Tomorrow my six months sentence in the underworld is done and I can go up to the overworld again. I can see my mother once more.

I cannot sleep for the excitement. Six months is a long time when you are down here, and yet it seems to pass in a flash when I am with my mother again.

Six hours left till dawn, till I am able to walk up the winding stair and exit the underworld. I sigh and turn over on my side, unable to sleep. My husband has not come to my bed tonight, which is odd. He always visits me the night before I leave. I cannot say I am disappointed.

Just as I am dropping into sleep, I hear a footfall. My breath catches in my throat. I stay perfectly still, my eyes closed. Feigning sleep. A hand on my arm, stroking my skin. I will myself not to move, but I tense anyways, feeling his touch. He slips in beside me, pulling the sheet away from my body.

I open my eyes and see him hanging over me. He stills.

“I wish things were different between us,” he says. His voice is almost tinged with regret.