Magnetic Tiles

     Laurie pulled into her drive, it had been a long day at work and she was ready to finally get home.  Maybe today would be different.  She stopped long enough to collect the mail in the box beside her front porch, frowning as she pulled out the box wrapped in brown paper.  Her curiosity was engaged.  Stuffing the envelopes in her bag, she made her way up the five steps to the porch and then after unlocking the door, she made her way inside.  The bag was tossed on the secretary she kept in the entryway, but the box, she kept that with her as she headed in the direction of the kitchen.

     Setting the box on the counter, she took out a coffee filter and measured enough grounds for a pot of coffee.  She really shouldn’t be drinking all that caffeine this late, but she craved the stuff.  Even more so now… 

     She stopped, closing her eyes and forcing the thoughts that were trying to creep in away.  A deep breath and her eyes opened as she finished the task of making coffee on auto-pilot.  Once she’d poured the water in, she went to the fridge to look for something she would be able to pop in the microwave for a quick dinner.  Nothing caught her interest, but she knew she needed to find something.  Her body needed the fuel.

     For lack of anything better, she pulled out the leftover vegetable lasagna that she’d made over the weekend.  A quick glance at the date written on the plastic wrap told her it was still edible so she removed the wrap and put the dish in the microwave. 

     She had a few minutes while her dinner was heating so she moved to where the package was left and tore of the brown paper.  What the heck?  Turning the wrapping over so she could see who had sent her this, she frowned as she saw that there was no return address.  She bit her lip as she debated whether she should continue opening it or just toss it in the trash.  In the end it was her curiosity that decided the matter for her and she broke the seal on the box and opened it up.

     Inside the box were magnetic words.  She dumped them on the counter so that she could see them better.  Weird.  Her eyes caught some words and she moved them over to one side.  Once she’d gone through all of the words in the box, she returned the unused words to the box and turned to look at the ones still on the counter.

I wake at night, broken.

A baby’s cries like

ghosts in the dark.

My heart bleeding

as voices linger then laugh.

An ocean wet with magic from the clouds

Born of peace,

angels listen bringing sacred joy.

Living sad remembered heartache,

a prisoner of the vast universe.

     Tears ran down her cheeks as one hand moved to cover her abdomen.  Pain ripped through her as she slowly slid to the floor as she was finally able to do the one thing that she hadn’t been able to in five years.  She grieved.