I Love You Frame by Nicole Feltman

The wicked weather was seeping through the windowsills, forcing their bodies to inch closer. The brown knitted blanket served only as a topic of conversation. One of her friends decided to drop in the conversation. Literally drop in from the dim light on the ceiling. A roach crawled over toward the humans to see if their bodies could offer some more heat than the low lit light in which she inhabited.

Justin turned his head to the left.

“Ew! It’s a roach!” Justin shrieked going cross eyed watching the roach coming fast and directly for his nose. His head left the pillow so fast, and he proceeded to jump up and down on the bed, leaving his legs tired.

“Yeah, she’s my friend, don’t worry babe,” said the woman.

Watching the roach continue to move across the yellow velvet comforter only made him more hesitant.

“Here, I’ll put her away,” she said. She got up and placed the roach in a small translucently orange box.

She sat with the box for a moment, mumbling under her breath. He couldn’t be for sure because her back was all he could see.

She flipped around with purpose, curls bouncing as she skipped her way back to the California king.

“Where were we?” she smirked. Her lengthy black nails on their way over to his face.

“I was just admiring you.” He sat back down.

She smirked and brushed her bang behind her ear.

“Lay down babe,” she said.

With hesitation, he put his head back on the fluffy cheetah print pillow.

She placed her pale hand on to his chest. She felt his heart racing and pressed her nails further into his chest. Each nail surrounding his heart. She was close to grabbing it out of his chest, but she refrained.

He was smiling up at her, then quickly he jolted his head to the right. His intent was to get a crack in his neck that all the sudden felt tight. He experienced something completely different.

On her side table she had a few crystals, one black and tubular, one a rose color, and one white. There was an amber smoked wood candle lit. The wind started to pick up outside and a gust flew into the bedroom.

The flame remained still.

To the left of the candle was a white picture frame with the words I Love You written across the top. It had red hearts suffocating the frame.

Justin felt like he was in a trance. He looked directly into the middle of the frame and saw a familiar face. It was him.

He was standing in the frame holding a bass from the fishing trip his grandpa took him on three years ago before he passed. This was a time where he was his happiest.

In a trance, Justin replayed this moment in his mind.

The trees were green, greener than usual. It was the early fall, so there was a perfect contrast between warmth from the sun and a breeze. The lake was still, and the mountains surrounding the lake were a purple haze. He remembered his grandpa’s frail hand hitting his shoulder after he caught the bass. His only act of affection. He said to him, “You are strong Justin, you know that, and I am proud of you son. Don’t let all of that nonsense with your father get you down, you are too wise for that.”

“Grandpa, I know but I can’t accept this anymore. It is killing me Grandpa.”

“I love you.”

A white fog came out of nowhere, passing through time. Covering his grandpa’s face. Then covering his body. Taking him away as it passed.

“Grandpa! Grandpa! Please Grandpa! Don’t leave me!” Justin screamed.

The sound of wind grew heavier and heavier in Justin’s ears, and it shook him from left to right. Tears shed through his closed eyes, gasping for breath. Justin felt his gut reach his head, then down to his toes, he was crying for help.

He came to a sudden stop. He opened his eyes to see her on top of him. She had a grin from one pierced ear to the next. Her red ringlets seemed too perfectly placed. She laid her hands around him to comfort him. His head was in her chest. There was a faint beating he could feel pulsating into his forehead.

“I love you, Justin.” she said.

Nicole Feltman is all over the place. She loves art and literature. She is currently double majoring at Journalism and Creative Writing with a double minor in Psychology and Spanish. Hopefully when she graduates this December 2021, she will do something cool.