The Angel of Death Talks to the Fading Marianna

 The nightmares, the nightmares will stop, I promise you. So give me all of you, your agonies, your traumas, your most beautiful mind. I’ll whittle you down to shape. This reshaping would hurt you, but you’ll live. For once in your life, you will live and will see much clearer than before. Earlier today, I returned to where I first took the fall. You should know that before I took the fall and before I was born of the Other, I was the shining one, the morning star, the bearer of light. I believe I’ve seen you one morning in May when the light was just right. Because language was invented so that people can call for help, you ask, “Who are you?” Take my hand, Marianna. Now do you see what lies before us? They should look familiar. Behold the blasphemies of impossible forms.____Kristine Ong Muslim authored several books of fiction and poetry, including the short story collection Age of Blight (Unnamed Press, 2016), as well as We Bury the Landscape (Queen’s Ferry Press, 2012), Grim Series (Popcorn Press, 2012), and A Roomful of Machines (ELJ Publications, 2015). Widely published in magazines and anthologies, she lives in a rural town in southern Philippines. http://kristinemuslim.weebly.com/