Proserpina

The next day, the woman came in with the food.  She was, I realized, a few years older than me but dirty and wearing torn clothes, stained with ...some reddish colours that I did not want to think about.

This time, her eyelids fluttered as she sent me a quick glance. I was sitting on the bed, my hand on my stomach.

It was a quick look, and she lowered her pale green eyes, but I had seen a flash of pity in them. She had the same clothes that she had worn the ...