Infirmity

  
   She stood there, in front of the full-sized mirror and stared at her naked self. It was almost as if she were staring at a complete stranger. She touched herself, trying to feel, she felt skin, felt hair, softness of flesh and hardness of bone. Undeniably it was her, she was here, pinched, she felt pain. Stroked, she was at ease . A dizzy spell forced her to sit at the edge of her bed. Her body had taken command of all her actions. Her will was blunted as she thought back on all her symptoms...........

   She'd sleep long drugged hours and awaken aching with weariness. She found food sickening, all that stuff going into her mouth......just the thought of it made her nauseous which happened to be just another symptom. She'd had attacks of diarrhoea followed by spells of constipation. It was all beyond her control.

   She'd ignored it all for long enough. She looked down at herself and in doing so, it occurred to her that this fleshy envelope containing her was falling apart, deteriorating for no apparent reason. She accepted that something was happening to her, something slow, gradual and final. She knew it was too late, too painful to change it.