SLEEP

 He woke up that morning facing her side of the bed again. She wasn’t there; she was gone. He wished he could go back to sleep; it was his only escape.Her death was killing him slowly. He could still see her body lying on the floor; the blood flowing from her head, her broken leg, and her torn nightgown. The image was burnt in his mind and it was all too clear. Every day was torturous.There was nothing he could do anymore, he thought to himself every day. But he knew, deep down in his heart that he could’ve saved her. But now, she was gone.She used to walk in her sleep. She would have dreams that caused her to get up and walk around the house every night. She complained to him that her dreams were getting scary. She told him they seemed so real. It was clear how it worried her.But he didn’t think of it too much; for most nights, she would return to bed, and he’d wake up to her smiling face. It was only after they would see things fallen all over the house that they’d realize she had been walking in her sleep again. Sometimes, he’d wake up and she wouldn’t be next to him. He’d look around, only to find her lying asleep on the kitchen floor. He’d gently pick her up and bring her back to bed. He loved her so much.

He remembered that terrible day when he woke up and didn’t find her next to him. “Must have walked to the kitchen in her sleep again”, he had thought with a smile. But he didn’t find her there; for she was gone –she had jumped off the balcony in her sleep and killed herself.He knew he should’ve gotten her help. But he kept putting it off thinking her sleepwalking was harmless. He could’ve saved her. But it was too late now. She was gone; and the guilt of it slowly killed him every day.Now, he couldn’t wake up to see her smiling face or find her in the kitchen anymore. He couldn’t pick her up, or hold her, or kiss her. He blamed himself.

The guilt killed him slowly, literally; for when he woke up one morning, he couldn’t take it anymore. He walked up to the balcony and jumped off it, and fell right where his wife lay when she had done the same. He wouldn’t have to wake up to find her missing anymore.

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 She woke up that morning facing his side of the bed again. He wasn’t there; he was gone.  “Must have walked to the kitchen in his sleep again”, she thought to herself with a smile.