A raised eyebrow brings her to her knees. A crooked finger, like a tether, brings her crawling, candlelight and strewn roses marking her path.  

“Mine.”

The words signal the turning of a page of a new chapter.

Before, there was silence and doubt. After, absolution, crucified on an invisible cross and tangled in ebon sheets. Steel snakes coiled around wrist and ankle, the taste of forbidden apples upon her tongue, she calls out to god.