As a kid I liked to move over rocks and watch the insects squirm to get away from the sunlight. It was always something different but they never stayed still. Caterpillars jolted towards the shadows. Small bugs with brown carapaces ran away from eachother. Worms squiggled into the earth.

It seemed to me that the larger the rock was, the more vile and disgusting the insects beneath the it were. That’s why I eyed the large rock in our backyard with an especially peculiar curiosity. The rock wasn’t stuck in the ground, but rather lied about a spot at a slant.

I could manage to get my fingers beneath its imperfections, and I’d press upwards with everything I could manage, but the rock proved too heavy for me to lift. I felt the sensation that if I just pressed a little bit harder I’d make it budge, but I could never manage to do so as a child.

Last fall I visited home once again. From the livingroom I could see the large stone, and the same curiosity which plagued me as a child, revisited my head. I was larger now, and much stronger, and I thought I could manage to lift it.

It had rained the night before and drops of water weighed on the grass. The rock was glossy and the wind seemed to be the only noise in the backyard. I thought, why not? It was just a silly curiosity, and I might as well put it to rest.

My fingers wrapped around the bottom and I pushed and heaved and just when I was about to give up the stone craned lightly. I kept pushing it to the side untill the stone was completely off the spot it had laid on.

The sight horrified me. The top of her torso, her arms, and her legs were covered completely in dirt infested with small insects squiggled up and down to get away from the gray light coming from the clouds .

The sight entranced me. Dirt covered the top of her torso, and her arms, and everything beneath her waist. Small bugs ate her cheeks, showing many of her rotten teeth. Her open eyes stared out at the clouds. They were gray and filled with grief and apathy.

Something about her was bueatiful. Perhaphs her expression captured death so succintly. I stared at her untill my eyes went dry, and I felt that she’d grabbed my heart with those dead eyes. I couldn’t help but think that she was my dead bride.

I lifted the rock untill it almost covered, and then I crept down into the hole with her. With my legs I pushed the rock untill it covered us completely, and the darkness overtook us. The insects came running back and I prepared for an eternity with her beside me.