Masquerade

'I need you'. She cried.

'And I need you'. He glowed.

'Without you I am dead.' She pined.

'And with you I am alive'. He crooned.

'I desperately need you'. She whimpered.

'And I desperately need you, my love'. He stood tall.

Majestic and exquisite.

'Without you I am unable'. Tears rolled down her face.

'And with me I can make you able'. He dropped soft kisses upon her tear stained face.

'I cannot live without you'. She whimpered.

'And I cannot without you, my sweet'. His touch was soft.

'Without you I am...' She faltered. 'I am nothing.' She succumbed to his embrace.

He held her close, but just a little too tightly.

'You're hurting me my love!'. She exclaimed. She took a step back. She removed her rose coloured glasses.

'And without you...' He sneered, 'I have nothing'. He slowly removed his mask.

She stared at his decaying face, twisted and leprous as he held her tightly still.

She fell backwards, and clutched her stomach, as she watched him retrieve the knife.

She dropped to her knees and gasped for breath.

'Help' She cried. 'Somebody, please help me!'. Her hands reached out and clutched at the empty air.

'I show no mercy', he roared.

She closed her eyes, destitute. Darkness consumed her. Each breath after the other, slow and calculated, her life ebbing away.

...And then she heard her name.

'Katrina'.

Light whispered softly and shone in rays of delight and total omniscience. Light's voice penetrated the darkness.

She opened her eyes and squinted above.

Light's voice was full of love and compassion. Echoes of mercy, echoes of grace.

'Katrina. You called, and I have found you'. Light's voice was gentle and comforting, His arms open wide.

Katrina turned and crawled, clinging to Light, weeping tears of joy.

'Are you forgetting that I need you!' His voice afar, boomed from below, unrelenting in his pursuit of desperate bellows. 'I almost had you!'.

In the place that had been prepared for him, he reigned in catastrophe. His face was ugly and marred, scarred with rebellion and self content, his eyes blazed with anger and defeat. In the presence of Light, his pantomime was merely a stage enactment behind the scenes of darkness. Not one soul rose for an encore.

He gnawed his teeth and banged his fists on the walls of his confinement.

'Without you I am dead!'. He screamed.

Light spoke a word and he was silenced. He whimpered and scampered into his own self made destruction.

'And without you', Katrina stood tall. Strengthened and empowered. Redeemed and enlightened. Safe within Light, and Light within her.

'I am alive'.