"What do you need?" She whispered. "Tell me. I promise, I'll do everything, just tell me what you need me to do."
He shook his head. "You've done everything already."
"I have?" She repeated in surprise.
"Yes. Everything. You can't imagine, but I've seen you all the time, you know. You couldn't have done more."
"But there's something else isn't there? What else do you need?"
"Just for you to sit down and rest." He said, grinning softly. His eyelids fell half shut and their lashes draped gently across the windows to his soul.
Ainsley sat reluctantly, hugging her arms around her shoulders.The quiet troubled her. It was so absolute, as if a reminder of what was coming. Day by day the stillness grew thicker, and she hesitated in her heart, waiting with dread for tomorrow.
As if reading her thoughts, he spoke again, startling her. "Talk to me."
"What should I say?" She asked, smiling weakly.
"Whatever you want." Jim shrugged slightly, even the faint movement causing his head to reel.
"I can't think of anything," Ainsley laughed nervously. But he didn't laugh. Jim's eyes clouded over with frustration.
"Why? You always used to talk," He said, his low voice breaking. "I never used to be able to get you to shut up." He chuckled at the memory. Stabbed with guilt, she tried to laugh too, and failed.
"Well," She began hesitantly. "If I had anything to say I would talk."
"Why don't you nave anything to say anymore?" He looked up at her reproachfully.
"Because," Ainsley replied, anger burning in her chest in spite of her best efforts to squelch it.. "You tell me that the only think I can do is talk, which means soon I will have to talk always again; people will look to me to fill the long silence; it means that soon my voice will be the only one I ever hear. It means that you want me to speak up when I have nothing to say except "I love you," and nothing to feel except pain. You want my words when the only thing I want is to keep hearing your voice."
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