An Atrium Encounter

Breathe.
Breathe deeply.

Collar bones swelling as a bubble of air forms inside a cavity inside a cage of bones and blood and flesh and skin and lavender scented perfume.

Air rushes through passages, expanding airways, pressing against soft walls and forcing apart the confines of its cell. Lungs balloon against their ribbed restraint, pushing the chest out, exposing it.

I see shifting muscles beneath skin, pale bulges of tension, taut; thick arterial rivers curve boldly against knotted hillocks of swarming mass. I see her turn, ripple.

Life pulses against her skin; across the close space beneath her chin; against the softness of her wrists where veins emerge amongst the denseness of tendons like blue fleshy vines.

Her scent touches my lips, caresses my mind, everywhere; she is gone.