He

"A candle aflame on both ends,
My skin is on fire, and my insides molten."

The rain pours steadily outside. Everyone is silent. Even my noisy neighbour seems unusually subdued today. I relish this moment. This is my moment; a moment to be alone with him. If I had such powers, I would cheerfully stretch this single second for eternity. Getting time to ourselves has become difficult lately. Streams of visitors keep pouring in, continuously.

I remember the day I first met him; It was on a rainy day like this. I had a porous soul and he "osmosed" into my being through his deep brown eyes. Passion, like never before, took hold of me then. Every nerve, sensitive, reached out towards him.

I've been carrying him around with me every since. This then, is love. He devours my every waking moment and reins my dreams. The weight of this intangible, invisible love bears me down. I see him when I look in the mirror. X-rays and scans scare me. I'm afraid the doctors will sense him inside me - a six-foot frame wrapped in six inches of my heart - amidst blood, nerves and flesh. I don't want anyone to know. He is my treasure, mine for the keeping.

I lost my identity a long time ago. I don't care. Who I am or what I am, hardly seems to matter now. My speech takes on his language and my eyes, his colour. He is so much a part of me, that I am being him.

What do the others know? They haven't seen the colours of passion. Orange and red at the centre of my being, green at the edges, near the limbs. Purple with shame, yellow with hope and grey with fear.

I have started avoiding people now. They make me puke. Someone is walking down the corridor. I know who it is. Those despicable voices. I can actually smell them here as they approach. They smell of disinfectant and soap.

"Go Away!" I shout, "Don't come near me!"

The green, padded walls muffle my screams. They enter. Horn rimmed glances and scientific jargon. I lunge at them, clawing and biting. A prick in my forearm makes the room swirl around me softly. "No," I moan, "Don't make me sleep. I don't want to! I want to stay awake and look at him through eternity. We are meant for that. Please. Please…"