Aurora Magazine 2019

effect on the body. My punishment for this deed. My prison sen - tence served in silence. Perhaps this wasn’t a good idea after all. A few days later, the bloating has begun. Good. This stage of the body doesn’t look anything like my former lover. I can record my data and pretend his body is no different from the other bod - ies I am assigned to monitor. I’ve got this. Maybe. August 2018 Thirty-one days have come and gone; the decomposition has sped up with the heat. Now his body has released its fluids into the soil. The grass dies. His skin clings to the skeleton, and I can once again see the remnants of the man I thought I loved. Gath - ering the data as swiftly as I can, I try not to look at what is still recognizable in his face. Never mind that the nightmares have returned and the crazed face of the man who came at me with the gun is now replaced with the skull missing the lower half; the skin pulled taunt. Thank goodness for Tank who saved me on that fateful day. He continues to do so every night when I cry in my sleep and move restlessly, trying to run in my dream. Tank nestles close during those episodes and licks the tears from my face. October 2018 This month comes with more horrors than I imagined. The skin is grown black and hardened against the bones. The clip - board from the lab cannot hide the nightmare that faces me in the flesh as his remains take on a zombie like appearance. The TV remains off as it is filled with Halloween images too close to the reality for comfort. Will the snows ever come to obscure the horror? December 2018 It finally snowed, but not enough to mask the remains. Six more months of hell ahead of me. Six more months of alternat - ing guilt and relief. At least the nightmares are fewer and Tank is spending most nights sleeping on his own bed. March 2018 30