Scarlet.

/Close your eyes./1

Imagine a dark room-- windows shrouded in black lace, lightbulbs broken, glass shards strewn across the floor. Picture in your mind's eye the image of flickering lights in the form of a hundred scarlet candles.2

/Scarlet./3

It stains the blade in my hands, the tears in your eyes, the red of my lips upon your bleeding skin.4

It reddens my irises and turns my lips into a triumphant smile as my shadow is cast into a thousand reflections into the shattered mirrors that lie around us.5

But most of all...it turns my passion crimson.6

I can feel it--the hiss of your breath and the heaving of your chest below me. Your mouth utters words that I can barely hear, but still I can decipher the want--no--the need to beg me to do it again, and again, and again...7

You don't fear these wounds. And I'm not afraid of inflicting them.8

The world fades every time your breath leaves your lungs. I'm breathing you in. I'm kissing your worries away. I've got you tied, bound, unable to escape neither the pain nor the pleasure.9

It's all so much to take in. It's all too much to feel all at once, and I know you're on the brink of exploding in either ecstasy or agony...10

So why stop now?11

I've got your face in my hands, my nails tearing at the skin below your eyes. Bloody tears. So typical. So beautiful. So addicting to create.12

And all of a sudden, you're begging me to stop. All of a sudden, I can see the fear in your eyes. The balance is gone, the perfect equilibrium of pain and pleasure...destroyed.13

Maybe I nicked an artery...or two.14

You stain the floors scarlet--like the candles glowing around us, like the red dripping from your eyes, like the burning embers of my soul.15

As your breath leaves your body and your lungs stop heaving, I can see our reflections in the shattered mirrors. I'm wearing your life on me like a crimson dress.16

...and I'm still smiling.