Tick,
tick,
tick,
tick...
She could hear it. The persistent ticking of her wall clock nearby, coupled with the white noise of her box-fan facing towards her bed blowing air. It was a wonder she could potentially fall asleep with the noise, but she could. In fact, usually the cool breeze generated by the box fan coupled with the sound almost immediately made her muscles relax.
But, tonight something was missing. There was a variable missing in the equation. The bed felt bigger. Roomier. Spacious. Which, most people might of found to be delightful.
She despised it.
She prided herself on being the sort of creature that nested and burrowed into the bedding. A conglomerate of blankets, pillows, stuffies, and other soft things she had accumulated. Even with it cluttered with these soft things it still missed something vital. It missed Him. Pondering the absence over in the darkness of her room, the faint flicker of light from her monitor's screen saver made shadows dance on the walls from across the room. Slowly her face turned. Burying into the silk of the shirt he had left behind with her. His scent had long since faded from it, and the trick of balling it around the puffy wash-sponge he left behind as a backup no longer worked.
The shirt had been since washed, and now it smelt like her, and her room. Just the presence of it used to be enough to help her drift to sleep. Tonight, it seemed; would be more difficult than the others. She lay there, resting her cheek on the breast pocket of the shirt, mimicking how her cheek might press to his chest were he to wear it.
A sigh escaped her and her fingers curled into a loose fist by her mouth. Her mind wandered, curious as to what he might of been up to on his side of the spectrum. Her eyes closed, feigning sleep. Maybe pretending might coax the elusive creature that is slumber to dubiously come forth.
She tried to imagine his fingers slowly brushing through her hair, down the back of her head, neck, and back. The slow rhythmic breathing.
In... Out... In... Out...
The faint sound of his heartbeat under her ear. Even the relatively awkward sounds of organs squelching and working within his body. She tried to focus on those things, recall them back to the forefront of her mind.
The whir of the box fan faded. The ticking of her wall clock droned on- unnoticed.
She felt heavier. Like she was sinking into her bed a little. Her heart beat slowed, her breathing deepened.
Ah.... There it was... Sleep began her embrace, as if she were lured by the thoughts of the piece her bed was missing. As sleep began to embrace her, she comforted both herself and slumber with a single faint phrase, low and barely audible.
"Soon... Very soon... He'll be here... Soon..."