. I couldn’t truly be at peace until then, if I was being honest. Not until the foxes had had their fill of our flesh, not until the insects had made themselves at home, not until the raven had had his say, could I truly be at home with you. So maybe this is why I felt so compelled to keep coming back here, back to the spot where we both had spent our last moments together. And I would keep coming back here until we were nothing but bones. I would keep coming back until your hair stopped shining so beautifully, until I couldn’t make out your facial features anymore, until our fingers were no longer intertwined and instead scattered about among the tall grass. That’s when I would finally feel that peace I had felt in my last moments of life.
They ended up finding us a week later, but it was already impossible for them to identify us. After all, everyone has a skeleton. At that point, all they found was a pile of bones. They were dirty and too damaged to truly figure out who had died in that damp grass. As for us, we were home. I was home.
It seemed the raven had finally had his say.