Does Your Soul Remember Mine

She felt as cold as he was, shivers running up and down her spine. No amount of fires in the hearth could keep her warm…only his arms, if only that was still an option. She hadn't told anyone he was dead yet. As if it weren't really true until she uttered the words out loud. So cold…she was surprised that her tears didn't freeze solid to her cheeks; instead they fell steady, drip dropping on the sheets. He had died in his sleep and Elyse had awoken next to his lifeless corpse. At first she tried to shake him, to wake him. She tried to scream “BREATHE! Your skin is turning blue! Breathe!” But when his arms were stiffer than they should have been and he refused to stir at all, she realized with a start that he had been long gone. Her stomach churned and she retched onto the floor. Her shaking hands wiped the sides of her nightgown, meticulously, over and over and over again; a monotonous rhythm, as if she could wipe the death off of her hands. She dared not touch him again. He looked like he was sleeping, so serene and peaceful, but there was something alien about him; like some innate part of her knew that this was not her Anthony anymore.