sparrows filled the air around us

she stared at them in awe

i stared at her in sorrow

she caught my glance and raised an eyebrow in confusion

i warned her not to fall in love with me

it would only lead to pain

and as she realized the truth of my words, the sky turned dark by hundreds of sparrows, blotting out the light, a chill wind across her delicate shoulders, where my arm should have rested, it hit her that i had never lied, i am cursed and she needs to run far far away

the birds flew in formation

like a living cloud

a sign from the heavens

aphrodite’s chosen

love and lust incarnate and so very misplaced at the moment

i tried to tell her i was cursed yet she only laughed it off

tears streamed down her face as she tried to make sense of what is happening, what ended before it ever had a chance to begin, my touch is poison, and i cannot do this to her, her perfect heart, i’ve already cracked it, she deserves better than this homunculus, this evil

and the sparrows plunged as one

launching themselves at me

beaks pecking and tearing me into pieces of ichor and agony

she was powerless to stop it

i didn’t raise a hand to shield my face

she screamed for me

i just let them ravage me and rip me into a thousand bits to be strewn amongst the trees, take my heart and send it to the pits of tartarus, just spare her the agony of a life with me, an existence of nothing but sadness and longing, i can give her nothing but remorse, let the birds take me

the flurry of sparrows flew off

leaving her alone on the muddy ground

unseeing eyes lost in horror

numb fingers raking the ground for a peace that won’t come

a man she might have loved

a life she wanted without knowing the cost to pay

and the ravenous claws of the dead rip and tear, my voice hoarse from screaming that will not abate, hooks in my back, arms and legs, keeping me suspended over a the flames of eternal torment, one clear image in the raging inferno dancing on my flesh, her, smiling and staring into the eyes of another, having forgotten i ever lived, memories taken on sparrow wings