[note: In the previous update, Anax was a bit forceful and rough in his coitus with Patience]

“That … was your first time …” breathed Anax.

“Y-yes,” Patience replied. Anax relinquished his tight hold on the girl, freeing her from him. She limply rubbed her sore wrists.

“I … I’m sorry.”

Patience’s eyes widened.

“I shouldn’t have taken that from you. Not like that.”

Her heart beat slightly faster.

“I got too excited.”

“It’s … fine,” Patience whispered. Her eyes began to sting. She did not understand why. They remained on the bed a short while, the silence only interrupted by Patience’s hitched breaths as a middling pain flared within her. All she wanted was to sleep this night away. As the pangs of pain ebbed, it seemed her dreams were within reach. Her eyelids grew heavier as she succumbed to the stillness enveloping her.

“You may take me off, if you wish.”

Clear and firm, his voice cut through the sleepy haze of her temples. Patience held still, her eyes as wide as her lids could allow. The moment seemed to be suspended in time. No words formed on her lips, nothing passed through Patience’s mind. No one knew how much time passed before Patience slowly shifted her arms up towards her head. Fingers clutched the base of the skull. There were no smoking coils to stop her. With a slight push, the skull came off of her head. The girl sat up, a monstrous skull held between her hands. Rising, she placed it on the chair in the corner and left the room to clean herself.

Dressed in her nightgown, Patience paused in front of the tall mirror in the hallway. If it had been another girl, many would say she had just lost her innocence. Searching in the glass, Patience Firmin no longer stared back with the twinkle in her eye that she had in her childhood. No. Patience had lost her innocence years ago when she buried her parents.

Caring for two elderly individuals when she was barely eighteen took a toll on the girl. Obligated to stay at home and assist them, she shied away from town activities early in her adolescence. She stopped going to picnics. She never went to dances. Then again, perhaps that was for the best. Remaining indoors shielded her from the cold stares and grimaces of young men in town seeking brides. A hand lifted to the base of her burn by her brow. It glared an angry shade of rose.

The moon hung low in the sky as Patience realized how early she had finished dinner. She brewed a cup of tea to preemptively assuage the pain building in her scalp. Currently it was no more than an itch, but after what transpired, Patience readied herself for a storm. She picked up the clothes Anax had scattered on the floor. Under her blouse was the book that she had dropped. No longer in the mood to read, she placed it back onto the side table for another night. Standing in the center of the rug, front towards the warmth of the hearth, her eyes drifted to the beasts frozen in time surrounding her.

She rubbed at her forehead, the first time she was able to in days. Anax was now a simple skull once more. She could store him away in her father’s workshop, a place she had not visited in years despite it being just behind the greenhouse in the backyard. A shiver crawled up her spine as she pictured a mouse scurrying under Anax, giving life to him anew. A creeping fear of meeting Anax face to face and staring into the floating orb of his eye crested over the girl’s heart.

Patience shook her head and flashed a sad smile at the unmoving animals around her. This was what her life was about: keeping up the home her parents gave her, keeping her parents’ memories alive. Anax only served as a bump in the road of her planned course, a distraction. It was time to come back down to reality. She should be thankful that he gave her permission to separate from him.

Tea cup empty and prepared for bed, Patience nestled into her quilt. She laid her head onto her silk pillow, reveling in the cool fabric against her scalp. The pain remained a dull tingle. She had been certain it was going to be worse. Accepting this fortunate break, the girl let sleep overcome her. Before her last blink, she stole a glance at the large skull sitting on her chair bathed in blue moonlight.