I left my body behind to break the news

 I could feel it all; the crisp fall air stinging my eyes and then there was the disparaged and somewhat somber look in her eyes as she took her last breath and disappeared beneath the water a final time.  Her last thoughts, perhaps her children? her husband from whom she so desperately needed escape?  Or possibly this was that freedom she had been searching for all along.  There was a strange sense of peace in that kind of finality.  A different sense of reality.

 I was there when they found his body face down in that pool, those cuff links I would not forget, and the air that hung thick, sick, and sad.  Extravagant parties, lavish mansions, and booze; a life lived in longing, jealousy and lies. I saw it all.  Hypocrisy now litters the ground, rivaled only by the growing pool of crimson.  I can't stay here long.  My stomach starts to churn.

I watch quietly as the young woman painfully and dutifully gives birth to a child only to continue working the field after what seemed to be mere moments.  I stand there in awe, unable to fathom such a life.  How could her husband be so calloused? Is the child going to survive? Will she be able to break free? So many unanswered questions but none of them matter.  This is the only life she knows.

My mouth is dry, I swallow and there is the bitter after taste of revenge and regret; then the sweet and sad of lost love and a faint hope for what could have been.  This is not the life he wanted. I can feel his pain as he looks back in remorse at the chateau and tries to forget.

 I escape and yet I feel.  I feel it all.  I run from page to page, scarcely remembering the weight in my hands.  The distinct smell of ink and paper fill my nostrils and with each line I pass, I grow a little more.