Moonlight Sonata

Always a light sleeper, but the more so from sleeping beneath the bright light of the full moon, Arpeggio came awake easily when her mother's weak, lilting voice murmured in her ear. The conversation sounded private, so Peggy kept her breathing steady and her eyes closed to not interrupt. Her mother's visitor was clearly trying not to wake her, for they kept their voice too low for Peggy to hear.

"It's time for me to go with you, isn't it?"

Suddenly alarmed by this new sorrowful note in her mother's voice, Arpeggio opened her eyes to mere slits to see who it was who was enticing her elderly mother off to a moonlit stroll. Her eyes blinked fully open in confusion.

There was no one there.

"I love you, Peggy."

Peggy remained still as a kiss fluttered against her brow. She watched her mother's beautiful eyes as the light slowly faded from them, and she swallowed again the tears that threatened to fill her own. "I love you too, mom," she whispered, laying a soft kiss of her own on her mother's brow, and curled around the limp form. She would stand vigil alone over her mother's body tonight. Tomorrow she would begin the arduous process of burying her, and dealing with the questions and emotions of everyone else who'd known her. But not tonight.

"I'll miss you."