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I came out and saw them lying there in the dark and their legs were splayed like their arms were splayed like bird shit splatter across a store window but completely beautiful and easy to hurt, in that, I could do anything to them if I wanted to.

I did not hurt.

I wanted to touch them but I did not.

I wanted to lie on top of them and trap their warmth against my own.

I did not do that either.

Instead, I threw blankets. The bent whites of their limbs turned to dark. None of them stirred.

I wish they knew I did that. I want them to feel like I love them more than their own mothers.