Slipping Away

She held his hand tightly as he slipped into unconsciousness one last time. After watching him fight his illness for so long, the doctors had finally come to the conclusion that there was nothing left that they could do.

Sylvia was of the opinion that they never did enough, but she kept that to herself.

Pressing his fingers against her lips in a gentle kiss, she tried to shrug off the feeling that life was cheating her again. It didn't seem fair. Everything good in life always seemed to slip away.

She ran the fingertips of her other hand softly along his cheek. Feeling the prick of his beard, she remembered how it tickled when they kissed. He looked at peace lying there, and recalling the words he had said to her before finally closing his eyes, she was certain he was.

His calm acceptance of the inevitable infuriated her. How he could simply let everything go and not fight this tooth and nail until the bitter end, she couldn't understand.

But she couldn't voice that now. It didn't matter. He made the choice to embrace the coming darkness. He had made his peace.

She had no right to take that away from.

As she tightly held his hand, she felt the warmth she knew and loved slip away.